Nelson Mandela famously wrote this in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom: “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

By this measure, Anthony Albanese’s Labor government continues to fail miserably.

At a time when every politician claims to be concerned about the rising costs of living, the Labor government continues to punch down on the most vulnerable sections of society — those who are forced to struggle on below-the-poverty-line welfare payments.

Labor refused to raise payments in its May budget and now it is about to resume a penalty system for people on welfare payments that could cut off a person’s income for four weeks for breaching unreasonable conditions.

Welfare groups pointed out, in a joint statement on August 13, that these penalties were paused because the government had failed to administer the law correctly. The Commonwealth Ombudsman found 964 people had had their income support unlawfully cancelled, between April 2022 and July 2024 — on the recommendation of a privatised employment service.

“A second Ombudsman’s report........

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