Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Everyone should have a home and a good job and a good school and good health care and food in the fridge and a warm place to sleep. Everyone should have the essentials of life that you need to live a good life. The reality for so many people in our community for so long has been that these essentials have been out of reach, that struggle has been the daily background noise to existence.

I am 26 years old. In 1994, the year that I was born, the Newstart payment rose for the final time in a 26-year period and, for the 26 years I've been on this planet, it has stayed exactly where it was, at the same time as more money than can be conceived of has flown into the pockets of big corporations and the companies that donate to the major parties in this place. For those 26 years, the community have been campaigning with the Greens to increase what was Newstart and is now called JobSeeker so that it is above the poverty line, so that people can have access to those essentials, so that the struggle can be a little bit less.

The Morrison government has announced a $3.50 a day increase. That is not an increase; it is an insult. It is an insult to all those who campaigned for so long to raise the rate. It is an insult to every person who gave their time to tell their member of parliament about the need for an increase, and it will not be accepted—not by the Greens. We will continue to campaign for a JobSeeker rate which is above the poverty line, that alleviates the struggle that is people's existence far too often. We will keep campaigning on it and we will be clear that this is our goal. We will not mince our words. We will continue to work with the community for a real increase to JobSeeker.