Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Evans, representing the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs has just confirmed that the single rate of the pension, which is indexed in line with the increases in the male total average weekly earnings, will increase by $8.55 a week but that the allowance payments such as Newstart, which are linked to the consumer price index, will increase by a maximum of just $1.45 a week. Why is the government continuing to use different models of indexation given the increasing disparity this is causing between income support payments? Does the government think this disparity is fair?