Government may also proceed with cuts to student payments claimed by unemployed, disabled and sole parents

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Morrison government says it remains committed to a plan criticised as “brutal” to dock the welfare of those who repeatedly fail to pay state fines, and may still proceed with cuts to student payments claimed by the unemployed, the disabled and sole parents.

The Coalition introduced a number of welfare measures in 2017 which drew the ire of social service groups but ultimately never came into effect because the government failed to win the support of the Senate or the states and territories.

Guardian Australia reported this month that internal documents suggested the contentious plan to drug test welfare recipients was not a priority, but the government has insisted it remains on its agenda.

Other welfare proposals from the last parliament included about $90m in cuts to student payments, legislation to automatically deduct rent from welfare recipients living in social housing, which critics said could put family violence survivors at risk, and a plan to impose the “demerit point” compliance scheme on those doing the remote work-for-the-dole program, which has seen payment suspensions surge.

Asked whether the government would pursue these policies, a spokesman for the new social services minister, Anne Ruston, said only: “The government is working through the legislative priorities of the year ahead.”

'It is not a pipe dream': five things Australia could do now to end poverty Read more

But the spokesman did confirm the government still intended to create the scheme to automatically dock 15% of payments for those who have unpaid fines.

The policy was scheduled to begin in March, but appeared to be in disarray with the government failing to win the support of the Senate or states and territories, who would ultimately benefit from the recouped revenue. However, the make-up of the new Senate is more favourable to the government.

“The Encouraging Lawful Behaviour of Income Support Recipients proposal remains government policy and requires legislative approval,” Ruston’s spokesman said.

“The announced commencement date of 1 March 2019 was subject to the passage of legislation and agreement with jurisdictions on the operation of the measure.”

Labor had opposed the cuts to the $208-a-year pensioner education supplement and the $32.20-a week education entry payment, which are intended to help low-income people with the cost of study.

The changes would save the budget $95m over five years, but the opposition said the policy would hurt people with disability, carers, sole parents and the unemployed.

The Australian Council of Social Service has previously lashed the plan to dock welfare payments from people with court-ordered state fines as “particularly brutal”.

The proposal would automatically dock 15% of an income support payment, but critics say it will push vulnerable people into homelessness.

Welfare groups including the Australian Unemployed Workers Union have also expressed grave concerns about a plan announced last year to link Newstart recipients to farm work using the national database.

The unemployed would face losing their welfare payments for four weeks if they turned down what the government described as a “suitable job without reasonable excuse”.

The department of employment confirmed the policy would begin in July next year.

But it would not respond to questions about how the policy would work, including whether people would be supported to relocate, or what would be considered a “reasonable excuse”.