2016-02-16
The Australian Greens have reaffirmed their calls to increase Newstart and scrap Work for the Dole following the release of the ACOSS and Welfare Rights submissions to the Federal Government where they again raise these issues.
"The Australian Greens have been calling for years for an increase in Newstart as people are living below the poverty line.
“ACOSS has released its submission to the Federal Government on the upcoming budget and I urge the Prime Minister and Treasurer to hear their calls.
“Right now an attempt to plug up the budget has resulted in a relentless pursuit of our most vulnerable. With cuts to the Family Tax benefit, a refusal to increase the Newstart Allowance and targeting young people trying to find work, the Government is entrenching poverty. A payment of $37 a day for a single person is well below the poverty line. We must do better.
“The burgeoning $1 billion Work for the Dole program has become an expensive failure for the tax payer. With the Welfare Rights Centre pointing to clear evidence that it is not an effective way to move people into meaningful employment.
“Improving the chance of someone finding a job by just 2 per cent is not good enough. We must move back to wage subsidies and support services that genuinely move people into employment. When will the Government learn that a paternalistic approach is a failed one?
“There are people behind these unemployment statistics struggling below the poverty line. We have the capacity to provide proper support, and that is what we should be doing”.