The Australian Council of Social Service and other community sector groups have used a virtual forum to set out the policies they say will reduce poverty and improve equality across the nation.
Chief among them is for the next federal government to permanently raise the rate of JobSeeker, and other income support payments like Youth Allowance, to at least $70 per day.
ACOSS Chief Executive Dr Cassandra Goldie says it will "transform society".
"There is such broad consensus across the community sector about the need to fix the adequacy of income support, in particular JobSeeker as a key cause of the level of poverty that's being experienced, including amongst for example, single parents, older women, people with a disability."
The JobSeeker base rate is currently around $46 a day.
The Coalition government boosted the payment last February by about $50 per fortnight after rolling back the Coronavirus Supplement - which had temporarily lifted thousands of Australians out of poverty - but hasn't signalled plans to increase it further.
Asked by Dr Goldie what Labor's position on raising the payment is, assistant treasury spokesman Dr Andrew Leigh revealed his party has no plans to lift it should it win government.
And he says the A-L-P has also dropped a policy it took to the 2019 election to hold an independent review into the rate.
"We haven't committed to an additional increase. I'm aware that an increase took place, it was a modest increase put in place. But certainly living on JobSeeker is a challenge. There's no doubt about that, and that's one of the reasons why we need to make sure we're also thinking about areas such as Rent Assistance and the adequacy of social housing. It's that whole package."
Click on the player at the top of the page to listen to this feature in Punjabi.
