Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the senator's interest and knowledge in this area, but my advice is that around 60 per cent of Newstart recipients stay on payment for less than 12 months. But I am happy to be corrected if that is not right. As I said, I know Senator Siewert has a broad grasp of these issues.

The other thing to say is that, in terms of this transitional payment, the Newstart allowance is only one element of a range of payments and service offerings—things like rent assistance, telephone allowance, pharmaceutical allowance and, obviously, family tax benefits for those people who are supporting children. So I think one has to put all this in the broader context of other payments that are made to support people. But it is the case that the payment is a basic payment, and there is no doubt that it does mean that people do not have a high standard— (Time expired)