In just seven days, I can make you a man. Someone’s been singing that Rocky Horror Picture Show tune in Joe Hockey’s ear this week, as the Treasurer moves among his people. In just a week, someone, somewhere, is positioning Joe as different from the rest of the Liberal front bench. There’s not a day when he doesn’t mention the hardship his family had while he was growing up. Not a day when he doesn’t commend Australians for making sacrifices. Where he doesn’t appreciate us.
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There is no winking, squeezing, or comments about sex appeal from Mr Hockey. Solid. Hardworking. And willing to face up to his critics.The Treasurer fronted up solo to Q&A last Monday, which the Prime Minister is yet to do. And on Wednesday, he attended a lunch, organised by the Australian Council for Social Services, at NSW Parliament House. The Strangers' Dining Room was packed, with a lot of people who really – really – don’t like this budget; those who represent the the community sector of Australia.
But Mr Hockey got points on Monday for going on Q&A; and on Wednesday he racked up a few more. He manned up to face the people, again in stark contrast to the Prime Minister who on Wednesday cancelled a visit to a university because of "AFP advice".
Joe, on the other hand, has now been cast as the People’s Treasurer. He’s not afraid to face the questions, to mingle, to appear in selfies with the grateful members of the sector representing the most vulnerable members of the community.
In fact, he wanted ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie to be so comfortable and relaxed he invited her to call him Joe. Just like that. No sir. No, Mr Treasurer. Just Joe. Same as you and me. Adorable. And so much less scary than when he announced the budget, oh, it seems like a year ago.
There’d been some talk that there would be no questions for Mr Hockey. That must have been a mistake because, in a session that lasted about an hour, the community sector (but not the journalists) questioned the Treasurer across all the usual areas. To get to that point, though, we had to endure an economics lesson; a little bit of finger-wagging about deficits and surpluses; a confession that politicians, too, had had to suffer as a result of the pay freeze (and, goodness, complaints from the rich about the deficit levy).
"There was a visceral response to the levy," says the People’s Treasurer. Which is good because, on those incomes, targets of the levy will be able to maintain their viscera. We are all in this mess together. "Our motive is not to divide the nation." This came as a surprise to the audience, who were feeling somewhat divided; at least from government decision-making.
"[The community] are assuming we are malevolent, don’t assume that." OK then. You could not have asked for a more polite audience than this. There were sighs, enthusiastic clapping when a member of the community sector made a point. No calling out, no booing. No jeering. Only a momentary waver when Mr Hockey said there was no ideological motive. Then there were a few sniggers; and broken hearts.
First, a spokesperson for the National Council of Single Mothers. One in four children in single-parent families are already impacted by poverty. Now changes in the budget will make it even harder. "Every year we have had a whack," she said. "The cupboard was already bare ... the changes to [family benefits] is so harsh because of what’s come before."
This woman was on her feet. "I implore you to hit the pause button." Mr Hockey was having none of that (although when he told professional photographers to "stop!", it looked as if he was saying he didn’t need to hear more evidence before changing his mind on what the government was doing to single mothers). "I would love to be able to pay people to stay at home," Mr Hockey said. "But we can’t."
Unfortunately, the extraordinary people from the University of Canberra, the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, did not shout Mr Hockey down. As I say, no shouting, no booing, no correcting Mr Hockey’s errors of calculation, nor errors of interpretation. He may be the People’s Treasurer (at least he’s seeing people), but he's right and we're wrong.
A representative for the peak body for young people in NSW (the federal body was defunded at the budget) said jobs networks were not fixing the problems. And 100,000 young people will lose benefits. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Learn. Earn. And then, a spokesperson for Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, got to his feet.
Again, so courteous, he congratulated the Treasurer on his support for the NDIS, which Matthew Wright described as the greatest social reform of our time. Joe, not the architect of the NDIS, smiled without actually smiling. Wright explained that people with disabilities want jobs – and a jobs strategy. And he described the plight of those who will be turfed off the disability pension as a result of backdated applications of impairment tables – even though they’d recently been assessed as having significant disadvantage in the labour market.
In other words, people will be forced off DSP and forced on to Newstart, less money. Mr Hockey replied: "There is nothing that drives them off, unless they fail to comply. You should welcome that." Hmm. The People’s Treasurer appears to be implying that some people who may have qualified for disability pensions may have been, ahem, faking it. And on it went. He had no specific knowledge of housing concerns, or of jobs for indigenous people, or of regional disadvantage. Except he suggested that young people should be travelling to get jobs.
But yes, the People’s Treasurer really admires those who work with disadvantage. "Thank you for your engagement ... I admire what the community sector does."
And in a flash of photos and a click of selfies, the People’s Treasurer was gone. Back to his own people.
Twitter @jennaprice or email jenna_p@bigpond.net.au
