Parent welfare program blasted in inquiry

A federal government program that forces parents to complete training to get their welfare payments is a pathway to homelessness, a Senate inquiry has heard.

A Senate inquiry into the ParentsNext program heard from dozens of women's advocacy groups, legal bodies, participants and service providers at a public hearing in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Senators were told the program - which suspends payments from its 68,000 participants if certain activities are not met - should be voluntary or even scrapped altogether.

Compliance activities differ from person to person and can include having to attend parenting groups, study, seek resume help and career counselling.

Mission Australia's Marion Bennett says the ParentsNext service provider has seen the potential it has to support parents and prepare them for employment.

However, the program changed for the worse after its initial trial when a targeted compliance framework was brought in, she told senators.

"It's operating in a reporting system which we believe is excessively burdensome and onerous," Ms Bennett said.

"And (it) actually works to defeat the objective of supporting parents to prepare for future employment."

Mission Australia staff are leaving because the program is now so focused on policing, she added.

ParentsNext participant Ella Buckland has created an online petition calling for the program to be voluntary, which has close to 35,000 signatures.

Ms Buckland voiced her concerns about the program's privacy waiver, which parents have to sign to receive payments.

The Senate inquiry heard multiple stories of people's' privacy being breached, notably where medical appointments were made for parents and their children without their knowledge.

This occurred after a ParentsNext provider was given Medicare card information.

National Council of Single Mothers and their Children chief executive Terese Edwards says the punitive nature of the program is not helping participants into employment.

The program should immediately be made voluntary, she added.

"I can say unequivocally that there is no family who benefits from having a payment cut or the threat of payment cut," Ms Edwards said.

"It is not a pathway into employment; it is a pathway into homelessness."

Although experiencing domestic violence should exempt people from the program, Ms Edwards said she had been helping a single mother who was still made to participate.

"Women who are exempt are still being referred. Once you're in it, it's impossible to get out of," she said.

Senators also heard that the program unfairly targets single women with young children, described as the most time-poor demographic

The program was trialled in 10 locations from April 2016 before its national rollout in July last year - but it only operates in struggling regions.

The committee is expected to report by the end of March.