New Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth outlines immediate priorities as RBA hikes interest rate

Time is against South Australian Amanda Rishworth as she races to implement a new plan to end violence against women in her first days in the job.

New Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth is in a race against the clock to implement a new plan to end violence against women, with the current strategy set to expire in a matter of weeks.

Revealing her urgent priorities in the complex portfolio, Ms Rishworth says she is making moves to enforce the new 10-year National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children crafted under the oversight of her predecessor Anne Ruston.

“I am a bit disappointed, coming to office with only a few weeks left of the previous plan, that there hasn’t been more effort and work on actually making sure that there were deliverables,” Ms Rishworth said.

“We need to understand the urgency of actually implementing (the plan) … that is critically important.

“We need attention on this, because we still see too much (domestic violence) in our community and our society – we need women and children to feel safe. That is a big, big focus of mine.”

The new plan is described as a “national blueprint for change”, setting collective priorities among states and territories.

It is guided by a set of key principles, including addressing gender inequality and working with indigenous leaders to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

The plan also urges policy makers to ensure survivors of domestic violence have a seat at the table, given their lived experience.

Julie Duncan, the general manager of Adelaide domestic violence shelter Catherine House, said a slew of new program would be created under the plan.

“That’s the thing that takes a bit of time to gear up around,” she said.

“It’s a bit of an unfortunate time with the new government coming in at the tail-end of the process.”

SA MP Amanda Rishworth was sworn in as the new Social Services Minister last Wednesday. Pictured with Governor-General David Hurley at the ceremony at Government House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Taylor

In her first days in the role, Ms Rishworth started the process of scrapping the “privatised” cashless welfare card system, which started in Ceduna, SA, and other regional areas.

Ms Rishworth did not rule out using a similar scheme, which she said must be voluntary and not “privatised”.

“We’ve said that if communities want voluntary income management, then we will look at supporting that,” she said.

“But what we don’t think is that the cashless debit card scheme that was privatised and expanded without justification was the right thing to do.”

RISHWORTH MONITORING MORTGAGE MISERY

The federal government is bracing for a new wave of people suffering financial stress as the Reserve Bank looks set to lift the cash rate on Tuesday.

Ms Rishworth says there is “no doubt” the number of people suffering mortgage stress will increase as interest rates rise for the second time in as many months.

“When interest rates do go up, there are inevitably some people that find themselves in mortgage stress,” said the member for Kingston, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.

“It is a concerning economic situation we find ourselves in, and so I will certainly be monitoring that and asking my department to monitor that very, very closely.”

Latest Roy Morgan data showed 742,000 Australians were suffering from mortgage stress at the end of last year, including 447,000 at “extreme risk”.

The Social Services Department’s financial counselling service could face a deluge of demand amid the gas crisis and the expected rate hike.

Economists say an increase is a “done deal”, with some tipping an increase as high as 0.5 per cent as the RBA falls behind the curve of rampant inflation. It would lift the cash rate to 0.85 per cent and put new pressure on millions of homeowners.

“The debate is not around whether there will be a hike, but around the size of the hike,” Bank SA chief economist Besa Deda said.

Scoring a huge promotion last week, Ms Rishworth now finds herself in charge of implementing key cost-of-living reforms promised by Labor to shield older Australians from rising interest rates.

These include freezing pension deeming rates for two years and widening the eligibility for concession cards.

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