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Liberal Premier Backs Newstart Boost (Read 242 times)
whiteknight
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Liberal Premier Backs Newstart Boost
Nov 8th, 2019 at 9:59pm
 
Tasmania premier backs Newstart boost   
Seven News
Friday, 8 November 2019 6:08 pm


Tasmania's Liberal premier Will Hodgman wants to see his federal colleagues boost the Newstart allowance, saying it would ease pressures faced by unemployed people.

The Morrison government has resisted growing calls to increase the $40-a-day welfare payment, which is currently being examined by a senate inquiry. 

Mr Hodgman said he would welcome an Newstart boost if the federal government could afford it.

"It would be a good thing to see those on low incomes and those who do depend on social security benefits to have an increase to reduce that pressure in their lives," he told ABC Radio.

Tasmania's unemployment rate is 6.4 per cent, well above the national average of around five per cent.

Mr Hodgman said Tasmania has a higher proportion of people on Newstart than the rest of the country.

Social service providers and Newstart recipients gave evidence to the senate committee in Launceston on Friday.

Deborah, 61, who was made redundant after working at a factory for more than 20 years, said she was unable to afford medication and feared she would have to live in her car.

"People like myself deserve to be treated with some respect and to be able to keep some dignity," she said.

"We've paid our taxes and we deserve better. It feels that the government would be far happier if we weren't here."

Kym Goodes, the CEO of the state's peak body for the community sector TasCOSS, said there was one job for every 11 applicants in Tasmania.

"Poverty prevents so many Tasmanians from fully participating, at a point in time when the state is turning the corner," she said.

The island state is also battling an affordable housing shortage, which Youth Network of Tasmania CEO Tania Hunt said was compounding problems faced by young job seekers.

"I think there's a level of frustration and despair," she said.

"(A Newstart increase) would able them to cover the cost their living and put their best for forward for jobs, their apprenticeships."

Newstart has been stagnant for 25 years. Submissions made to the inquiry have urged $278-a-week payment to be increased by $75.

Federal Labor MP Linda Burney questioned whether other Liberal MPs and senators would back a Newstart increase.

"Will they stand up to their federal Liberal colleagues? Will they stand up for Tasmania?" she said in a statement.
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whiteknight
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Re: Liberal Premier Backs Newstart Boost
Reply #1 - Nov 9th, 2019 at 5:14am
 
November 8 2019
Stories of despair in the face of Newstart and Centrelink in Tasmania   Sad
The Examiner.
Senators listen to groups and individuals outlining the hardships faced by those on Newstart and facing Centrelink's compliance system.

After 30 years of factory work in Northern Tasmania, nothing could have prepared Debbie for the hardships she would face when she was made redundant in 2016.

Searching for work, Debbie lived off her redundancy payments for 18 months before moving onto Newstart.


"It was a shock to the system," she said.

"Budgeting is possible, there's just no money to budget."

Yet the low level of the payment was not even the most difficult part. It ended up being the impersonal Centrelink compliance system.

"I've followed all the instructions from Centrelink and my job service provider to the letter. My payment has been suspended five times this year - no fault of mine," Debbie said.



"On Wednesday I reported, and at the end it said my payment had been suspended... it just happens all the time, it's too much.

"I'm scared what will happen to me when car registration and insurance comes due. Am I going to be forced to live in my car?"   Sad

Debbie was one of three Northern Tasmanians who gave firsthand evidence to a Senate inquiry hearing in Launceston on Friday into the rate of Newstart and the Centrelink compliance system.

Her story was common. TasCOSS told the inquiry that many Tasmanians in their 30s, 40s and 50s who lost their job during the Global Financial Crisis did not find work again.

Another to tell his story was Patrick, of Launceston, whose experience on Newstart as a sole parent to a young child has pushed him to despair.



"[There's] the stigma of having to leave groceries behind at the shops because my mental maths just isn't quick enough to figure out what I can afford," he said.

"I feel like I'm being told that it would be better if I just wasn't here. It would be easier for Australia if I just disappeared."

There appeared to be no consideration of his physical and mental health when coming up against Centrelink and its compliance model.

"I'm so busy running in circles looking for jobs that aren't there. I have to pretend, and the job service people don't seem to notice," Patrick said.

"They never ask me about my mental health and it's declining.

"The word that keeps coming up in my head over and over is that it's just mean."

His story inspired a relative to launch a petition calling for Newstart to increase $75 per week, gaining 57,000 signatures.

All community service organisations represented at the hearing called for Newstart to be increased straight away, and to have it tied to need, rather than the consumer price index.

The Tenants Union of Tasmania found that rents in Tasmania had increased 141 per cent since 2004, but the CPI had increased 46 per cent.
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juliar
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Re: Liberal Premier Backs Newstart Boost
Reply #2 - Nov 10th, 2019 at 4:01pm
 
The silly old BlackDay has Compulsive Posting Disorder.

He feels a compulsive need to keep re-posting the same silly rubbish about 30 times to try to fill the aching hole in his unwell mind.  Is he going senile ? Is he suffering posting fatigue ?

Or is he just neurotically fearful of his Newstart ?
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