The nation's peak welfare body, the Australian Council of Social Service, has accused the Turnbull government of a breach of faith over plans for a crackdown on welfare payments and a backdown on superannuation changes.
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As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull softens the ground for potential compromises on the superannuation package to appease irate conservatives inside the Liberal Party, ACOSS says the government's apparent post-election priorities are a disappointing betrayal of constructive discussions with them and other groups.
"We've had the first clear indication from the government that it is absolutely determined to make major cuts to incomes and living standards of people who are the poorest, they're living on the lowest incomes in Australia," ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie told Fairfax Media.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter recently revealed $5 billion in welfare savings he wants to legislate by September, including data-matching recipients, increased disclosure requirements, reviewing disability support pensioners, reducing carer payments and halting carbon tax compensation for new recipients.
Dr Goldie said that these measures had been advanced without consultation and were a departure from agreements made between the participants of the National Reform Summit in August 2015.
"At the absolute minimum, given that we are talking about some of the most vulnerable people, the government should be sitting down with the community sector which has the direct experience with this system to make sure that its plans won't create really harsh outcomes for people," she said.
The government has said that legitimate recipients have nothing to worry about and that payments will simply be better targeted.
The reform summit, whose disparate participants were called together and applauded by the Prime Minister when he assumed office in September, agreed that low-income people should be protected and unemployment benefits increased from their current levels.
The carbon tax compensation is a small but valuable increase for the 800,000 people on the stagnant $38 a day unemployment payment and more aggressive Centrelink debt recovery would increase pressure on vulnerable people who don't have savings, Dr Goldie said.
She contrasted the lack of consultation on welfare with proposed compromises on "modest but important" measures targeting high-end superannuation, arguing the government should learn a lesson from how struggling communities voted at the election.
"That lifetime and annual cap are very modest measures to make superannuation fairer, to ensure that people who have high net worth are not using the superannuation system for essentially tax minimisation arrangements," Dr Goldie said.
"We strongly oppose any weakening of these. They're modest, not extreme. And they are going to affect a every small percentage of the people who fall into the most wealthy groups in the country and are receiving overwhelmingly too generous tax concessions.
"What has the government learned from the election outcome? To listen better. Well, who's it listening to?"
ACOSS believes that Mr Turnbull should engage with community groups - "there's not been any indication that they're prepared to" - and reach out to disadvantaged people seeking employment if he wants to restore confidence and faith in politics.
Coalition backbenchers have arced up at the superannuation measures, saying they target the parties' traditional base, scared off donors and campaign volunteers and drove some voters to minor parties and independents.
Anger is particularly focused on the $500,000 cap on non-concessional contributions, backdated to 2007. The government is reportedly considering significant exemptions for divorced couples, farming families and heirs of deceased estates.
