Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is Anti-Poverty Week. Here in the parliament it is vital that political leaders recognise that in a country as lucky as ours 13 per cent of Australians live below the poverty line.

I was born in Murwillumbah on the North Coast of New South Wales. There, almost a third of children are living below the poverty line. Kids deserve a life of opportunity, but if their families are struggling to afford basic items like uniforms, school supplies and lunches, it's pretty hard for kids to imagine anything else but the harsh reality of their day-to-day lives

One report from ACOSS featured a story of a woman named Ellen talking about her kids and she said:

You can't live on Newstart. I eat one meal a day so the kids can eat. My sweet girl says I should eat more. I was a nurse for 27 years. All my savings have gone. I'm in so much debt. I try my best but feel so ashamed.

It's a pretty horrible story. And the thing is that one of the factors entrenching poverty in many communities is the disgracefully low rate of Newstart. For parents and carers raising children below the poverty line, it is difficult to make ends meet. In the electorate of Page, thousands of Australians are forced to live on just $40 a day. Across Lismore, Kyogle, the Clarence Valley and the Richmond Valley, almost 8,000 people are receiving Newstart or youth allowance payments, and they are struggling to cover basic costs like rent, bills and food. But the Prime Minister refuses to even consider raising the rate of Newstart, and that's despite overwhelming calls from the community, peak organisations, the Business Council of Australia and even the Reserve Bank governor to increase the payment. Recent reports and economic studies have found that raising the rate of Newstart would inject billions of dollars into the Australian economy and boost local economies in regions that need it the most. That is vital for areas like Lismore, with many local businesses still recovering from the impacts of the flood in 2017. While the electorate of Page would benefit from an increase to Newstart, the local member, Mr Kevin Hogan, refuses to stand up for his community.

The Prime Minister often says the best form of welfare is a job, and he's not entirely wrong, because dignified, secure work has been the hallmark of Australia and a measure of our prosperous society. But, as the BCA and many others have pointed out, the low rate of Newstart is a barrier to people re-entering the workforce. If you are receiving Newstart and struggling to pay your bills, how can you possibly afford the things you need for a job interview, like a phone, internet access, clothes and transport? And that situation is so much worse in regional areas where public transport is pretty much non-existent. But the Nationals leader and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr McCormack, recently suggested that people should move towns to find a job. I'd like to see him pick up his family and move towns, because it's not as easy as it sounds, not when you're living on $40 a day.

There are many things the government would prefer not to mention about the Newstart payment, like the fact that one in four Australians receiving Newstart are over 55 and at greater risk of age discrimination in the workforce, or the fact that over 130,000 people on Newstart do have a job but don't receive enough hours or income to get off the payment. Refusing to raise Newstart, refusing to even consider it, is not merely economically irresponsible but inhumane. People deserve to live, not just to survive. Australia is one of the richest countries in the world, yet over three million people are experiencing poverty. It's unacceptable, and the government must do something about it urgently.