Newstart increase: What, if anything, can you buy for 50c a day?
The Age
20 March 2018



Australian jobseekers living below the poverty line have been granted an increase to their Newstart allowance of 50 cents a day – or a total of $7 to the base fortnightly payment of $545.80.

That money doesn't add up to much, but what difference could it actually make to the average unemployed or underemployed person struggling to put food on the table each day?


What can you buy from the supermarket with just 50c in your pocket?

A quick shopping trip to Coles confirms this statement from Brotherhood of St Laurence executive director Conny Lenneberg: "You can buy very little for 50 cents a day."   

With a 50c coin in your pocket, what exactly could you purchase? Browsing the shelves, we thought it might be possible to buy a single bread roll – but the cheapest bakery items that are sold separately are muffins and hot cross buns, which both come it at $1.

So the next stop was the fresh fruit and vegetable section. Surely there would be plenty of fruit or veggies that would cost 50 cents or less per piece?


In fact, there were very few. Out of a bag of 17 pieces of fruit and vegetables purchased from Coles, the only items you could buy with 50 cents would be a single carrot (38 cents), black plum (36 cents), kiwifruit (50 cents), or Williams pear (26 cents).

The items that cost more than 50 cents:

    An apple (78 cents)
    A brown pear (86 cents)
    A cob of corn (70 cents)
    A brown onion (91 cents)
    A small head of broccoli ($1.63)
    A sweet potato ($2.86)
    A field mushroom ($1.31)

Perhaps more significantly in terms of how people do their grocery shopping, the bag of 17 fruit and vegetable items we bought cost roughly double the fortnightly Newstart rise.






Of course, there's always bread and two-minute noodles to live off (if you don't mind a spot of scurvy).

"It is sorry news that the rate of Newstart is going up by just 50 cents per day. You can't even buy a postage stamp for that," Australian Council of Social Service CEO Cassandra Goldie said.

"How can we expect anyone to afford basic essentials such as a roof over their head, food on the table, transport and bills on $277 per week?"

ACOSS put the poverty line for a single adult at $426.30 a week in its Poverty in Australia report of 2016. With the latest increase counted, the Newstart allowance is 36 per cent below that.   


The last time the payment rose above CPI was 1994 when it went up by $2.95 per week, Ms Goldie said. Minister for Social Services Dan Tehan defended the 50-cent rise, saying most recipients get supplementary payments and are only on it while they're between jobs.

But Ms Goldie said the current rate is inadequate assistance for people who are struggling to find work.   

“There are 348,000 people aged 45 and over who are currently relying on Newstart. Many would have been made redundant, or are trying to get back into paid work after caring for family. Many face significant barriers in our labour market and many have been unemployed for 12 months or more simply because the jobs are not available," she said.

"It is nearly impossible to look for work if you’re hungry and homeless and can’t afford essentials like a haircut, dental work or clothes.   

I don't mind a $7/fortnight increase in my Newstart. However, I would rather that I have more leniency in the amount I have to declare to get this payment.

I get done every year by the taxman during tax returns. I don't declare my travel reimbursement. So, sometimes I get a bill. At best, I get a couple hundred. I think I did over $1000 on a tax return one year, but the rules must have changed after that.

I had to start having tax withheld on my Centrelink, just so that I can get something saved for the tax return.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 21^st, 2018 at 5:32am:


You wouldnt have time.  WFD and all the other obstacles . . . . .

Spot

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 20^th, 2018 at 1:07pm:


The child support/family payment would be spent on childcare services & probably wouldn't cover it.

Gnads wrote on Mar 21^st, 2018 at 8:23am:


My guess is either he child is an older tennager or she works around childcare so she doesn't have to use it.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 20^th, 2018 at 11:10am:


You can't get cheaper than Mum's, Homo.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 24^th, 2018 at 5:41pm:


Do you trim the hedges, Booby?