ALP calls for lasting lift in the dole rate

LABOR has called for a boost to the Newstart allowance to be lifted when the JobSeeker subsidy expires.

The government will reveal its plans for income support in a fortnight, but Corangamite MP Libby Coker said “no one can live on $40 a day unemployment benefit”.

“Even $80 a day is tough. The government should extend both the JobKeeper and JobSeeker arrangements beyond the end of September to avoid the economy and workers going off a cliff,” she said.

“After that further period of three to six months, JobSeeker should be at a level that is reasonable – certainly not $40 a day. It is about balancing what people need to live, against what we can afford.”

Currently those on JobSeeker receive between $1060 and $1340 per fortnight.

A permanent boost to take the dole base rate from $565.70 a fortnight to $715.70 was expected to be unveiled by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in an economic update on July 23, but Social Services Minister Anne Ruston denied there would be a rise.

Such an increase would put an extra $3900 a year into the pockets of out-of-work Australians and cost the federal budget $3.3 billion a year.

Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Henderson did not respond to questions about lifting the Newstart rate, but said the government would “be announcing another phase of income support on 23 July”.

“This recognises that some sectors of the economy will take longer to recover.

“The latest restrictions in Melbourne will also impact regional Victoria, particularly in the tourism and hospitality industries, and we need to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.”

She said the commonwealth government spent “one third” of its budget on welfare.

Corio ALP MP Richard Marles said: “I have long said that the rate of Newstart, now JobSeeker, is too low. We cannot go back to the old amount, where people were put in desperate circumstances, choosing between food and medical care.”