The politicking has ended – apart from the day-to-day bickering – and governing the country has resumed, a task made easier by Australians’ ringing endorsement of the Albanese Labor government. To the winners comes the task of delivering on pre-poll promises – if these can be afforded – and developing policies to meet the challenges of these difficult times.

Early in the campaign, St Vincent de Paul Society presented candidates and party officials with a copy of our Justice & Compassion policy document outlining our positions in key policy areas affecting the Australian community.

These included the need for a supportive safety net, starting with an increase in the base rate of working age payments to lift recipients out of poverty. A Foodbank Australia study shows that 3.4 million households ran out of food in the past year. One-in-six children is deemed to be living in poverty, relying on inadequate social security, and 1.3 million people are living below the poverty line.

In its response to our calls, the ALP said it is “committed to a strong and sustainable safety net that provides support to those most in need”. We hope this commitment will underpin its decision-making in office and we look forward to working with the new Government and the Senate crossbench to review policy aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary Australians.

We are greatly encouraged to see the Prime Minister vowing that under this government, no one will be left behind and the disadvantaged and vulnerable will always be looked after.

A key aspect of making meaningful change is to ensure targeted assistance over a period of time, rather than one-off, broadbrush tax cuts, energy rebates or solar battery subsidies for all. The well-off do not need government support.

Funding would be better directed to improving household energy efficiency – better insulation, modern electrical devices, solar where possible - for low-income households. One-in-three renters reports being too cold almost all the time in winter. In the cooler states, this can have serious health impacts.

Two years ago, the government delivered a $40 per fortnight increase in the Jobseeker rate but it has shown a reluctance to increase it since. The rate stands at $781.10 per fortnight for a single person, or $836.50 for a single with one or more children, less than the age pension.

These income support rates are deemed ‘seriously inadequate’ by the government-established Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which reports to Parliament.

‘People receiving these payments face the highest levels of financial stress in the Australian community,’ the committee said, recommending for the third year in a row that Jobseeker be increased.

Before polling day, the ANU’s Associate Professor Ben Phillips, an economist member of the committee, was asked by ABC Radio National Breakfast’s Sally Sara if the committee might be ‘redundant’, given that the government hadn’t taken its recommendations on board.

Insisting that welfare reform was vital, A/Prof Phillips gave an answer that had little to do with economics.
‘I guess you might speculate that there’s not a lot of votes in increasing something like the Jobseeker payment,’ he said, ‘there’s probably other places they view where they get more bang for their buck in terms of votes…’

With the election over, it is time to focus less on votes and more on improving the lives of disadvantaged households and the common good of our community. Funding could flow from a thorough reappraisal of the broader taxation system. However, the current fiscal regimes are still considered sacrosanct by the major parties.

A key policy area in our Justice & Compassion suite is housing, which featured in the campaign through the lens of home buying, not enabling every Australian to find an affordable and secure place to call home. Although hampered by the tradie and materials shortages, the government has made progress in providing social and affordable housing, but a mountainous challenge remains.

One-in-three people rent yet the market continues to be impossibly tight in many places, with research showing that a single person on Jobseeker cannot afford to rent anywhere in the country, even after factoring in Commonwealth Rent Assistance and other supplementary payments.

There should be nationwide implementation of the Better Deal for Renters program, which seeks to strengthen renters’ rights across the country.

The Society calls for housing to be recognised as a human right and for a significant boost to social and affordable housing, along with increased funding for homelessness services, and an overdue re-examination of the taxation benefits of investing in rental property.

We believe the government should progress the aims expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and provide suitable funding for meeting the goals of Closing the Gap. We also seek the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 years to at least 14 years, with the younger age disproportionately affecting First Nations children.

We urge fairer processes for more recent arrivals - the many asylum seekers and refugees who continue to be punished for fleeing their homelands in fear of their lives. To do this is a courageous act, not a criminal one.

Then there are the issues largely unvoiced in the campaign, such as the lack of courageous action to curtail online gambling, as recommended in a major parliamentary report. Gambling losses impact on the livelihood of many families, with young people being enticed into the gambling culture through their phones.

The Society is committed to ‘speaking truth to power’, not in a partisan way, but because we believe in a fair go.

Our messages apply more now than before the election, and the time ahead provides ample opportunity for the new government to focus its energy on making Australia a better and happier place for all. 
Doing so could well translate into catching even more votes in three years’ time. R