Anne Aly will never forget the day she broke down in tears outside a Centrelink office.
The then 25-year-old had just left her violent husband and had two sons, aged one and three, to take care of.
"I had absolutely nothing; not a cent to my name," the Labor MP told parliament.
She was desperate, and felt ashamed and humiliated, only to be told she would have to wait a week for her first parenting payment.
"I didn't know how I was going to feed my children for that next week until that payment came through.
"I'll never forget those days."
Ms Aly said people in those situations, many of them mothers fleeing domestic violence, are not out to scam the government.
"We're not criminals - we're there because we have no other choice."
The counter-terrorism expert was speaking out against a suite of welfare cuts, which cleared parliament on Wednesday night despite opposition from Labor.
Specifically, she slammed the extended waiting period for those seeking single-parent payments and the freeze on income-free areas for some payments.
The latter, she claimed, will affect 204,000 Australians on the lowest incomes.
Ms Aly told MPs that, at one point, she had to raise her children with just $400 a fortnight.
That was less than one-third of the travel allowance she gets as an opposition backbencher for four days when parliament is sitting.
"I haven't forgotten what it's like to stand at the shopping centre counter and return half your shopping because you simply can't afford it that week.
"I haven't forgotten what it's like to delve through my purse and pick up coins just to be able to afford essentials like milk and bread.
"I will use every last breath that I have ... to remind this government that there are people out there in my electorate and their electorates for whom this is not something they can push into the past - this is part of their everyday reality."
The federal government is planning to use some of the savings to help pay for a new childcare package.
