AMELIA SEARSON, HOST: Pressure from the cost of living is no stranger these days. I'm sure you've experienced the old going to the shops and you go to pick up some sort of produce, maybe some fresh veggies or some fresh fruit, and you think, I just can't afford to have this at the moment, so you pop it back on the shelf. Well, last week, the Federal Government announced Centrelink payments like JobSeeker, the Age pension, youth allowance, they're going to rise. And that's in an effort to alleviate some of that pressure that so many Australians are feeling at the moment. And that's all part of the $14.6 billion Cost of Living package that was handed down by the Government earlier this year. But the Age old question will it be enough? To tell me more about this is Federal MP Patrick Gorman, who's in Albany this morning. Good morning, Patrick. What brings you to the great Southern?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: Good morning, Amelia, and good morning to your listeners. One of my roles is I have responsibilities for the public service, so I'll actually be meeting with staff at Centlink who deliver vital public services here in Albany, thanking them for their work. Obviously, they've been doing the heavy lifting of getting these additional payments out the door to people who rely on the pension and parenting payments and other things, so I'll be talking to them. I'll also meet with the Mayor and CEO and I'm really looking forward to joining Auntie Vernice for a yarning circle as well, to learn a little bit more about some of the local indigenous history here.
SEARSON: If someone missed the announcement last week about the increases to those welfare payments, can you give us a bit of a rundown on what the announcements were?
GORMAN: We've made some serious commitments to increase some of the payments that people really rely on. We know that household budgets are under pressure at the moment and what we are trying to do as the Commonwealth Government is to make sure that we do provide people with that cost of living relief where we can, while trying not to add to inflation, which just makes things worse for everyone. So, there's been a significant increase to JobSeeker that's gone up $56, which is now a total of $749 per fortnight. For those on the Age pension, it's now $1,096. That's a $32 increase. And the other really big thing which we know is hurting people is some of the rental pressures, which is why we had the biggest increase to Commonwealth rent assistance in some 30 years, it's gone up 15%. So, people will now see in their next round of payments from Centrelink some $184 payment in total for rent assistance. Now, that's for people who are relying on those payments. It's part of our social safety net to support those who are vulnerable or need some additional support. But we haven't just stopped there. We've got things like what we call the cheaper medicines policy. That means that now you can get a 60 day script for a range of regular medications. What a 60 day script means for your listeners is that normally when you get a script from the doctor, they may say you've got to take a tablet a day, you've got to go get a new script each month, so you're paying $30 a month instead. Now you'll be able to get 60 tablets at a time. That means that you actually have two months worth for the same price. So, that's a serious saving for some people of $180 a year.
SEARSON: As you say we're obviously in the thick of this cost of living crisis. And I know the Australian Council of Social Services last week, after these announcements were made, said that the increases aren't enough. Some people are regularly skipping meals. And that's just part of this growing problem with the cost of living. Are these payments actually going to make a difference?
GORMAN: Well, every piece makes a difference, and I don't think any of your listeners would say that it's not welcome relief for those who rely on these payments. We also know there's a lot of people who are full time work or want to be in full time work and that they need more support. So, the other piece we've done is we've released our Employment White Paper yesterday to start to talk more about how do we make sure that people can earn the living. They want to live the sort of life they want. And one of those pieces is also about supporting those who might be on the pension but want to get back into more work by giving them more of what's called an income bank to allow them to earn a little bit more before they lose some of their pension benefits. So, that's a serious support. That's also really helpful for businesses, too, because we know that one of the other challenges here in Albany and across Australia is that people are struggling to get the workforce they need. So, we're looking at those things as well, because we know that helps take some pressure off inflation as well.
SEARSON: And, Minister, I wanted to ask you about the Voice to Parliament referendum. Obviously less than a month before Australians head to the polls. It's been a pretty heated debate from both sides. We've spoken to local elders, local indigenous people who say this quite volatile debate has had a significant impact on their mental health. And some people expected that, but others maybe not quite to the extent that it's been happening. How do you feel about where this sort of debate is going and are you confident with where the campaign is at?
GORMAN: Well, firstly, I'd call on anyone who's engaging in the referendum, whether they be engaged as a parliamentarian or an active campaign member or just a citizen, to treat one another with respect. One of the great things that I love about Australia is that we can have these big conversations while maintaining respect for different points of view. And I think it's really important as we get towards the period where people will be able to go and vote. And I note that mobile and remote polling here in Western Australia actually opens today, so we'll have the first West Australians voting in this referendum today and then early voting opens next week, so it's all really underway and it's just important that we all treat one another with respect. If you see something that you think was probably people going a little bit too far, often you can actually just politely say, oh, look, I think you've maybe gone a little bit too far and most people can sort that out quite reasonably. It's right as a democracy that we can have these big discussions and it's indeed the intention of how our constitution is written that we can have these big referendums to choose our course for the future. But I guess on personal reflections, though, as you sort of asked, I guess the one thing I would say is that I have found that some of the debate has relied more on misinformation than what this proposition is actually about. It's a really simple proposition. It's a proposition about recognising our first Australians in the constitution. It's about listening to them on policies that affect them and it's about doing that because we want to get better results. Because as far as I can see, pretty much everyone agrees the current system is broken. My opinion is the voice is the best way to fix it.
SEARSON: Federal MP and Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman. Thank you so much for giving us the latest on those JobSeeker payment increases and hope you have a fabulous time in Albany.
GORMAN: Thank you, Amelia.