Nationals MP Pat Conaghan joins a small but growing cohort of Coalition figures that include former Deputy Leader Barnaby Joyce, Dean Smith and Matthew Canavan, and former prime minister John Howard, in calling for a raise in Newstart.
Conaghan, a first term MP who represents the New South Wales mid-north coast electorate of Cowper, has called on "both sides" of politics to take a serious look at an increase.
"I would urge my colleagues from both sides of the floor to have a real discussion. Not just throw it up in the air and punch the ball around," he said.
Newstart has not been raised in two decades, and the mooted $75 per week increase has been estimated to cost the budget $3.3 billion a year. Despite the expenditure, analysis by Deloitte Access Economics in 2018 claims increasing Newstart would create 12,000 jobs in one year.
While more recently, the Greens and the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) have called for a $95 per week increase.
Conaghan has claimed that raising Newstart is at the top of his priority list, he says “because you've got kids that are going to school without food.”
"Forty-one percent of kids under 15 [years of age] in both Kempsey and Nambucca are under the poverty line." he said.
The NSW Council of Social Services conducted a study into economic disadvantage in the state before the bushfire season. They found that single parents in regional NSW, which featured ten regional locations with poverty rates of over 50 percent, and as high as 65 percent.
Dr Cassandra Goldie, the CEO of ACOSS, echoed the sentiments of Conaghan. She has said it is “not right” that Australia as one of the “wealthiest” countries in the world has “one in six children living below the poverty line”.
“One third of single parent families live in poverty in Australia and we know how hard it is for single parents, who are mostly women, to get by on Newstart while looking for paid work that allows for their caring responsibilities,” she said.
“By increasing Newstart, the government can reduce our unacceptable adult and child poverty rates, while boosting the economy to create jobs, especially in regional areas.”
Conaghan has said it’s “probably the worst time” to have a conversation about raising Newstart, given the recent government spending on the bushfire crisis, drought and ongoing concerns about the coronavirus. But despite the timing, he says “we have to have it.”
However, Dr Goldie told The Feed it’s even more urgent to increase Newstart in the wake of the “devastating” bushfire and drought season. She says regional communities are struggling, and an increase would be “one of the best ways” to kick start their local economies.
“The ongoing impact of the bushfire crisis is set to include rising food prices, which will make trying to get by on Newstart even more unbearable. Newstart has not been increased in real terms for 25 years, while living costs have gone through the roof,” she says.
“Again we call on the Government to increase Newstart to get people through tough times and to provide needed economic stimulus, especially in regional communities struggling with high unemployment, likely to be made worse in those affected by the bushfire crisis.”
When pressed on Newstart last July, prime minister Scott Morrison said the government had no plan raising Newstart beyond usual indexation levels.
Read more:
No plans to increase Newstart: Morrison
