Face of Nation : With the Federal Government firmly opposed to any change, Labor backbenchers are urging their party to commit to an increase and put pressure on the Coalition to do the same.
The Newstart Allowance is worth about $278 a week — or less than $40 a day — for singles and has not risen, in real terms, in a quarter of a century.
There is broad support for an increase from a coalition of economists, business, industry and welfare groups, who argue the payment is so low it is preventing people from getting a job.
West Australian Labor MP Josh Wilson said a $75-per-week boost — as suggested by ACOSS — is “not a hell of a lot” and would be the minimum increase required. “That really should be the minimum lift, I think, for people who are not being supported and who are essentially living in poverty,” he said.
He argued the move would not only be fair but would also benefit the economy because people would spend the extra cash.
New South Wales Labor backbencher Mike Freelander told The Guardian his party needed to “show a bit of guts” and commit to a “significant” boost.
“I think we need to increase the Newstart, with rental assistance, to around $400 per week,” he told.
That would equate to a $75 a week boost plus an extra $50 in rental assistance which Dr Freelander said would allow unemployed people to get a place to live, buy food for themselves and cover public transport costs.
“There’s a large group of people out there stuck on Newstart who are homeless, couch-surfing or really on the periphery and we need to help them urgently,” he said.
Labor has repeatedly described Newstart as “too low” and promised to review the payment, with a view to increasing it, if it won the election.
Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has made it clear the review will not be going ahead and said while he believed Newstart was “inadequate”, it was up to the Government to do something about it. Some within Labor back his position, arguing the party should make this the Coalition’s problem for as long as it can.
Victorian Labor MP Julian Hill said the Government, now in its third term, had said nothing about the most vulnerable people in Australia.
“The question for me is, what are the Liberals going to do for people living in poverty?” he asked. “Right now, it is not for us to put forward a proposition, it’s not for us to lead from Opposition on every issue. They’re the Government.”
But others — including Chris Hayes — want Labor to take a stronger stand and firmly commit to an increase as it reviews all of its policies after its shock election loss.
Victorian Labor backbencher Peter Khalil said there was a will on his side of politics to “look at this issue seriously” while his colleague Ged Kearney said she would be surprised if anyone in Labor believed the allowance was sufficient.
“A lot of our policies are up for review and I don’t see why we can’t be reviewing our position on this,” she said. “I’m up for a debate on it within the party and I would certainly be supporting an increase.”
But she cautioned against putting a dollar figure on it, before taking a “good, hard look” at the entire welfare system and how Newstart “interacts” with other payments available to unemployed people.
