Category Archives: NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Media Release

7 February 2014
Spotlight on single parents on Newstart: 1 year after ground zero

The National Welfare Rights Network has today released a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of the controversial and much criticised decision by the previous Government to push over 65,000 single parents onto the lower Newstart Allowance.   It should be noted that the Coalition voted in favour of the changes while in Opposition.

New data from the Senate highlights the effects on single parents affected by retrograde changes in 2006, 2011 and 2013.

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Single parents on Newstart allowance reveal decline in nutrition.

ABC NEWS

5 Feb 2014, 3:42pm AEDT

 

Single parents who were last year moved off the sole parent payment say their children are suffering social and emotional distress as well as poor nutrition, according to a survey.

In January 2013, the then-Labor government moved almost 100,000 parents from the Parenting Payment to the general unemployment benefit Newstart.

Advocacy group The Parenthood says parents have been left struggling to raise their children as they were between $60 and $160 a week worse off.

A survey of 550 of these parents by The Parenthood found that half reported being unable to afford fresh food, while a third struggled with medical costs.

Of those who took part 88 per cent said they struggled to cover the cost of groceries each week and just over half found it difficult to meet basic travel costs for their family.

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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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