Michaela Meade
Community services organisations have warned that a $50 per fortnight increase to the JobSeeker payment will leave recipients living below the poverty line.
The federal government recently announced that the base JobSeeker payment would increase from April 1, taking the payment to $307 per week.
Currently, people on the JobSeeker payment are receiving an $150 coronavirus supplement but the payment is due to end at the end of this month.
Whittlesea Community Connections community support manager Belinda Leon said the $50 increase was not going to help those who need it most.
“Fifty dollars a fortnight isn’t going to see any positive impact on the community,” she said.
“Although Jobseeker has had this increase… it comes with an increase in [payment recipients’] requirements.
“That means a higher number of appointments, which will require a higher cost of transport.
“[The payment will be] $80 a week below the minimum income to live above the poverty line.
“If $50 was all that was required per week, why did they increase it above that during [COVID]?”
Uniting Vic.Tas chief executive Bronwyn Pike said the minor increase in payment combined with the end of COVID-19 supplement payments in March will not prevent millions of Australians from “slipping further into poverty”.
“It just doesn’t go far enough – it’s a missed opportunity,” Ms Pike said.
“[The] announcement by the government is a long overdue acknowledgement $40 a day is nowhere near enough for people to live on, but this token increase will do very little to ease the suffering.
“What the government has announced is just under $3.60 increase per day, less than a cup of coffee. How is this supposed to help people put food on the table or with the cost of putting petrol in the car to go to a job interview.
“We’re still extremely concerned millions of people will fall deeper into poverty from which many will struggle to escape.”
