Calls for an increase to the dole
ACT chief minister Andrew Barr is calling for the federal government to increase the dole from $273 a week, arguing that is creates a cycle of disadvantage.
Mr Barr said a review of the current dole rate was a “glaring omission” from last month’s federal budget.
“At just $273 a week — some $400 less than the national minimum wage — the current rate of Newstart is too low to help people get back on their feet when they end up out of work,” the chief minister told the Legislative Assembly.
“Instead, it simply traps them in disadvantage.”
Mr Barr’s plea follows other politicians criticising the Newstart oversight in the federal budget.
Independent Senator Derryn Hinch said he was disappointed there was no review of Newstart payments.
"I think that will be the big issue this year," he said. "It will get a lot of crossbench and Labor and Greens' support."
He said the majority of welfare recipients were not "20-year-old pimply kids who just don't want to work".
"These are 45, 55-year-old men and women who have been made redundant," he said. "It's just wrong."
Last month, former prime minister John Howard said there needs to be a debate about increasing the level of payment from $40 a day.
"I actually think there is an argument about that, I do," he said at the PricewaterhouseCoopers post-budget breakfast in Melbourne.
"I was in favour of freezing that when it happened, but I think the freeze has probably gone on too long."
In March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent, with 730,200 Aussies without a job.
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