Four Labor MPs have signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging the government to raise the rate of JobSeeker.
Alicia Payne, Louise Miller-Frost, Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Kate Thwaites are among the MPs who signed the letter, which was written by Australian Council of Social Service CEO, Dr Cassandra Goldie. It describes Australia’s income support system as a “structural injustice” that needs to be addressed.
“At $50 a day, the current rate of JobSeeker isn’t even enough to cover the essentials like weekly food and medicines let alone get a haircut, or buy a new shirt for a job interview,” the letter reads.
“With the Reserve Bank predicting that unemployment will rise by 150,000 next year, we must ensure income support payments cover basic costs.”
There are more than 300 signatories to the letter, including Liberal MP Bridget Archer, many members of the crossbench including Jacqui Lambie, Kate Chaney, Zoe Daniel, Helen Haines, Zali Steggall, Allegra Spender, David Pocock, Dr Monique Ryan, Kylea Tink, Dr Sophie Scamps, and all representatives from the Greens.
Former politicians including Labor’s Jenny Macklin and independent Cathy McGowan also signed on, as did a large number of prominent economists, community sector leaders, academics, and philanthropists.
The letter comes ahead of the government’s federal budget, due to be released in early May, and as the government faces increasing pressure to address the rate of JobSeeker. Last month, Labor’s Alicia Payne and Liberal Bridget Archer established the parliamentary friends group dedicated to ending poverty, while Senator David Pocock has been outspoken about his support for raising the JobSeeker rate.
Raising the rate of JobSeeker was the priority recommendation of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which was established last year to provide independent advice on tackling disadvantage.
The open letter to the prime minister notes that even before the current cost of living crisis, JobSeeker payments were not substantial enough to cover basic expenses. But now, people relying on JobSeeker are facing even greater “deprivation”.
“In the last twelve months, rents in capital cities have risen by about 22 per cent and food prices have skyrocketed,” the letter reads.
“While everyone in our community is feeling the impact of these cost-of-living pressures, people on income support are going without food and other basics because they have nothing left to cut back on in their budget.”
Recent figures from ACOSS suggest that 7 in 10 people on income support are eating less, or reporting difficulty accessing medicine and care.
On Wednesday morning, former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, who has signed the open letter, told ABC News Breakfast that “being cruel to people doesn’t work”, especially amid a tight labour market.
“You know, the principle – in fact, the only economic argument for keeping people on such low payments while they’re out of work is to give them an incentive to get a job. Now, here we are with an unemployment rate as low as what has been seen at any time in the past 50 years and yet there are still about a million people who are reliant upon these payments to meet their needs,” Henry said.
“We know that about 80 per cent of those people will have to rely on these payments for more than 12 months despite the tightest labour market that Australia has had in 50 years.
“If this tells us one thing, it should tell us that being cruel to people doesn’t work. It’s not what is going to get them into a job. The people we’re talking about here need to have some respect shown to them during the period in which they are out of work and they need help to find a job.”