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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Families and Social Services (Senator Ruston) to a question without notice asked by Senator Siewert today relating to the JobSeeker payment.

This is an outrageous act by the government—$25 a week! What century are they living in? I'll tell you: the last century. The Prime Minister admitted it when he referred back to the days of John Howard in talking about this increase. The minister could not answer my question as to whether she could survive on $44 a day. That's because she couldn't and she knows it. It is outrageous! This government knows you can't live on $44 a day. They knew you couldn't live on $40 a day, which is why they introduced the coronavirus supplement during the pandemic. The Prime Minister has broken the hearts of every jobseeker across this country, because they have been deliberately condemned to live in poverty, which is outrageous in a country as wealthy as Australia. He has a duty to support jobseekers, and what he's done is condemn them to poverty.

Question agreed to.