Author Archives: admin

Government excludes age pension from review of ‘unsustainable’ welfare spending

ABC NEWS

21 Jan 2014

 

The Federal Government says the age pension will be excluded from a wide-ranging review of the welfare system.

The review into the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and the Newstart allowance is due to be handed to the Government in February and is likely to recommend making it tougher for people to qualify for the payments.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews says a new report shows income support payments are now costing the Government $70 billion a year and he is concerned they are becoming unsustainable.

Mr Andrews says one in five Australians is receiving an income support payment.

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Living on Newstart (if you can call it living)

The Drum

16 January 2013

 

We’re all subject to the swings of fortune. We shouldn’t have to debate whether we extend a hand of compassion or punish one another for bad luck, writes Eliza Cussen.

I was on Newstart Allowance for six months between finishing uni – Bachelor of Media (Honours), thanks for asking – and landing my first job in 2010. I had been living in relative poverty throughout my student years, and this final stretch was the toughest.

After paying rent and bills, I had $100 a week to live on. I don’t actually remember how I did it. I think it’s safe to say that, actually, it can’t be done. I nearly gave myself hypoglycaemia from only being able to afford carbohydrates.

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Fruitless search for jobless who can live on $35 a day

The Sydney Morning Herald

September 5th, 2012

 

On this site last week the Centre for Independent Studies acknowledged that the payment may be too low but argued that not every unemployed person needs an increase.

So the search is on for those unemployed people who can live on $35 a day.

Some argue that people can live on the payment as long as they don’t have to rely on it for more than a year at a time. This reflects the original idea of unemployment benefits as a short-term support between jobs.

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Real unemployment rate masked, study finds

The Sydney Morning Herald

20th November 2013

 

Australians in full-time work are doing more unpaid overtime than ever before, while the unemployed and those with a part-time job struggle to find enough to do, a new report shows.

It comes as separate federal government research shows that more than a third of the nation’s mothers with children under 15 are also not in paid employment – one of the lowest in the developed world.

The Australia Institute on Wednesday will release Hard to get a break?, a study looking at the long hours Australians are working, and the barriers to finding work for those who have lost their job.

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