Equal access to social and economic rights in Australia – the troubling case of ParentsNext

ABSTRACT

This reflection considers the slow progress towards domestic recognition of social and economic rights in Australian law and the notable gaps that remain. It focuses on the lack of actionable rights to social security and non-discrimination in relation to a government program called ParentsNext. This legal gap leaves some of the most vulnerable members of our community without protection against policies that impinge on their rights to equality of access to income support.

KEYWORDS:

• social and economic rights
• non-discrimination
• social security
• ParentsNext

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Notes

1. Australia has, however, chosen not to sign the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN General Assembly 2008) which allows individuals to bring complaints against their government to the treaty body.

2. However, the direct incorporation by the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) of international human rights, including social and economic rights, offers some possibilities in this regard.

3. I have made submissions on the human rights concerns with ParentsNext to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee’s ‘Inquiry into ParentsNext, including its trial and subsequent broader rollout’ (Senate Community Affairs References Committee 2019) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ ‘Inquiry into ParentsNext: examination of Social Security (Parenting payment participation requirements - class of persons) instrument 2021ʹ (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights 2021) in May 2021.

The 2019 Senate Inquiry recommended that the program should ‘not continue in its current form’ (Senate Community Affairs References Committee 2019). The 2021 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry recommended making the program voluntary to ensure it is compatible with human rights (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights 2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Beth Goldblatt

Beth Goldblatt is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney, and is a Visiting Professor in the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She works in the areas of feminist legal theory, equality and discrimination law, comparative constitutional law, and human rights with a focus on economic and social rights, and the right to social security in particular. She is the author of ‘Developing the Right to Social Security – A Gender Perspective’ (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor of ‘Women Rights to Social Security and Social Protection’ (Hart, 2014, with Lucie Lamarche), ‘Women’s Social and Economic Rights’ (Juta, 2011, with Kirsty McLean), and ‘The Right to the Continuous Improvement of Living Conditions’ (Hart, 2021, with Jessie Hohmann).