Ahead of a crucial Federal Election, Anglicare Australia has laid out a plan for the next Federal Budget to tackle poverty by raising the rate of JobSeeker and other key payments.
Anglicare Australia’s plan for the next Federal Budget, Investing in People, includes:
- Costings showing that JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, and Carer Payment could all be raised to the poverty line
- This would pull almost 2.3 million Australians out of poverty, including 840,000 children
- A call to invest an additional $50 billion in social and affordable rentals over the coming decade
- These measures would cost around $161 billion over the next decade, less than the cost of tax concessions for housing investors.
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said the Government has an opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty.
“The Government has said that its focus this year will be on cost-of-living pressures and incomes. The next Budget is their chance to help those on the very lowest incomes – people living on JobSeeker.
“JobSeeker and other Centrelink payments are languishing far below the poverty line. People trying to live on these payments are bearing the brunt of soaring rents, rising living costs, and a safety net that isn’t keeping up.
“Keeping people in poverty is not saving money. It is simply shifting costs onto families, communities, and services like ours.
“Raising the rate of these payments would ease that struggle and lift millions of people out of poverty, including hundreds of thousands of children.
“We are also calling on the Government to make a major investment in social housing. There are 640,000 households around the country who need social housing. This investment is the most powerful thing the Government could do to help them through the housing crisis.
“All of this can be done for less than the amount we spend on investor tax concessions.
“This is a clear choice. If the Government can afford to keep supporting investors, then it has no reason to abandon action on housing and poverty.”