Shorten backs Newstart lift, promises review

LABOR leader Bill Shorten has flagged a rise in the dole following a review if elected, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison continues to reject any changes.

The Australian Council of Social Service is seeking to put poverty and the low rate of Newstart on the election agenda.

ACOSS boss Cassandra Goldie said the election should be a “contest of ideas to strengthen communities, grow inclusively and secure our collective future”.

“After 25 years without an increase to Newstart and related allowances, it’s not good enough for the government to tell people struggling to find paid work that they need to ‘have a go’,” she said yesterday.

“It’s also not good enough for people in desperate circumstances to be told by the Labor Party that they have to wait for a review before they get any financial relief.

“The incoming government needs to step up and raise Newstart to make our system stronger and give people the best chance of finding suitable paid work.”

Newstart for a single person without children is $555.70 a fortnight, having increased by $5.50 in March.

Mr Morrison told reporters Australia had “one of the best safety nets” in the world. “That safety net is not just Newstart, it is the myriad of other income supports that are provided … rent assistance, Medicare, support through affordable medicines,” he said.

Asked whether he supported an increase in Newstart, Mr Shorten told reporters in Sydney: “I think there has to be. But let’s see what happens with the review. We’re not holding a review to lower it.”