Newstart

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Independent Senator Tim Storer (SA), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Newstart payment has barely increased in real terms in the past 24 years,

(ii) nearly half of Newstart recipients have been on their respective payments for at least two years, and more than 15% for at least five years,

(iii) the Business Council of Australia has stated that 'we need a robust and targeted welfare safety net that ensures displaced workers don't fall into poverty while finding their feet. This could include increasing the inadequate Newstart allowance', and

(iv) a report released in September 2018 by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by the Australian Council of Social Service, found that increasing a range of allowance payments, including Newstart, by $75 a week would:

(A) increase the size of the economy by $4 billion a year from an initial injection of $3 billion a year, this being a conservative appraisal of the size and life of the prosperity dividend flowing from the increase,

(B) see the lowest quintile receive 28 times the relative boost to its disposable incomes, providing a tightly targeted fairness impact, with the bulk of relative improvements in disposal incomes overwhelmingly going to Australia's lowest income families, and

(C) increase regional income per head to the least well-off districts across Australia, meaning that regional communities most in need of help would receive it; and

(b) urges the Government to immediately increase Newstart by $75 a week to generate the above prosperity and fairness impacts.