Labor has not committed to increasing the JobSeeker payment if it wins the election and has dropped plans to conduct an independent review into upping the rate.
The Opposition’s assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh revealed the position at a policy forum hosted by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) on Tuesday.
Dr Leigh was asked by the group’s CEO Cassandra Goldie whether Labor thought the amount of the welfare payment for people unemployed should be increased.
“We haven’t committed to an additional increase,” he said.
“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 is no doubt about that.”
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The Morrison government increased the payment by $50 a fortnight in February last year following years of campaigning from welfare organisations.
The current rate for a single person is now $642.70 a fortnight, or about $46 a day, which advocates for those on the payment say is well below poverty estimates.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten in 2019 promised a review into the rate — then known as the Newstart payment — hinting this would result in an increase to the payment.
But Dr Leigh revealed on Tuesday this is no longer Labor’s policy.
“We don’t have a plan for an independent review at this stage,” he said.
“Certainly the focus that we have is principally around our social housing commitment that would see 30,000 additional social affordable homes put into the market there.”
Dr Goldie responded by saying there was a “broad consensus” across the community sector about the need to fix the adequacy of income support - in particular JobSeeker.
She said the level of income support payments were a “key cause of the level of poverty”.
This included among “single parents, older women [and] people with a disability,” she said.
Labor deputy leader Richard Marles was questioned about the prospect of an increase to the welfare payment on Sunday, telling the ABC “we obviously want to see that in a better place".
“We’ve made our commitments and all that will be clear coming into the election,” he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously described the level of the JobSeeker rate as “appropriate” when announcing it would be increased last February.
On Tuesday, he once again emphasised his government’s focus on getting people off welfare payments and into work.
“You get a young person into their job and … their chances of spending a lifetime on welfare goes like that,” he told reporters.
“It’s why it’s so important to have an economic plan.”
The Greens have called for the JobSeeker payment, pensions, youth allowance and other income support payments to be increased to $88 a day.
The payment rates would be tied to the Henderson Poverty Line, which every three months sets a new benchmark for the income required to meet basic needs.
The Henderson Poverty Line currently stands at $88 a day.
The Coalition declined to appear at Tuesday’s ACOSS event.
