News that the JobSeeker Payment would increase by just $1.80 from $46 to $47.80 a day would not make any difference to the lives of thousands of people in the Territory living below the poverty line, NT COSS CEO Deborah Di Natale told ABC Radio Alice Springs.
This week’s news that the JobSeeker Payment would increase by just $1.80 from $46 to $47.80 a day would not make any difference to the lives of people in the Territory living below the poverty line, said NT COSS CEO Deborah Di Natale.
A rise of $1.80 a day won’t even cover the cost of a loaf of bread.
“I’m incredibly disappointed because every Council of Social Service around the country went to the election saying what we expected was a minimum of $70 a day, which would enable people who are doing it tough to be able to manage day to day,” Ms Di Natale told ABC Radio in Alice Springs.
“We’re talking about simple things: rent, medicines, food on the table. We’re not talking about luxury items.
“We’re saying that every single person, wherever they live, should be able to live in dignity and above the poverty line.”
The electorate of Lingiari, which cover virtually all of the Territory outside Darwin, In the seat of Lingiari, has more than 18,000 people on JobSeeker or some other payment.
That is more than anywhere else in the country.
In March this year, as the cost of fuel soared, people in Alice Springs were paying 223.9 cents a litre for unleaded petrol compared to the national average of 202.6 and paid close to 60 percent more for their groceries.
NTCOSS’s most recent Cost of Living report showed that as costs soared around the nation over the last year, the rises have been significantly higher in the NT than nationally for housing, health, transport, education, vegetables, fruit, rents and fuel.
“The Federal Government must urgently increase Jobseeker, Youth Allowance and related payments in the October budget to address the acute crisis facing people on the lowest incomes. JobSeeker and related payments must be at least $70 a day so that everyone can cover the basics.”