14 November 2019
Committee Secretary Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600
By email: [email protected]
Dear Colleagues
Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission in relation to the above inquiry. For reasons given in our submission we make five key recommendations: 1. The rate of Newstart should be increased to a level which enables recipients in the Kimberley to live with dignity, with measures to ensure that an increase to Newstart is passed in full to recipients, rather than being taken up by increased charges, for example in social housing rent. 2. Remote Area Allowance should be increased to accurately reflect the higher cost of living in rural, remote and regional Australia. 3. Akin to judgment proof provisions in Victoria, research should be undertaken to model income thresholds below which Commonwealth agencies should not pursue debts, and/or to exclude Newstart from calculations of income for the purposes of debt collection by Fines Enforcement Registry, credit providers and/or debt collection agencies. 4. In consultation with relevant NGO peaks and service sectors, the federal Government should establish standards regarding access to legal help in relation to social security and income support with particular emphasis on those in remote, regional and rural areas in Australia. 5. The Commonwealth should ensure that recipients of social security payments in the Kimberley have sufficient access to independent specialist legal and other support services.
Please contact us if further information would assist.
Yours faithfully
Sarouche Razi Director ANU Aboriginal Justice Partnership Kimberley Community Legal Services Submission by Kimberley Community Legal Services Inc. to the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia
Date of submission: 14 November 2019
KCLS contacts for this submission:
Sarouche Razi Lauren Reed Director Solicitor
ANU Aboriginal Justice Partnership PO Box 622 Kununurra WA 6743 PO Box 2715 Broome WA 6725 T: (08) 9169 3100 T: (08) 9192 5177
We acknowledge that we work on Aboriginal land, traditionally the home of the Yawuru people of the West Kimberley and Miriwoong people of the East Kimberley. We pay respect to all elders past and present.
1
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3 Newstart 4 An acceptable standard of living 5
The Kimberley region 5 Cost of living 7 Social determinants of health 10 Remote Area Assistance 10
Impact of entrenched poverty 12 Debt traps 13
Unemployment 14
Access to social security legal help 15
Case studies 18 Case study 1 – Lucy 19 Case Study 2 – Gemma 21 Case Study 3 – Matthew 22
Conclusion 22
2 Introduction
1. This submission looks at the Newstart in the Kimberley in its inter-relationship with a range of socio-economic issues, and the disproportionate impacts on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. We discuss: • Newstart and an adequate standard of living; • the cost of living remotely and specifically in the Kimberley; • the social determinants of health for Aboriginal people in the Kimberley and the entrenched impacts of poverty, debt, and unemployment; • the lack of legal services for social security help; and • we provide a number of case studies to shed some light to the lived experiences of some of our clients.
We make 5 key recommendations.
2. Kimberley Community Legal Services (‘KCLS’) is an independent, not-for-profit, multidisciplinary community legal centre in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Our services include legal advice and representation on most civil law matters (including matters of family law, child protection, tenancy, credit and debt, criminal injuries compensation and redress), intensive tenancy and family violence support, financial counselling and law reform advocacy.
3. We conduct regular outreach from our offices in Kununurra and Broome, to Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, Wyndham and more than a dozen remote communities in the Kimberley. Our practice is client-centric, holistic and embedded in the community and region in which we work.
4. KCLS works collaboratively with other non-profit legal services in the region - namely the Aboriginal Legal Service WA, Aboriginal Family Law Services, Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre in Fitzroy Crossing and WA Legal Aid. Resource levels are wholly inadequate for all legal services in the Kimberley compared to the nature and extent of the legal needs and the logistics of service delivery.
5. A significant proportion of Kimberley residents are dependent on income support payments: ● In 2014, 37,479 individual payments were made by the Department of Social Services to people in the federal electorate of Durack (which includes the Kimberley region),1 a division which is (as of 2016) comprised of 97, 068 electors.2 ● Newstart Payments within the Durack electorate were the highest recorded within all WA electorates in 2019; higher than Curtin by 129.3%, higher than Fremantle by 59.6% and higher than Perth by 60%.3
1 ‘DSS Payment Demographic Data’, Department of Social Services (Web Page, 2 July 2014)
3 6. In 2011, every Local Government Area in the Kimberley (aside from Broome) was found to have a socio-economic rating within the lowest 10% of Australia.4
7. No socioeconomic issue exists in isolation. There are a number of factors that contribute to the nature and extent of poverty experienced by Aboriginal people and welfare recipients in the Kimberley. The inadequacy of Newstart payments is one of these factors that contribute to the cycle of entrenched poverty. On this basis alone, there are compelling grounds to increase payments to a level that will bring people out of relative and absolute poverty. However, it is important to understand this is only one part of the equation to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.
8. Our submissions focus on the relationship between low income and other social determinants of health and wellbeing for financially disadvantaged people in the Kimberley.
Newstart 9. To receive Newstart Allowance a person has to be unemployed and aged over 22. Recipients who rent privately are eligible for Commonwealth Rent Assistance (‘CRA’). Individuals living in remote areas are eligible for Remote Area Assistance (‘RAA’). Newstart Allowance is income tested and activity tested. Approved activities and formal employment programs are expressed to be designed to support recipients to obtain paid employment.
10. The Newstart Allowance is designed to be a temporary payment for jobseekers with the intention they will return to the workforce. It fails to account for those who are dependent on welfare payments long-term despite statistics showing nearly half of recipients have been on Newstart for at least 2 years.5
11. The benefit ‘attempts to balance adequacy of support for people who are unemployed with the incentive for them to seek work and the cost to the Commonwealth…and to ensure that people have adequate resources to search for and obtain employment’.6
12. There is a need for social security policy to distinguish between those who are on Newstart as a transitional measure and those who are structurally trapped at low levels of welfare. High rates of long term reliance on social security across the Kimberley underscores the extent of financial disadvantage in the region. It also highlights the extent of the mismatch between current policies and human needs and realities in the Kimberley. '
4 ‘Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) 2016’ Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 27 March 2018)
4
An acceptable standard of living 13. Article 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of which Australia is signatory, recognises ‘the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of his living conditions.’7 Australia must to more to ensure that this obligation is met and that Newstart recipients in the Kimberley are able to live with dignity.
14. For people reliant on Newstart in the Kimberley, the rate must be contextually sufficient for a standard of living which is 'adequate' including access to: 'adequate food, clothing and housing'. This standard is not met where the rate of Newstart is contextually insufficient to prevent people going hungry, being homeless, or living precariously in circumstances in which they and their children are placed at risk. However, this is the picture among many Newstart recipients in the Kimberley, including many with whom we work.
15. Further, what constitutes an acceptable standard of living in the Kimberley is indicated by many laws which mean that: ● Children must be looked after, clothed and fed; ● Homes in which children live must not place them at risk (e.g. be overcrowded, unhygienic, insecure); ● People who drive a vehicle must have a current licence, the vehicle must be registered and it must be roadworthy; and ● People must pay for essential services such as water and electricity.
16. In the Kimberley an acceptable standard of living is not one which: ● Is injurious to the person's health; ● Reduces their life expectancy; ● Contributes to factors leading to their children being removed from their care; or ● Removes their ability to live safely and with dignity.
The Kimberley region 17. Differences in metropolitan and remote, regional and rural areas are significant and need to be considered when determining income support payments. Failure to do compounds the gap between the standard of living of those living in remote and metropolitan areas of Australia.
18. The Kimberley is a remote area situated in North Western Australia spanning just over 420,000 square kilometres. This is more than twice the size of Victoria, with a total population of only 40,000 people.
7 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 January 1976) art 11(1).
5 19. Aboriginal people make up 43% of the population in the Kimberley, compared to 3.2% of the State population.8 There are more than 20 Aboriginal languages spoken in the region, reflecting the enduring cultural identity of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. Many Aboriginal people speak English only as a second or third language. Very few non-Aboriginal people in the Kimberley speak an Aboriginal language. There is inadequate funding for, and access to, Aboriginal interpreting services in the Kimberley resulting in major barriers and chronic miscommunication.
Figure 1 below shows the Kimberley section of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies map of Indigenous Australia.9
Figure 1: AIATSIS MAP OF INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA
20. The terrain features breathtaking waterfalls, ancient gorges and rock formations and immaculate coastlines, and it is not to be underestimated. It is one of the hottest areas in the country. High temperatures can impact daily life and service provision. The ‘build up’ and wet season (October to April) see dramatic increases in water, electricity consumption and crime rates. There is an associated increase in demand for social services during this time. Road flooding during the wet season often prevents movement in or out of towns and communities, reduces the supply of fresh food and increases transport costs for food deliveries to towns and communities. These costs are passed on to consumers in higher prices.
8 R V C Fogliani, Inquest into the deaths of thirteen children and young persons in the Kimberley region, Western Australia, Ref Nos: 25/2017 (7 February 2019), 13 [28]. 9 Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia (10 November 2019)
6 Cost of living 21. The 2018 WACOSS Cost of Living Report cautioned about data limitations but used a different methodology to provide an assessment on a number of indicators relating to the cost of living in Western Australian regions. As can be seen from the table below, rent in the Kimberley is significantly more expensive for the three sample household types.10
Table 1: Weekly expenditure across the regions - Rent
22. As there is little or no private rental accommodation in the Kimberley, other than in Broome, Derby and Kununurra, the more relevant issue regarding housing relates to the availability of low income subsidised housing and the affordability of social housing. In areas where there is a private rental market, rental costs are often unaffordable.
23. In Western Australia social housing rent is based on the lower of 25% of household income or market rent.11 While this accords with national benchmarks, these benchmarks do not reflect the substantial regional variations within Australia and they omit utility costs and individual expense factors.12 This is particularly significant in the Kimberley where the fixed formula is resulting in
10 WACOSS Cost of Living Report 2018, https://wacoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Cost-of-Living-Report- 2018-web.pdf, p. 18 11 WA Department of Housing, Rental Policy Manual, October 2019, Rent to Income Policy at p.. 72, http://www.housing.wa.gov.au/HousingDocuments/Rental_Policy_Manual.pdf ; WA Department of Housing, Community Housing Rent Setting Policies, December 2009, http://www.housing.wa.gov.au/HousingDocuments/CH_Rent_Setting_Policy.pdf 12 Michelle Gabriel, Keith Jacobs, Kathy Arthurson and Terry Burke with Judith Yates, ‘Conceptualising and Measuring the Housing Affordability Problem’, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (2005) Research Paper 1, 23
7 situations of chronic rental stress, increasing hardship and substantial rental debts for many social housing tenants.
24. KCLS recently assisted a client with a Department of Housing tenancy. Our client had 6 children and was on a parenting payment. She was paying market rent on a 4-bedroom property that was more than 20 years old, asbestos clad, had wet walls due to unidentified internal leaking and was situated in an area no other private rentals existed. Market rent was determined to be $420 a week.
On top of ongoing rental obligations, our client was also paying $100 a fortnight for power and an additional $300 a week for water, rental arrears and tenant liability. Much of the tenant liability charged to our client’s account was damage caused by domestic violence. The client was not in a position to make a police report regarding the violence (and therefore, the damage) due to fear of retribution from her partner’s family. Consequently, she was charged for all damage.
This example demonstrates how much of a person’s income/welfare payments can be consumed by housing costs and is a common reality for many social housing tenants in the Kimberley.
25. As demonstrated in the table below, the cost of living in relation to food and beverages is higher in the regions and highest in the Kimberley, followed by the Pilbara.13
Table 2: Weekly expenditure across the regions - food and beverages
26. Weekly expenditure on electricity across model household types in the Northwest Interconnected System (Pilbara) and the West Kimberley is approximately double the equivalent household
8 expenditure in the Southwest Interconnected System (Perth, Peel, Southwest and Great Southern). Expenditure on water is also substantially higher in the Pilbara and the Kimberley compared to Perth and other regions.14 Many KCLS social housing clients have substantial water bills, that they go into debt for (debts) with frequent problems caused by water leaks, delays in diagnosis, maintenance delays and lack of independent oversight.
Table 3: Weekly expenditure across Network Areas - Electricity
Table 4: Weekly expenditure across the regions - Water
14 Ibid 20.
9 27. The 2017 Regional Price Index indicated that the Kimberley region is on average 12.9% ($112.9) more expensive than Perth.15 The Regional Price Index is a spatial index which compares location-based prices for a common basket of goods with the Perth metropolitan area.16 The key finding was that overall, prices were highest in the Kimberley followed by the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions.17
Remote Area Assistance (RAA) 28. The RAA ‘recognises that many income support recipients who do not pay tax, or pay very little tax, do not receive the full benefit of zone tax rebates’.18 The zone tax offset is a tax concession offset administered by the Australian Tax Office for people who live in remote areas of Australia, to assist with the higher cost of living, amenities and other environmental factors associated with remote living. For people living in the Kimberley region, the zone tax offset amounts to $1173.
29. RAA provides an additional $18.20 a fortnight to income support recipients living in remote areas. This amounts to an additional $473.20 a year – for singles with no children, a mere 3% more annually than their metropolitan counterparts.
30. The statistics discussed above highlight the extreme discrepancy between living costs in Perth and the Kimberley. The RAA is not sufficiently offsetting the additional cost of living in the Kimberley. This discriminates against those receiving the lowest incomes in the Kimberley and other remote parts of Australia. The RAA should be predicated on equalising outcomes so people in different parts of Australia are able to access basic necessities.
Recommendation 2: Remote Area Allowance should be increased to accurately reflect the higher cost of living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia.
Social determinants of health 31. The health profile of the Kimberley is conveyed by the following statistics: ● Suicide rates among Indigenous people in the Kimberley are among the highest in the world.19 A retrospective audit of an internal suicide and self-harm database revealed an age-adjusted suicide rate of 74 per 100,000 population per year in the Kimberley Indigenous population.20 This rate far exceeds the national suicide rate of 12 per
15 WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Regional Price Index 2017, http://www.drd.wa.gov.au/Publications/Documents/Regional%20Price%20Index%202017.pdf, 6-7 16 Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Regional Price Index 2017 (online) http://www.drd.wa.gov.au/newsandevents/Pages/2017-Regional-Price-Index-Released.aspx 17 Ibid. 18 Australian Government, Guide to Social Security, Version 1.259 - Released 11 November 2019, 1.2.7.80 Remote Area Allowance (RAA), https://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/1/2/7/80 19 Catherine McHugh et al, ‘Increasing Indigenous Self‐Harm and Suicide in the Kimberley: an Audit of the 2005– 2014 Data’ (2016) 205(1) Medical Journal of Australia. 20 Catherine McHugh et al, ‘Increasing Indigenous Self‐Harm and Suicide in the Kimberley: an Audit of the 2005– 2014 Data’ (2016) 205(1) Medical Journal of Australia.
10 100,00021 and the global suicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000.22 Indigenous suicide rates are increasing in all Australian jurisdictions except the Northern Territory.23 ● The Kimberley has the highest ratio of Aboriginal to non-Aboriginal children in care in Western Australia.24 In 2016-17, 100% of protection order applications in the Kimberley related to Aboriginal children.25 On 30 June 2017, only one non-Aboriginal child from the Kimberley was in out-of-home care compared to 339 Aboriginal children.26 ● Rates of alcohol and drug related disorders in the Kimberley are more than double the State rate.27 Rates of mortality due to substance abuse (particularly the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco) are significantly higher for the Kimberley Aboriginal population compared to the Kimberley non-Aboriginal population.28 ● Compared to non-Aboriginal people, Aboriginal people in the Kimberley are half as likely to report excellent health, 3.5 times more likely to report having diabetes, 1.2 times more likely to report having cardiovascular disease, 2 times more likely to report having asthma and 2 times more likely to report kidney disease.29 ● Data from Mortality Over Regions and Time (MORT) Books30 indicates the median age of death of persons in the Kimberley is around 20 years lower than the median age of death of persons in the urban areas of Western Australia.
32. The following table shows the median age of death in years in the four local government areas (LGAs) in the Kimberley compared to metropolitan areas of Western Australia in 2016:31
21 Mind Frame, ABS data summary 2018 (Web Page) https://mindframe.org.au/suicide/data-statistics/abs-data- summary-2018; Murray Chapman, ‘Indigenous suicide rates in the Kimberley seven times national average’, The Conversation (online at 27 June 2016) https://theconversation.com/indigenous-suicide-rates-in-the-kimberley-seven- times-national-average-61502. 22 ‘Suicide Rates’, World Health Organisation, https://www.who.int/gho/mental_health/suicide_rates/en/. 23 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2018 (Web Page) https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2018~Main%20Features~Intentional%20 self-harm%20in%20Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20people~4. 24Department of Communities: Child Protection and Family Support, Additional Performance Information 2016- 2017 (Final Report, 2017) 11. 25 Ibid, p. 10 26 Ibid, p. 11. 27 WA Country Health Service, Kimberley Health Profile, (Report, 2018) 27. 28 Kimberley Aboriginal Health Planning Forum, Health in the Kimberley: An Aboriginal Perspective ‐ Draft for Public Comment (Kimberley Development Commission, 2014), 3. 29 Western Australian Primary Health Alliance, Kimberley- Population and Health Snapshot (2016) 4. 30Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, MORT (Mortality Over Regions and Time) Books: Local Government Area (LGA), 2012–2016 (2018)
11 Table 6: Age at death - Kimberley and Metropolitan WA
Kimberley LGAs Median Age at Death
Halls Creek 60.5
Derby-West Kimberley 60.1
Wyndham-East Kimberley 61.0
Broome 63.0
Metropolitan Areas of WA Median Age at Death
Perth 81
Bunbury 83
Greater Geraldton 76
33. The inability to meet the cost of achieving and maintaining an acceptable standard of living has significant flow on effects, in particular on health: The concept of social determinants of health acknowledges the importance of employment, housing, education and other social resources (such as isolation and community connectedness) to wellbeing. Social determinants are increasingly recognised as playing a major role in a raft of health related behaviours and health disparities, including mental illness, suicide, excessive alcohol use and substance use…32
Impact of entrenched poverty 34. The current Newstart allowance, including rent assistance, is $350.85 per week. This falls well below all accepted measures of poverty in Australia: ● For the June quarter 2019, the Henderson poverty line is $529.81 per week for a single person.33 The Henderson poverty line is an income-based poverty line developed in the 1970’s. It is based on a benchmark income – that required to support the basic needs of a family of two adults and two children.
32 MaryAnne Furst, Reynolds J, Salinas JA, Tsou C, Rock D, Hopkins J, Bell T, Woods L, McLoughlin L, Stretton A,Mendoza J, Bagheri N, Salvador-Carulla L. (2018) Atlas of Mental Health Care of the Kimberley Region (Western Australia). Australian National University and Western Australia Primary Health Alliance https://rsph.anu.edu.au/files/WA%20-%20Kimberley.pdf, p. 26, citing the World Health Organisation and others. 33 University of Melbourne, ‘Poverty Lines: Australia’ June 2019 Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, 1.
12 ● The Australian Council for Social Services (‘ACOSS’) suggests the poverty line can be construed as living below 50% of the median household income.34 Applying this measure to median weekly gross household income in Australia 2017-18 ($1701)35 gives the figure of $850.50. ● The Australian minimum wage is presently set at $719.20. A key factor considered in setting the minimum wage is the relative living standards and needs of the low paid.36
35. Most poor people define poverty in terms of insecurity.37 Touching on the behavioural aspects of entrenched poverty, Christopher Barrett and Michael Carter highlight that:
While it is often recognised that poverty breeds insecurity, the reverse is also true. Insecurity breeds poverty by suppressing and distorting strategies of accumulation by the poor.38
36. In other words, people living in poverty respond to insecurity today in ways that compromise their capacity to build a better tomorrow.39 Meaning, people living in poverty are less likely to be able to lift themselves/be lifted out of poverty, thus entrenching disadvantage and poverty. The fact that Newstart recipients live below the poverty line is at odds with Australia’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which requires Australia to ensure the fulfilment of the right of the individual and their family to ‘the continuous improvement of his (sic.) living conditions.’40
Recommendation 1: The rate of Newstart should be increased to a level which enables recipients in the Kimberley to live with dignity, with measures to ensure that an increase to Newstart is passed in full to recipients, rather than being taken up by increased charges, for example in social housing rent.
Debt traps 37. The impact of this significant (financial) insecurity translates to extraordinarily confronting choices and high levels of vulnerability. KCLS lawyers and client advocates regularly assist people to obtain food vouchers, get their electricity/utilities turned back on, apply for crisis payments and for financial assistance to purchase essential furniture items and whitegoods.
34 Australian Council of Social Services, Poverty in Australia (Report No 7, 16 October 2018) 21. 35 https://www.abs.gov.au/household-income 36 s 284(1) Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). 37 Christopher Barrett and Michael Carter, ‘Can’t Get Ahead for Falling Behind: New Directions for Development Policy to Escape Relief and Poverty Traps’ (2000) 2 Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems Brief 1, 4. 38 Christopher Barrett and Michael Carter, ‘Can’t Get Ahead for Falling Behind: New Directions for Development Policy to Escape Relief and Poverty Traps’ (2000) 2 Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems Brief 1, 4. 39 Ibid. 40 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 January 1976) art 11(1).
13 Among our clients who are housed, it is not uncommon for families and single adults to have no furniture in their home on a continuing basis. Most people have little, if any, financial margin if things go wrong and are carrying debts which reflect entrenched disadvantage and insecurity, including extreme vulnerability and low financial literacy.
38. Many of our clients also use their minimal funds to pay fines or debts. As demonstrated in Case Study 1 - Lucy, this can have a substantial impact on a person’s ability to afford basic requirements. Reform is needed to protect social security recipients from predatory practices and exploitation which can dramatically impinge on a person’s ability to afford basic necessities such as rent, food and utilities.
39. It is not acceptable to leave questions of whether receipt of Newstart, or other social security income, will be treated as ‘income’ for fines enforcement, credit and/or debt collection to idiosyncratic and self-interested decision-making across different layers of government and by commercial interests. This raises issues about the integrity and impacts of the social security system. Including welfare payments as income in these circumstances significantly detracts from recipients’ ability to afford everyday expenses (such as rent etc.)
40. In Victoria Section 12 of the Judgment Debt Recovery Act 1984 (Vic) provides that, an instalment order will not (unless the debtor consents) be made if the income of the judgment debtor is derived solely from a pension benefit allowance or other regular payment under the Social Security Act 1947 (Cth) or section 24 of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic). A person will be considered judgment proof in Victoria if their only income is from a Centrelink (or, in most cases, Workcover) payment and they do not own and are not buying a house and have few assets (the thresholds currently are amongst other things, one registered car worth less than $7,600; or tools of trade worth less than $3,700.).
Recommendation 3: Akin to judgment proof provisions in Victoria, research should be undertaken to model income thresholds below which Commonwealth agencies should not pursue debts, or to exclude Newstart from calculations of income for the purposes of debt collection by Fines Enforcement Registry, credit providers and/or debt collection agencies.
Unemployment 41. The Kimberley unemployment rate has been consistently higher than the State unemployment rate -for example in 2017 it was 3.5% higher than WA metropolitan areas and 4.5% higher than other Western Australian regional areas.41
41 Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Regional Profile-Kimberley (2018)
14 42. In March 2019 the Western Australian unemployment rate was 6.5%,42 compared to the unemployment rate for the Kimberley was 14.8%.43 Derby and Halls Creek recorded the highest unemployment rates in the Kimberley, being 29.9% and 33.6% respectively.44 In Wyndham the unemployment rate was 9.9% and the rate was 9.3% in Broome.45
43. It is relevant that educational levels in the Kimberley are low. In 2016, of those attending an educational institution, 8.7% were in a tertiary or technical institution.46 Of those in Perth attending an educational institution, 23.2% were in a tertiary or technical institution.47
44. Consequently, the need for skilled and professional labour in the Kimberley is met by non-local labour. Many of our clients who are gainfully employed work in seasonal positions - for example, in road maintenance. These positions are not available during the wet season due to flooding.
45. The report ‘Increasing Indigenous Employment Rates’ produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse supports “multiple and complementary support mechanisms to improve the retention of Indigenous employees” including “ongoing mentoring and support – flexible work arrangements to allow Indigenous employees to meet their work, family and/or community obligations – provision of family support – dealing with racism in the workplace via initiatives such as the provision of cross-cultural training.”48 Such mechanisms could significantly improve the employment retention rate of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.
Access to social security legal help
46. There are major barriers for people in the Kimberley to navigate their rights and responsibilities across the full range of social security payments. While KCLS is a generalist Community Legal Service, neither KCLS nor any of the other non-profit legal services in the Kimberley receive any dedicated funding to provide social security legal help. This compares to many other parts of Australia, where there is access to social security legal help.
47. The situation is dramatic in the Kimberley due to the extent of the reliance on social security and the prevalence of poverty. In various sectors there are service guarantees and standards, for example the national standard for mental health services.49 That there are no standards regarding access to social security legal help in Australia appears to be a contributing factor to the gap in
42 Kimberley Development Commission, Economic Profile, Government of Western Australia Report (2018) < https://kdc.wa.gov.au/economic-profile/>. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid. 45 Ibid. 46 ‘2016 Census QuickStats: Kimberley’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 23 October 2017)
15 assistance. The establishment of standards would serve to improve situations like the Kimberley where there is currently no specialist on the ground social security legal assistance.
48. The closest specialist social security legal help for people in the Kimberley is in Darwin and Perth. The logistics for people in the Kimberley to have access to help, requires services to be geographically accessible, culturally safe, locally embedded and known. Many people have needs relating to literacy or physical and cognitive disabilities and there are often major difficulties in communication across language and cultural divides. These factors may impede one’s ability to travel the long distances to Perth or Darwin. This current lack increases hardship for individuals, families and communities. It increases risks of incorrect and unjust decision making, which go uncorrected and it increases the risks of alienation and system failure.
49. Strong social security conditionality applies to a high proportion of social security recipients in the Kimberley. The Cashless Debit Card Trial is continuing in the East Kimberley, the Community Development Program (‘CDP’) is operating throughout the Kimberley, other than in Broome, and ParentsNext is operating in Broome. Across these programs, Aboriginal people are the high majority of participants. In relation to ParentsNext in Broome, Aboriginal people make up 95% of the target group.50
50. As social security policy and program initiatives are rolled out in the Kimberley, it appears that no consideration is being given to legal help for social security claimants and recipients.
51. Conditionality increases penalties, payment suspensions and cancellations resulting in reduced income. This has a compounding effect on disadvantage. The effects can be highly disproportionate, to the point of being inhumane, and the impacts go beyond the individual, to partners, children, families, relatives, and communities. There are is anecdotal evidence in the Kimberley of people with high needs withdrawing from the social security system, of increased pressure on families and communities and of children going hungry due to Centrelink penalties and suspensions. There are anecdotal impacts of increased family violence, increased elder abuse, and greater risks of interventions happening in child protection matters.
52. In 2014, a National Social Security Rights Network (‘NSSRN’) study of 30 closed specialist social community legal services cases and a quantitative survey of 218 clients reported as follows, regarding the impacts of financial instability experienced by people whose social security income was suspended, reduced, cancelled or had a debt raised:
50 ParentsNext Hotspot Maps by Employment Region for Broome, in the 2018 request for tenders. AusTender, Contract Notice View - CN3514507
16 ● Some people experienced a serious decline in physical and mental health; ● Some people could no longer afford medicines, some experienced an increase in existing pain levels while others reported significant weight loss; ● Many became socially isolated and struggled to look after children; ● Feeling disbelieved or misjudged by Centrelink affected self-esteem levels and the ability to relate to other people; and ● Some people fell further into depression and 13 of the 30 people studied had considered suicide during their dispute with Centrelink.
53. Additionally, there are issues about the extent to which people in the Kimberley are on the wrong social security benefit. For example, where people who are likely to be eligible for Sickness Benefit or Disability Support Pension who are instead receiving Newstart because of lack of awareness, and lack of medical professional supports to collect evidence.
54. The NSSRN notes that specialist community legal services are needed because:
● Social security law is a complex and dynamic area of law; ● Digital transformation and automation create new risks for disadvantaged people; ● Outcomes for clients improved as a result of specialist social security community legal services; and ● Particularly vulnerable client groups need specialist social security community legal services, for example victims of domestic and family violence.
55. The Network has highlighted that hidden and unmet social security legal needs can arise from people:
● Having little knowledge of their rights at law; ● Not perceiving Centrelink matters as legal problems; ● Fearing retribution if they challenge Centrelink decision; ● Not being supported by the system to access the appeal process; and ● Not knowing where to get help.
56. In relation to the impacts of specialist social security legal help the research found that:
“the quality of life for clients pre-intervention was marked by financial instability, physical deterioration, social isolation and emotional struggle … following specialist social security community legal services’ intervention: · 20% were now able to provide for their children; · 20% had reduced family tension; · 20% either kept their home or were no longer homeless; · 20% had returned to work or study; · 30% or more were no longer considering suicide; · 10% were eating properly; · 10% became volunteers; and
17 · 6% reconnected with supports”
57. Specialist social security legal help should be available to social security recipients and people who are financially disadvantaged in the Kimberley. This accords with an approach which respects people’s human rights, their legal rights and is committed to quality administrative decision making and fair treatment. As outlined above, specialist social security legal help also helps to improve wellbeing, empowerment and inclusion.
Recommendation 4: In consultation with relevant NGO peaks and service sectors, the federal Government should establish standards regarding access to legal help in relation to social security and income support with particular emphasis on those in remote, regional and rural areas in Australia.
Recommendation 5: The Commonwealth should ensure that recipients of social security payments in the Kimberley have sufficient access to independent specialist legal and other support services.
Case studies
58. The case studies which follow relate to KCLS social housing tenancy matters. The case studies have been anonymised to protect the confidentiality of our clients.
59. Social housing tenancy is one of our largest practice areas and, like all others, there is a clear interplay between housing issues and social security payments.
60. In relation to social housing tenancy, KCLS assists clients to apply and put forward their case for priority allocation and priority transfer including supporting and advocating with clients through review and appeals processes. We also help clients understand their rights and obligations as tenants and resolve tenancy problems. This includes issues relating to rent, water charges, landlord and tenant responsible maintenance, damage to premises and anti-social behaviour. Many of our clients’ social and health concerns arise from a lack of safe and secure housing which we see to be directly related to inadequate income support payments.
61. The case studies demonstrate: ● How people living remotely are disadvantaged in relation to social security payments and requirements; ● The major challenges faced by people on Newstart regarding activity requirements; ● How even the slightest unexpected cost can be overwhelming and cause a cascade of issues which further entrench poverty and disadvantage; and ● That Newstart is having abusive effects in cases where people are not physically or mentally capable of working.
18 Case study 1 – Lucy Lucy is a 55-year-old Aboriginal woman living in a small community in the Kimberley approximately 15 kilometres from the nearest town. The road to Lucy’s community is a dirt track requiring a vehicle with 4WD capabilities. During the wet season (December to April), this road becomes too muddy to drive. Community members usually make their way to town before the wet season and stay with family over this period.
Lucy has received a Newstart payment for 7 consecutive years. Lucy used to live in town and work as a bookkeeper and an artist, but had to stop working when she moved to the community with her husband into social housing.
Lucy’s oldest son died by suicide 3 years ago. The incident occurred on her front porch. Since this time, Lucy has experienced significant ongoing mental health problems. She has been unable to live in the property for cultural and spiritual reasons. She has been living at another home in the community with family members for the past 3 years.
Lucy told a lawyer at KCLS she was having money problems and was struggling to find money to eat every day. She wanted to move into town to be closer to the hospital but was advised by the Department of Housing the waitlist for public housing is up to 5 years.
The KCLS lawyer did an income and expenditure statement for Lucy to get a better understanding of her financial position (Figure 3).51 Whilst completing this statement, Lucy also revealed: ● Due to a number of ongoing mental health emergencies in the past, Lucy has ambulance bills in excess of $3000. Each trip costs approximately $450 after the 50% concessioner discount. Lucy has been paying off her ambulance debt at a rate of $20 a fortnight for ‘as long as she could remember’. In Western Australia, ambulance bills do not attract interest; assuming no other ambulances are called for Lucy, this would take her 6 years to pay off. ● Lucy is paying $60 a fortnight to the Western Australian Fines Enforcement Registry. This is largely due to fines for not voting and not responding to a jury summons over the past 7-9 years. In this respect, Lucy instructs there is no radio or television where she lives. She has little connection with Australian politics and has never been taught how to vote. Further, there is no residential postage system in the Kimberley. All her letters, including summons and postal votes, are sent to the Post Office in Kununurra and returned to sender if not collected within 21 days. It is not possible or realistic for Lucy to go in to town frequently enough to collect her post when it arrives. ● Lucy is still paying rent on the house she hasn’t lived in for 3 years.
Lucy further instructs there are long periods of time she has no money at all. There is only one shared car in the community. If she misses the ride to town in the morning, she misses her job activities. Missed activities attract penalties.
51 We note the figures in Lucy’s income and expenditure are accurate as at April 2018.
19 Figure 3: Lucy's Income and Expenditure statement
20 Case Study 2 – Gemma Gemma is a 50-year-old Aboriginal woman born in the Kimberley. She is on Disability Support Pension. She has 6% renal function, is on dialysis and has a tenancy with Community Housing Limited (‘CHL’). Pursuant to her tenancy agreement, Gemma’s rent is calculated at 25% of her household income.
Gemma’s co-tenant is her partner, Joel. Joel is also on Disability Support Pension.
Gemma is a victim of physical and emotional abuse perpetrated by Joel and a victim of elder abuse perpetrated by her younger family members. Her house is within walking distance to the pub and town and consequently, she gets a lot of younger family members and their friends staying at her house and drinking. Gemma feels unable to ask these people to leave but feels stressed and anxious when there are a lot of men around. For her safety, Gemma usually leaves the house to sit in the park until she knows everyone is asleep.
Gemma first approached KCLS when she was served a breach notice from CHL for disruptive behaviour at the property and rental arrears. Gemma instructs her weekly rent amount kept changing and she didn’t understand the changes.
A KCLS lawyer requested documents from CHL to determine how Gemma’s rent was calculated. We discovered since Gemma’s tenancy commenced in 2017, her rent calculations had been updated 8 times including. 4 rent increases which occurred in the first 6 months of 2019.
Of these increases, the most substantial was an increase from $231.45 to $467.25 a week. CHL added the Commonwealth Rent Assistance (‘CRA’) Gemma and Joel were eligible to receive. CHL’s Rent Setting Policy states rent is set at “25% of gross household income plus any Commonwealth Rent Assistance payable to the Tenant by Centrelink should they be eligible, up to a maximum level no higher than market rent of the property concerned.”
Although Gemma is eligible for CRA payment, she has never received this payment. This is because she didn’t know it was available to her. CHL staff didn’t tell her and staff at her local Centrelink office told her on several occasions she was not eligible for CRA – they assumed Gemma was a Department of Housing tenant, and Gemma didn’t understand enough to correct them. She didn’t understand her rent increase or how to go about obtaining CRA. Further, she was charged more CRA than she was eligible to receive.
KCLS is still working with Gemma and CHL to ensure Gemma’s rent payments are accurately calculated. Gemma has arranged to repay her rental arrears and tenant liability debt by paying an additional $200.00 a fortnight. This means she is paying almost $600 of her fortnightly income for housing - $467.25 for rent and $200.00 for damage to the property by family members.
21 Case Study 3 – Matthew Matthew is a 45-year-old Aboriginal man living in Kununurra. Matthew first made telephone contact with KCLS for assistance with a credit and debt matter. He instructed he was unable to come to the office to meet with a lawyer as he wasn’t well enough to walk and didn’t have a car. A KCLS lawyer organised to meet Matthew at his home.
Upon talking to Matthew, it became clear he was very unwell. He appeared to have very little vision, was quite weak and in a wheelchair. Matthew gave the KCLS lawyer a letter he had received in the post and asked for advice - it was a letter of demand to repay an old debt. Matthew had bad eyesight and low literacy. Consequently, he didn’t understand the content of this letter.
Matthew instructed he was receiving dialysis 3 times a week, and for up to 24 hours after his treatment he was unable to move around too much. He was also losing sight in one of his eyes due to an unrelated medical condition. This condition had existed for more than 3 years. Despite this, Matthew was on a Newstart and was required to present for his job activities. With the assistance of his counsellor, Matthew had applied to put a hold on his job activities. He was granted a hold for 6 months and advised he may be able to apply for a further 6-month extension at the end of this period. Matthew wasn’t sure how he was going to do this as his counsellor had since left town; he didn’t understand the paperwork and couldn’t travel into town on his own to sort this out.
Matthew instructed he had previously applied for Disability Support Pension but his application was unsuccessful. He had a letter from his doctor advising his eyesight was degenerating and he would eventually be blind in one eye. KCLS are currently assisting Matthew with a new application for Disability Support Pension.
Conclusion
62. ...many of the behavioural patterns in Aboriginal communities that are clearly deleterious to health will not necessarily be recognised as relevant factors because Western models will tend to overlook them. For example, how do you measure the effect of behaviour that arises from fear of sorcery, or the risk of overwhelming infection from the barriers to hygiene caused by overcrowding, let alone genetically mediated factors in a particularly susceptible population which lead to high morbidity? Although this is obvious to any observer, there is little ability in current Western models to take into account such problematic factors.52
The Newstart allowance takes a Western approach to a complex social problem. It provides a supplement to support an unemployed person looking for work. It does not account for those stuck in a cycle of poverty, with limited education and living in areas where there are simply no jobs available. It is difficult to consider career prospects when you live on a day to day basis.
63. Welfare recipients in the Kimberley ‘can’t get ahead for falling behind’ - there is no money, so there is little food. Reduced food intake limits a child’s educational attainment. An inability to
52 John Boulton, Aboriginal Children, History and Health: Beyond Social Determinants (Routledge, 2016) 3.
22 afford fresh food contributes to health issues. A despairing inadequacy of available housing results in overcrowding, increased instances of violence and financial abuse.
64. We strongly recommend the adoption of the above recommendations in order to ensure an acceptable standard of living is achievable for Newstart recipients living in the Kimberley. It is particularly important that measures are culturally safe and take into consideration the unique needs of those living in rural, regional and remote areas.
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