Newstart Allowance

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by WA Senator Rachel Siewert (Greens) also on behalf of WA Senator Patrick Dodson (Labor), which means it succeeded. Motions like these don't make any legal changes on their own but are politically influential because they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that new research from Monash University on the health of Disability Support Pension and Newstart Allowance recipients found that:

(i) Newstart recipients were 6.8 times more likely to rate their health as poor compared to wage earners,

(ii) nearly half (48.6%) of Newstart recipients reported having mental or behavioural problems compared with 21% of wage earners, and

(iii) Newstart recipients were at 1.5 to 2 times increased risk of visiting a hospital compared with wage earners;

(b) acknowledges that the lead researcher, Professor Alex Collie stated 'My personal view is that an increase in the rate of Newstart would help people to become more healthy. It would help them to afford the things that a lot of us take for granted like food and housing, which are important things if you're trying to be healthy';

(c) recognises that poor health, poverty and financial stress is a barrier to work; and

(d) calls on the Federal Government to reduce the burden of ill health faced by Newstart recipients by immediately increasing the rate of Newstart.