Louise Upston: Social Development Minister talks new parental assistance test and new incentive to stay in work

Thousands of teenagers could have their Jobseeker benefit cut next year, as the Government restricts payments.

Eighteen and 19-year-olds without children must pass a Parental Assistance Test to qualify from November 2026.

The threshold will be set at just over $65,000.

Social Development Minister Louise Upston told Tim Beveridge it's the same as the Supported Living Payment, and similar to the Student Allowance test.

She says those on very low incomes below that would not be able to support these teenagers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be the government has almost just literally right now,
the government's just announced a new initiative to move young
people out of benefit dependency and incentivize them to stay
in work. Young people participating in the Ministry of Social
Development's new Community Job Coaching service can apply for a
hundred for it, sorry, for a thousand dollar bonus payment

(00:32):
if they get a job and stay off the benefit
for twelve months. And they've also given more detail around
their budget announcement that young people aged eighteen and nineteen
will no longer be eligible for job seeker payments if
their parents can support them. And Minister for Social Development
and Employment Louise Upston is with me now, good.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Afternoon, Good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
So how's this bonus scheme going to work? And will
it cost anything?

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah? So, what we're wanting to do for a young
person that's been on the job sect benefits for twelve
months or more and it's been involved with our community
job coaching if they get a job and stay in
a job for at least twelve months, we want to
incentivize them to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I guess is there intuitively, is there a cost to this,
because if they're going to end up back on a benefit,
then that's going to cost you. But how does that
going about? How many people are just going to be
given money that when they were always going to keep
that job.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Well, I think what we're trying to do here is
really create an incentive. And for young people that go
on to the job Seeker Benefit under the age of
twenty five, we know that likely to spend another eighteen
years of their life circling on and off benefits. So
one thousand dollars to keep them in a job and

(01:55):
incentivize them to stay off welfare is a very small
price to pay just a quick thing.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
How will you actually monitor it in terms of whether
they've got a job, Because let's say you've got a
job for ten months or eleven months, you might decide
just to not claim the benefit for a couple of
months and say you've been working.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, So they have to apply for this and it
will be pretty clear in terms of whether they're still
in that job and whether they're being successful. And look,
I don't expect a somebody who's been in a job
for twelve months is then going to think oh, I'm
going to cycle back onto the benefit because we know
the benefits of being in work are so much greater

(02:36):
than just earning an income. And this is about breaking
the cycle of young people being trapped on welfare, which
is what none of us want.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
How many people do you think it's going to affect.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Our estimates are about two four hundred that would be eligible.
And as I said that, that's a small price to
pay when we know young people can get stuck on welfare,
and none of us want to see that. We want
to have greater expectations of young people reaching their potential
and they don't do that when they're stuck on welfare.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
That's only about two and a half million dollars, isn't it.
That's a drop in the bucket in terms of budgets,
isn't it. Did I get it right? I think I
got that right.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, Well, as we know, it's more about just it's
more than just the cost. We know the social cost
of a young person being trapped on welfare. If we
can connect them to employment, keep them in a job,
it is so much better for their future opportunities. And
that's really what this is all about. So it's not
bad to have an incentive for them.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
What about this thing about young people aged eighteen nineteen
will no longer be eligible for job seeker if their
parents can support them. How's that going to look.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, So this is a policy we announced in Budget
twenty five and that's really us saying as a government,
we have high expectations for young people that when they
are eighteen or nineteen, they should be in further education,
training or a job, and if they're not, they will
be their parents' responsibility unless a tight number of circumstances exist.

(04:09):
So it's really about being clear about the responsibilities of
parents and the expectations for young people to be in
study or in a job.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Some critics would say that you're turning young adults into
children and fantalizing them.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Now we're doing quite the opposite. We're actually saying, you know,
here's a set of expectations that we have of you,
and we want them to have a better life rather
than being going on to welfare and getting stuck there.
And it's an expectation that many of us were brought
up with that when you leave school to go into

(04:45):
further education, go to polytech, go to UNI, get a job.
And that's why we just want to set that expectation
for our eighteen and nineteen year olds.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
So how do you work out if their parents can
support them? What are the criteria?

Speaker 3 (04:59):
So the parental assistance test, there's a couple of components.
One is the parents' income, so there'll be a threshold
for their parents' income, and also what we call a
support gap. So if there's been a significant breakdown in
a young person in their relationship with their parents and
they can't reasonably expect their parents to look after them

(05:22):
or support them, there is the ability for that to
be assessed. So there are a few exceptions, but the
reality is most eighteen and nineteen year olds, we want
them to be studying or in a job, and they
shouldn't just expect it. Turning up and getting the doll
is the best thing for them.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
What was what's the threshold going to be?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Sixty five thousand which is the cutout rate for the
supported living payment, and that of course is adjusted annually.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
The parents are sorry is that if the parents are
earning sixty five thousand or more, correct, they're going to
have to I'll have a gut real action from not
just me, but from people who are listening, you're saying
that's nothing. You're going to make people. You're just going
to push people who are struggling. I mean feeding an
eighteen or nineteen year old and putting them up it's
a pretty expensive business.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Well, we want them to be in training, in training
or a job, and there should be very few young
people that need to go on welfare. And that's what
we're being clear about here is to set people up
for a great future then going on to a going
on to welfare and being stuck there isn't it.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Do they have to live with their parents? I guess
if you're on sixty five thousand, you're not going to
be able to play for a flat for your kids.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
No, some of them might be living with their parents.
So at the moment, an eighteen year old who is
living with their parents on the job seeker benefit gets
two hundred and sixty eight dollars a week and they're
living at home with their parents. So I'm sorry, but
we don't want young people to see going on welfare
is the best choice for them, because we know they

(07:07):
get stuck there and we know that that traps them
and that's not a life of opportunity.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
I guess I thank you. My worry would be. Look,
it's not like the job market is rocking and rolling
right now, isn't it. And for kids who do want
to get a job, who sort of that's where the
infantilizing side comes, isn't it. You've got a family who
might be on you know, let's say seventy thousand dollars
a year having to put up an eighteen or nineteen
year old who actually wants to work but can't get work,

(07:34):
but you're forcing them to live at home and rely
on them and cause hardship to their parents.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
This policy comes in November next year, so we want
families to start planning what that looks like for their
young people so they can be encouraging them into a
wide range of study options that are available or into work.
And while I accept it's a challenging employment market at
the moment, we have seen much tougher times in the past.

(08:05):
We want to see young people striving for training or
a job.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
So if they can't get a job, then training will
mean that they're eligible for something or how does that work?

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, so the system at the moment works that they
would be eligible for a student loan and or a
student allowance and so the student allowance system the moment
already has a parental income test, so this is and
that's up to the age of twenty four, so there
is we're creating a bit more of an alignment between

(08:38):
the student allowance system and the wealthare system.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Okay, hey, I appreciate your time this afternoon, Louise. That's
Louise Upston, Minister for Social Development and Employment.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
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