Labor and welfare groups have expressed concern about a reported deal to push through the Coalition’s overhaul of the welfare system, warning it will be bad news for the nation’s most disadvantaged.



The Australian reported on Wednesday that the Nick Xenophon Team had almost reached a deal with the government on the bulk of its proposed welfare changes, which does not include support for the controversial drug testing plan.



The proposed changes include a major overhaul of the existing compliance regime for jobseekers, which would use a demerit points system to punish welfare recipients who fail, for example, to make appointments or job interviews.

The Coalition wants to abolish wife pension payments for about 200 women living overseas and remove “intent to claim provisions”, which protect people who are entitled to welfare but are unable to lodge a full claim due to personal circumstances.

The legislation will simplify and consolidate a range of jobseeker payments and make it more difficult for welfare recipients to use drug and alcohol addiction as a reason for failing to meet mutual obligation requirements.

Planned cuts to a bereavement allowance could also leave grieving families about $1,300 worse off.

The Labor senator Doug Cameron said the changes targeted “the poorest people in the country, the most vulnerable people in the country”. He said Labor was not interested in negotiating with the Coalition.

“I’m not very keen to be doing any trading with the Coalition, whose position has been to attack the most vulnerable in the community ever since the 14-15 budget,” Cameron told the ABC. “We need to make sure we build a good society in this country, that we look after those that are falling through the cracks.”

Last year, the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) said the changes represented an attempt to “dismantle an already inadequate social security system”.

“There is no question, in our view, that life will be made much harder for people who are already in the bottom 20% of the socioeconomic circumstances of the population if this bill goes through,” the Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said in August.



Acoss tweeted on Wednesday that the reported agreement reached between NXT and the government “looks like a bad deal for people struggling on income support payments”.

While we don't have all the details yet, this still looks like a bad deal for people struggling on income support payments. The Welfare 'Reform' Bill should be opposed. @NXT_HQ @AustralianLabor @OneNationAus #welfarereformbill https://t.co/ZvJHprHUqY — ACOSS (@ACOSS) January 3, 2018

The passage of the legislation has been held up by opposition to the trial of drug testing welfare recipients, which was opposed by Labor, the Greens and NXT.

The former social services minister Christian Porter has previously said the bill was likely to be split to carve out the drug testing measure. The remainder of the measures now look to have the support of the NXT party.

The NXT social services spokeswoman, Rebekha Sharkie, told the Australian that NXT would vote for the legislation if the government committed to $40m for rehabilitation services and to train regional GPs in drug and alcohol addiction. There was also reportedly a commitment to review the new compliance regime within two years.

She said the government had agreed to the deal.

“[The deal] strikes a good balance. I think taxpayers quite rightly expect people to look for work or address barriers to look for work,” Sharkie told the Australian. “But if somebody does have an addiction and puts their hand up and says ‘I need some support’, we’re a country that has the capacity to provide that support.”