National cabinet鈥檚 housing reforms will do nothing substantial for renters, Anti-poverty Centre spokesperson Kristin O鈥機onnell told Isaac Nellist.
Raise the rate
The聽Australian Unemployed Workers Union聽says it is 鈥渢ime for DJ Albo to stop spinning and start acting on the anti-poverty rhetoric he conveniently spouted from opposition,鈥 reports Nova Sobieralski.
Anti-poverty activists and聽welfare recipients called on Social Services minister Amanda Rishworth聽to raise welfare payments聽on the International Day for Eradicating Poverty. Isaac Nellist reports.
Anti-poverty campaigners are calling on Anthony Albanese鈥檚 Labor government to scrap the controversial new Workforce Australia program, reports聽Isaac Nellist.
The Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville, Sydney, has renamed one of its streets to Raise The Rate Drive to help raise awareness about the campaign to raise the rate of payments for welfare recipients.
All of us know someone who is worse off than ourselves. Chances are that person is someone barely surviving on the Newstart Allowance.
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) campaign coordinator Pas Forgione outlined why a campaign to 鈥淩aise the rate鈥 of the Newstart unemployment benefit is desperately needed, at a June 15 community forum in Sydney鈥檚 west.
How much bigger has Australia鈥檚 economy become since 1994? The answer, per head of population, seems to be: close to 50%. That鈥檚 not in current dollars, but adjusted for inflation. So can 鈥淎ustralia鈥 (read: the big end of town) afford to raise the rate of Newstart payments 鈥 currently at a base rate of $273 a week for a single person 鈥 for the unemployed?
The Newstart Allowance received by Australia鈥檚 jobless (if they are lucky enough to get it) stands at $273 a week. The last time it was raised, relative to the Consumer Price Index, was in 1994. Last year, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research calculated the poverty line for a single adult was at around $510 a week (including housing costs). That corresponds to a present figure of about $521. This means Newstart is now $248 a week below that miserably low poverty line.