Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge it will make a difference to people. We will not be standing in the way of getting this real increase—although it is absolutely insufficient—because $4 a day will make a difference. It might enable people to put a bit of extra food in their kids' lunchboxes. It might mean they can eat two meals a day instead of one meal a day. But my question remains: even with this real increase, I would like to know whether you accept that this increase is not going to lift people above the poverty line? People will be grateful for this increase, because they are living in absolute dire poverty now. They will welcome an extra $4 a day, but they would have welcomed much more an extra $40 a day, which would have lifted them above the poverty line. I just want to get a straight answer from the government, to acknowledge that, with this increase, people on income support are still going to be living in poverty.