Single mothers’ group says Coalition trying to ‘police women’s relationships’ by forcing friends to vouch for the status of those on single-parent payments

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Harsher welfare measures that force friends to vouch for the relationship status of social security recipients are damaging and are at odds with the standards applied to Barnaby Joyce and Julie Bishop in recent controversies, a single mothers’ group says.



The National Council for Single Mothers and their Children wrote to Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday in protest at the changes, which came into effect in January.



The new policy requires those on the single-parent payment and a similar Newstart payment to find a “referee” to sign a legally binding form verifying that the welfare recipient is single.

Forcing single parents to be verified is 'intrusive and demeaning' Read more

Giving false information can now land the referee a 12-month jail sentence. It is designed to crack down on welfare fraud and save the government $93.7m over five years.

Terese Edwards, the council’s chief executive, told Turnbull the requirements effectively allowed Centrelink to “police women’s relationship status”. They were demeaning to women and belonged in the 1970s, she said. Edwards said the previous arrangements were less onerous and intrusive, but still achieved third-party verification.

“We remain concerned for women who have left a violent partner and or women who require greater privacy as well as woman who do not have a ‘trusted third party’, noting that the third party cannot be a family member,” she said.

During the controversy over Joyce and his new partner, Vicki Campion, Turnbull deemed that Joyce had not breached the ministerial code of conduct when Campion was employed by the offices of Matt Canavan and Nationals whip Damian Drum.

Turnbull said Joyce had not breached the code because Campion was not his “partner” at the time of her appointments.

Bishop, meanwhile, claimed $32,000 in taxpayers’ money for “family” travel by her long-term partner, but did not declare his financial interests because she claimed he was not her spouse.

National MP says he was told Joyce relationship was over when he hired Campion Read more

Edwards said the double standard was clear. Low-income women were distrusted and required to have third parties prove they were telling the truth, while federal ministers were able to “self-determine” the classification of their relationships.

“The findings for members of parliament illustrates the complexity in contemporary relationships and particularly highlights the often-significant gap from the onset of dating to the decision of sharing parenting responsibilities and finances,” Edwards wrote.

“Despite this, the rules that your government now expects low- income single mothers to abide by in respect of developing relationships, are out of step with contemporary Australia and your recent findings.”

The changes were announced as part of the federal government’s welfare package in last year’s budget, but did not require legislation.

The government predicts that payments will be reduced or penalties imposed for 7,400 people. The budget estimated the measure would save $93.7m over five years.

The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) is strongly opposed to the verification changes.



The chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said they singled out single parents, most of whom were women, as being “unreliable and untrustworthy”.

“Single parents have enough on their plate trying to afford food, housing and clothing for their kids without having to get someone else to vouch for their relationship status,” she said.



“Single parents have been the target of cuts and attacks for years now. This latest provision marks a further intrusion and increases the powerlessness of parents who are doing the incredibly significant role of raising healthy children in our communities.”