SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES 
SENATOR FOR NEW SOUTH WALES

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2018 
 
JENNY MCALLISTER, SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES: I wanted to make a few remarks about Mr Fletcher and his administration of the Department of Social Services Grants.
 
The Minister has completely bungled this process and it is becoming clearer every day that he is entirely out of his depth.
 
Yesterday, he confirmed a fifth backflip in just a fortnight.
 
Mr Fletcher has now indicated that the financial counselling services will not be given just an extra three months but in fact an additional 12 months of funding.
 
Mr Fletcher has been forced to change the arrangements for the National Debt Helpline. He's been forced to change the arrangements for Foodbank. He's been forced to change the arrangements for the Emergency Relief Grants and now on two occasions, he's been forced to backflip on the arrangements for financial counselling.
 
This is a joke. It's obvious that the Department is in complete chaos and Mr Fletcher is simply not handling it.
 
Kicking these problems down the road until after an election is not an acceptable way to deal with what is a very serious issue.
 
These organisations provide front line services to vulnerable Australians. Cutting their funding just weeks before Christmas was always wrong. Kicking it off down beyond an election is entirely cynical.
 
Mr Fletcher needs to explain what is going on. What has led to these problems and are there any other issues with the grants program that he is not telling us?
 
ENDS

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