Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research (Senator Evans) to a question without notice asked by Senator Siewert today relating to income support payments.

The reason I asked these questions is there has been speculation in the media as a result of reading the government department submissions to the Newstart inquiry suggesting that somebody living on Newstart would be in a better situation than those on the minimum wage. I think the department has forgotten—and I am not suggesting this was on purpose because I would not want to infer that—to take into account that somebody living on the minimum wage could also receive maximum family tax benefit and rent assistance. In fact, if you use what Centrelink does for those receiving benefits, which is a comparison calculator enabling people to continually check what will happen to their payments when their circumstances change, that tells us that a single parent with a two-year-old and a 10-year-old paying $250 a week rent will receive the same family tax benefit and rent assistance regardless of whether they are on the minimum wage or in receipt of government assistance. In other words, those living on the minimum wage also receive family tax benefits. In fact, it is not true to say that those trying to live on Newstart are better off than those on the minimum wage. I am not sure why that story got legs or the government was trying to talk that up when the departmental submission seems to have some omissions.

The government also said in their submission that we need to bear in mind it is very important to know how community attitudes are perceived in this country. I will remind the chamber about those living on Newstart: one in two has not completed year 12; one in three is over the age of 45 and is suffering from age discrimination in the workplace; one in seven has a disability that, more often than not, means they can only work part time; one in 15 is a sole parent; and one in 10 is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. In other words, each of these people face some barrier to finding employment.

The other part of my question related to the fact that the age pension is indexed differently to Newstart. Those living on an age pension will get an increase of $8.55 per week while those living on Newstart will get an increase of just $1.45 per week. The government's previous supplement announcement gave people an extra $4 a week—that was at least a cup of coffee; $1.45 will not even pay for a cup of coffee. The minister tried to justify this disparity by saying people are only on Newstart for a short time. Let me remind the chamber of a figure that came out of estimates at the end of last year—64 per cent of people are on Newstart for longer than a year. In other words, we are subjecting those who are living on Newstart, or trying to live on Newstart, to grinding poverty. The government try to imply that that is okay because people are only on Newstart for a short time, that they do not need an increase like those on the age pension.

We all acknowledge that people living on the age pension struggle to get by. So how will people be able to live on $130 a week less than the age pension? And in a couple of weeks that figure will be even lower—$133 a week below the poverty line. The government do not think there is a need to (a) increase Newstart by $50 a week and (b) improve indexation. If Newstart were indexed in the same way as the age pension, at least those people would get a more significant increase—the same as those on the age pension. The cost of living is going up but apparently the cost of living is not going up for those struggling to survive on Newstart. The government need to wake up and listen to those who are trying to survive on Newstart and increase Newstart by $50 a week, and increase other allowances, and start helping people out of poverty. Living in poverty is another barrier to finding employment.

Question agreed to.