Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert has advised me that she is splitting her time between herself and Senator Steele-John.

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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Families and Social Services (Senator Ruston) to a question asked by Senator Siewert today relating to the Newstart allowance.

I asked three questions, none of which the minister could properly address. I asked her why the government continues to call Newstart a 'transition payment' when the average length of time on the payment is three years. It's clearly not a transition payment, so I'd say that myth about Newstart is busted.

I also asked the minister about older Australians on Newstart. Today it was reported that the Prime Minister said that if he were to increase any payment, it would be the age pension. And we have the ridiculous situation where we have someone at 64 living on $287.90 less than someone on the age pension at 65½, for example. That is ridiculous. Newstart needs to be increased If the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, cared about older Australians, he would realise that being stuck on Newstart is harming those very older Australians that he professes to care about.

My last question was whether the minister could live on Newstart, not only with already having paid the rent but also with the energy supplement, because the one thing that the government keeps saying is that people on Newstart—this is another myth—get all these other payments, so they don't need a rise in Newstart. Could the minister live on $17.65? She couldn't answer that question, because, of course, she knows she can't. She said, 'It wasn't meant to be easy.' She said in her answers, 'It's not meant to be a salary; it's a safety net.' It's not a safety net; it just drops people straight through. Of course she can't live on it, because nobody can live on it. We need to raise Newstart. It needs to happen immediately. It needs to be raised by at least $75 a week.

Question agreed to.