No safety net for many Aussies

MORE than a quarter of a million Australians would struggle to survive the next 22 days if they suddenly lost their job.

New data from online financial advice service Otivo shows more than 342,000 Australian households have no financial safety net, such as savings or the ability to draw down on their mortgage, and would struggle to make it to the middle of next month if they lost their income today.

The data, collated in partnership with Digital Finance Analytics, was based on a survey of more than 52,000 households across the country. It takes into account there are 9.6 million households in Australia, of which 1.47 million have potential financial issues but could solve them with more debt.

Even with government support these households would survive between less than a week and up to three weeks.

Otivo founder and chief executive Paul Feeney said low-income areas were not the only ones feeling pressure, with traditionally affluent suburbs of Rose Bay and Double Bay in Sydney’s east and South Yarra in Melbourne’s inner east facing survival windows fewer than 13 weeks on average.

“It’s about the money coming in and what is left over. The lower the gap, the higher the pressure and the higher the risk,” Mr Feeney said.

“For about 6 per cent of Australian households, the only way they could handle losing their income would be to take out another mortgage, which will only increase their weekly expenses.

“This is just covering the basics such as the mortgage and keeping the lights on. If you include fun money that number (timeframe) comes down dramatically.”

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said people’s levels of anxiety and stress were worsening.

Dr Goldie is urging all parties and candidates to increase income support, such as JobSeeker, and improving access to affordable social housing.