Senator Lidia Thorpe will move an amendment to strike out Schedule 5 of the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025, after the Government quietly inserted a measure to expand police power into the social safety net.

The Bill is expected to come to a vote in the Senate this week.

Schedule 5 was quietly added to the bill just days ago, without scrutiny from the Human Rights or Community Affairs committees. It allows police to advise the responsible Minister to cancel a person’s Centrelink payment where an arrest warrant exists against them.

This would include cancellation of concession cards, pensions, Jobseeker, Youth Allowance, Family Tax Benefit and Parental Leave pay — with no requirement that the person subject to a warrant has been convicted, appeared in court, or received legal advice.

Senator Thorpe’s amendment to remove the schedule in full is backed by a broad coalition of anti-poverty, disability and legal advocacy groups. Together, they warn it breaches international human rights, undermines the presumption of innocence, and could be misused in ways that harm families and children.

See joint media statement from civil society groups here.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

"This is a shocking attempt to quietly expand police power into the welfare, tax and workplace relations systems. It hands police and Ministers the power to punish people before they’ve been found guilty of anything. 

"The Government wants to let police cut off people’s income on the basis of suspicion — not conviction, not a court decision, and before someone has even received legal advice. 

"The measures are harsher than those levelled against people who have been convicted or incarcerated.

"It’s a clear breach of the presumption of innocence and the separation of powers. No Minister should have power to punish someone just suspected of an offence without due process. 

"This move will hurt people who are already struggling the most in this country — victim-survivors of domestic violence, children, disabled people and First Peoples, particularly women.

"We already know police routinely misidentify victim-survivors of family violence as perpetrators. Aboriginal women are some of the most misidentified and over-policed people in this country. Under these powers, a woman fleeing an abuser could lose the only income keeping her and her kids safe.

"Cutting someone’s Centrelink payment means cutting their rent, their groceries, their medication and their children’s food. It means homelessness, desperation and child removal — all before a court has heard a single piece of evidence.

"Once again, the Government is using a social security bill to attack the rights of the poorest people in this country. First it was Robodebt. Now Labor are opening another door for abuse.

"Governments always say these powers will only be used in extreme cases. We’ve heard that before. We know that when these sorts of powers are introduced, it's not long before they are abused and used against protesters, against young people, against First Peoples and the poor. 

"I’m calling on the Senate and the crossbench to stand up for people's basic rights and remove this schedule from the bill.

"Punishing people before they stand trial is fundamentally wrong. We cannot let Labor get away with this."