Monday, our Campaigns Co-Coordinator Samantha Skinner spoke with Jo Laverty on ABC Adelaide Radio about the federal government’s alarming new amendment giving police and ministers the power to suspend people’s Centrelink payments without a court process.
As Samantha said in her interview:
“This amendment is one of the most alarming overreaches we’ve seen in years – it gives police and ministers the power to cut off people’s Centrelink payments without a court process. It’s another example of the government weaponising the welfare system against the very people it’s meant to support.”
The change was slipped in quietly, after parliamentary inquiries into the main bill had already finished – meaning no scrutiny, no consultation, and no transparency.
If this legislation were truly sound, it wouldn’t need to be hidden.
The Anti-Poverty Network SA joins other organisations, including the Antipoverty Centre, in calling for this amendment to be withdrawn immediately. Our joint statement explains exactly how dangerous this measure is, and InDaily’s recent coverage outlines how it undermines basic rights.
This law tramples the principle of justice – the right to know the case against you and to defend yourself before the state takes action that harms you. Instead, it allows punishment without notice, without hearing, and without trial.
It’s not hard to imagine who will be most affected. People in poverty. Aboriginal people. Women fleeing domestic violence. People already criminalised or living on the margins. Someone escaping a violent partner could suddenly lose their income because of a police accusation, at the most dangerous point in her life – with no chance to explain, and no court oversight.
At the end of the day, no one should lose their income because of an accusation. We need a welfare system built on real care and justice, not control and punishment.
This amendment is shameful, and it sets a frightening precedent. Governments know that being seen as “tough on welfare” and “tough on crime” is politically popular – doing both at once gives them double the headlines – more bang for their buck!
But trading away the rights of poor and criminalised people for political gain is not justice.
At the end of the interview, the host read out listeners’ text messages, which only reinforced the point: governments gain political support by appearing “tough on crime and welfare,” even when it comes at the expense of people’s rights. Many voters are willing to trade justice for a sense of safety, but in reality, lifting people out of poverty would make communities safer far more effectively than punitive measures ever could.
The Anti-Poverty Network SA will continue to stand alongside those most affected by punitive welfare policies – and to demand a fair system built on care, dignity, and due process for all.
Further reading:
This article by Amy Remeikis in The New Daily makes some powerful points about how the criminal justice system fuels racism and gender-based violence, and how these new rules would only deepen those harms.
The National Indigenous Times highlights how the amendment quietly turns welfare into a weapon, bypassing courts and threatening the survival of people already living on the edge, in an opinion piece by Tabitha Lean and Debbie Kilroy, coordinators of the National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.
Media Ph: (08) 8451 1589 E: info@apnsa.org
5 November 2025 – Big news Today!
The Law Council of Australia has come out swinging against the government’s plan to give police and ministers the power to strip Centrelink payments from people with an outstanding arrest warrant – even if they haven’t been convicted of anything.
They’ve called for Schedule 5 to be separated from the rest of the Bill so it can get the proper scrutiny it never had. Their statement says it clearly: this change “denies people the fundamental right to the presumption of innocence and procedural fairness.”
We get disheartened – and we’re still disheartened – by the constant barrage of punishment directed at poor people. The irony is, it’s the government who keeps us poor. Why on earth are you punishing us?
We digress. But the heartache is real for every one of us fighting for a government that treats people with dignity, not suspicion.
And this is what happens when a bunch of anti-poverty activists pool their knowledge, contacts, policy nerds, and the ones willing to read dense legislation (so the rest of us don’t have to), show up to MPs’ offices, and jump on early-morning Zooms without coffee – it works.
The Law Council of Australia getting involved puts real pressure on the government to do the right thing, and to stop rushing roughshod over people’s rights.
Link to the Law Council of Australia’s Media Release and The Antipoverty Centre’s update on the current state of affairs.
#povertyisapoliticalchoice #HumanRightsDefenders #povertyisnotacrime
Anti-Poverty Network SA 
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