‘anxiety, stress and harm’ for parents. Photograph: Voisin/Phanie / Rex Features
The Coalition is set to make changes to the contentious ParentsNext welfare program after a scathing Senate inquiry report found it was causing “anxiety, stress and harm” for parents across the country.
But the changes, which are mostly administrative, are unlikely to blunt calls from welfare groups and the Greens for the entire program to be scrapped or made voluntary, amid claims from the Human Rights Commission that it breaches Australia’s human rights obligations.
Responding to concerns many of the 75,000 compulsory participants, some with children as young as six months, have had their payments cut, Kelly O’Dwyer announced the changes on Friday.
The jobs minister, who is retiring at the election, said her department was in the process of implementing the changes, which would significantly reduce reporting requirements for parents.
Under the new program, Centrelink will handle more applications from people seeking an exemption from their “mutual obligations”. Guardian Australia has revealed allegations that one for-profit provider told staff to avoid granting medical exemptions to sick welfare recipients, and the case of a Sydney mother who spent months battling to get an exemption while suffering severe morning sickness.
Participants will also face reduced reporting requirements, likely an attempt to address concerns one-in-five had their payments suspended in the first six months since the program was rolled out nationally in July.
To keep getting payments, parents are required to undertake a compulsory activity – commonly playgroup or story time – unless they wish to start an education course.
If they fail to report their attendance, their payments are suspended. Participants have spoken of being forced by their ParentsNext case worker to report multiple times a week, and others have told of losing their payments due to technical issues with the Centrelink app.
They will now only have to report once a fortnight, and not at all if enrolled in a full-time course.
“The Department of Jobs and Small Business have commenced implementation of the simplified reporting arrangements to ensure that parents can start to receive the benefit from the changes as soon as practicable,” O’Dwyer said.
But the program will remain compulsory for those who receive parenting payments, have a child between the age of six months and five years, and are classified as “disadvantaged” by Centrelink. About 95% of participants are women, and most are single parents.
Labor has promised to overhaul the program if elected, though its proposal also stopped short of heeding the calls for participants to make the entire scheme voluntary.
The opposition said it would “take an evidence-based case-management approach to making sure the program meets the needs of individual families without being intrusive or punitive”.
