The dole would need to increase by $300 per fortnight to help close the poverty gap, research shows

The dole should be increased by $300 a fortnight and the pension by $11 to close Australia’s poverty gap, according to new research.
news.com.au December 12, 2018


The dole would need to be increased by nearly $300 a fortnight in order to reduce the poverty gap by 11 per cent within the same budget.

New research unveiled by the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research and Methods has analysed five welfare payments and how we could restructure their values to reduce the poverty gap, The Australian reports.

Across the five payments, the current budget is around $100 billion per annum, but the formula found income unit poverty could be reduced by as much as 11 per cent just by adjusting payment rates.

In this particular scenario, Newstart for unemployed should increase by $270 per fortnight, the Age Pension by $11 and rent assistance by about $10.

These increases would be paid for by cutting Family Tax benefits by around $60 or more, and single parent payments by more than $30.

The idea is that the poverty gap for households on allowances would drop 68 per cent, while single parents would face an increase in their poverty gap on average from $97 per year to $382.

“The reductions for family payments suggests that these payments are currently paid to many households and income units that are either not in poverty or have low poverty gaps,” the paper says.

“FTB can go to families, admittedly at a tapered rate, with incomes over $100,000. From a poverty perspective, it is perhaps not as well targeted with respect to income as allowances and ­pensions.”


Labor has committed to increasing the Newstart Allowance and getting more long-term unemployed Aussies into work.Source:News Corp Australia

It comes as Labor has pledged to boost the “shamefully low” dole level if it wins the next election.

If Labor wins the federal election next year, Aussies on Newstart could be in for a $75 increase.

The party has already committed to reviewing Newstart and investigating ways to get more long-term unemployed into work.

But according to The Courier-Mail, Labor is seeking to go further and deliver “a substantial increase to Newstart payments in the first term of an elected Federal Labor Government”.

Essentially hundreds of thousands of dole recipients would receive a “substantial” increase if the Opposition won the next election.

Inner-western Sydney mayor Darcy Byrne will propose the resolution. He told the newspaper the dole payment was a “national shame” and said there was growing pressure for Labor to increase it.

“Not a single soul in the Labor Party or the trade union movement thinks the rate of Newstart is fair or adequate,” he said.

“After years of derogatory rhetoric towards Australians who are out of work, Labor has an opportunity this weekend to recast the national debate.”

There are currently 705,658 people on Newstart allowances across the nation. According to Yahoo! Finance, single adults without children receive $275.10 a week, or less than $40 a day. A $75 increase would mean $350.10 a week, or $50 a day.

When will the unemployed ever get a fair and just increase?.   

When labor abolishes negative gearing and reduces the capital gains discount they can then use the 11 billion a year saved to give an increase to the dole

"The dole would need to increase by $300 per fortnight to help close the poverty gap ..."

Well, that's not going to happen.

whiteknight wrote on Dec 12^th, 2018 at 4:54pm:


When they get a job.

The dole was never meant to be a lifestyle choice

Bam wrote on Dec 13^th, 2018 at 1:10pm:


It's an individual resposibility to get a job, no jobs will come to you while you're sitting on the couch.

The unemployed always have excuses on why they can't work

Baronvonrort wrote on Dec 13^th, 2018 at 1:19pm:

There are not enough jobs for everyone to have one. The capitalist economy requires permanent high unemployment. Right-wing morons always have excuses as to why they must tell lies to hide these truths. Are you one of these?

Give everyone a job at the same time or provide fair compensation to those who are forced to take one for the team against their will. Those are your choices.

The Reboot wrote on Dec 14^th, 2018 at 9:59pm:

What a steaming pile of malodorous right-wing nonsense.