JobSeeker has kept recipients below the poverty line for years, but advocates say they've never been worse off
ABC News
Oct 19 2022
Australia is in the grips of a ballooning cost-of-living crisis — and Leigh is literally paying for it with his health.
Key points:
As cost of living pressures bite, there are no plans to increase Centrelink payments such as JobSeeker
Advocates say they've never seen JobSeeker recipients struggling to this degree
The government says next week's budget will include "responsible cost of living relief with an economic dividend"
The 39-year-old Adelaide resident has type 2 diabetes and was diagnosed in 2019 while on placement for aged care qualifications.
He's now on the $334-per-week JobSeeker payment — widely considered to be below the poverty line — and is struggling to keep up with rapidly rising prices.
The jump in food prices means Leigh can't afford to buy healthy food — and that's not good for his condition.
"Because I can only afford the cheaper food and processed stuff, it's really bad for my diabetes," he said.
"My blood glucose level spikes immediately. It's just making my numbers go up. Numbers going up are not good.
"If I continue the way I am, it's going to become unmanageable."
A man sitting at a table holding a blood sugar monitor
Leigh says he can only afford to buy cheaper, processed
Pre-COVID, Leigh said he was spending about $100-120 fortnight on food.
"Now, I'm spending around $180 a fortnight," he said.
Leigh said being on JobSeeker while the cost of living surged has been detrimental to his health.
"Because of the type of food I'm able to afford, I believe it's [having] a direct impact on exacerbating my diabetes," he said.
Leigh isn't the only Australian on income support who's been struggling in poverty, and it isn't just healthy food they're going without.
Survey results released last month by the Australian Council of Social Service showed a majority of respondents had been skipping meals, medication and taking fewer hot showers due to the skyrocketing cost of living.
'Way below the poverty lines'
Social services advocates have been calling for a more substantial increase to JobSeeker for years.
While the rate of JobSeeker was technically increased last month, it wasn't an increase in real terms.
Most social security payments are adjusted automatically twice a year to account for inflation, under a process called indexation.
JobSeeker, by the numbers
783,985 Australians were receiving JobSeeker in August
A single person over 22 with no children receives around $668 a fortnight, or $334 per week and $48 a day
That currently sits at about 46 per cent below the Henderson poverty line
Last month's indexation bumped JobSeeker for someone who is single and over 22 up by 4 per cent, according to government figures.
But according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prices actually rose by 6.1 per cent between June 2021 and 2022.
Because the indexation didn't match the cost-of-living increase, the purchasing power of JobSeeker recipients declined.
Some experts argue the cost-of-living crisis and inflation is actually hitting those on low incomes harder than those on higher incomes.
CPI tracks increases in a basket of goods and weighs them all equally.
But it doesn't account for the fact that low-income households spend a greater percentage of income on essentials such as food and housing — expenses that are now rising the fastest.
Fact check: Welfare increases
Cabinet minister Murray Watt says the government is providing the largest cost-of-living increase to welfare recipients in 30 years.
Read more
Elise Klein, an associate professor at the Australian National University's Crawford School of Public Policy, said it would be better for recipients if JobSeeker was indexed to wages rather than CPI.
But more than that, Ms Klein said, "it just needs an increase" in real terms.
"JobSeeker is extremely low compared to the various poverty lines circulating," she said.
The Henderson poverty line, one of the most commonly used metrics, had the poverty line, as of June 2022, for a single adult at $616 per week.
The base JobSeeker rate for a single adult with no children is currently $334 per week.
Other payments such as the Disability Support Pension ($468 per week for a single adult) and Youth Allowance ($265 per week for a single adult living away from home) also remain below the Henderson poverty line.
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