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

I rise tonight to speak again on the lived experiences of people in our community trying to survive on Newstart and youth allowance. Yesterday I reintroduced the Australian Greens' fifth bill to increase the rate of Newstart and related payments. As I said yesterday, I have received an overwhelming number of messages from the community about their experiences living on Newstart and youth allowance. I also said yesterday that I would continue to share more of their powerful stories with the Senate.

I heard about the damaging and hurtful impacts of Newstart. I heard about the impacts on social and emotional wellbeing, on health, on mental health and on their ability to get by. People have told me what it's like, including many points that I have seen raised by people here. I will also add this: 'You feel like a burden to friends because they want to spend time with you, but you can't afford to join them. Or they keep footing the bill for you, and it makes you feel worse. I live in an area where I need my car to get around. I can't even afford to get that serviced, so if it dies, I'm done for. Getting something nice to spoil yourself could be ordering cheap takeaway food or a packet of chips from Coles or Woolies.'

Another person said: 'It is demoralising and anxiety ridden. You're always on edge that your payment may be cut for reasons out of your control. You're unable to access the support you need because you're living in relative poverty. Fresh fruit and vegetables become a luxury. Psychological appointments aren't affordable. Clothes for job interviews are difficult to afford, and travel on public transport takes up all your "spare cash". You feel trapped in a hole that you will never claw your way out of.'

One young woman shared her difficulties in relying on charities for food and how some charities couldn't help her, because she wasn't a parent: 'You can't live on Newstart, not at all. I was on Newstart for a while. I got rent assistance also. After paying my rent, I was left with $38 a fortnight to pay for groceries, medication, utilities and transport. I ate food cold, as I couldn't afford the power bills to cook it. I went to bed early in winter to try and stay warm, as I couldn't afford heating. I had to rely on charities for groceries, but this depends on where you live. Some charities in some areas provide supermarket vouchers to buy groceries, but the charities in my area couldn't afford to do that, so relied on distributing donated food, which doesn't cater for allergies or dietary requirements. Other charities couldn't help me, as I was a single woman; they would only help those with children. Large charities that are constantly asking for and receiving donations don't operate in my area, so they couldn't help. Paying bills, you are always behind, forever trying to play catch-up, never having enough to pay the bills on time.

The utilities that offer discounts for on-time payments—you can't get a discount, because you can't pay on time. And then you had the constant sneering, eye rolling and degrading comments when people find out you're on Newstart. Yes, Newstart is only a payment to get you by until you get a job, but you need to actually be able to get by on it. And you can't. Period.'

We know that living below the poverty line can exacerbate physical and mental health issues. One person told me about the torment they experienced managing their health while on Newstart: 'I've been in hospital over 15 times in the past two years due to my mental health. I'm currently not eligible for the disability pension, so I'm given doctor's notes—therefore, I am living off of Newstart. It is absolutely hell. I don't have enough money to better my situation. There's no way I can afford psychotherapy and there is no medication for my disorder. I have been couch surfing and homeless for a while. I'm extremely suicidal most of the time. Not worrying about what I've got to eat, bus fare and rent would greatly improve the chance of me living a somewhat normal life.'

I heard from somebody else about the constant fear they lived in of being potentially hit by a robo-debt. They said: 'Hell. It's hell. Job search providers don't actually help you find work; they just make appointments without telling you, seemingly at random, and cut your pay. They cut your pay if you don't turn up to the appointment that you didn't know about. You ration out every cent. If you need to buy your medication, you accept that means you'll eat like crap that fortnight. Fruit and vegetables every day feels like a luxury. If your clothes fall apart, you fix them instead of buying new ones. You extend all of your bills, and it forever feels like you're playing catch-up. You're studying, but not enough to be on the study payment, so you're stuck looking for jobs that don't want you anyway. You live in fear of your myGov inbox. You get hit with a Centrelink debt and you sit on the floor and cry because you can't afford to pay them back and you can't afford to live. You feel completely stuck because you can't find work until you finish studying, but you can't keep surviving on Newstart. It's ruining your already fragile mental health. And then you buck up and survive anyway, because it's not like you have a choice in the matter—and, hey, it's "free money" and you should be grateful like everybody tells you to.' Our Prime Minister claims that Australia has one of the best safety nets of anywhere in the world. But how can we have an adequate safety net, let alone the best safety net, if this is what people are experiencing when they're living on Newstart?

Today,The Guardian reported analysis by Professor Peter Whiteford, from the Australian National University. Professor Whiteford used OECD data to compare Australia's unemployment payments against other countries'. According to Professor Whiteford's analysis, if you look at the replacement rate, Newstart is the second-lowest unemployment payment in the OECD. If you count rent assistance, then Newstart is the lowest unemployment payment in the OECD. So much for being the best system in the world!

Australia is the wealthiest country in the world, yet we have some of the worst unemployment payments. We must do better. I've committed to keep fighting to preserve our precious social safety net and ensure it continues to support all members of our community who need a hand and who are doing it tough. As you've just heard from those lived experiences—true accounts of people's lives—people are doing it tough on Newstart. You can't have any—any!—quality of life when you live on Newstart. You live from payment to payment. You can't afford your medical bills. For some specialists, as I articulated yesterday, their cost is actually more than a week's Newstart or youth allowance payment.

If you are not well, that is another barrier to employment. Poverty is a barrier to employment. If you have poor mental health, made worse and exacerbated by trying to survive on Newstart and not being able to afford treatment, that is a barrier to employment. We simply have to do better. Newstart needs to increase. I don't want to spend night after night, year after year, recounting the awful, awful experiences of people on Newstart. But I will, until we get an increase in Newstart and until everybody in this place is sick of the sound of my voice. We will keep campaigning to increase Newstart—not in two or three years time; it needs to happen now. It has not been increased for 25 years, while other salaries and wages have gone up. If we can afford to give $158 billion worth of tax cuts, we can afford to spend the $4 billion that it costs to increase Newstart.