Treasurer Jim Chalmers has suggested the unemployed would be better off getting a job when asked if he could live on $49.50 a day.
With a Budget due on May 9, Dr Chalmers has sidestepped calls from Labor backbenchers representing wealthy electorates and millionaire former CEOs to raise JobSeeker, now at $693.10 a fortnight for a single individual with no children.
Asked if he could survive on $49.50 a day the Treasurer – who draws a salary of $406,988 – suggested the unemployed find a job.
‘I recognise it is tough to live on the JobSeeker payment,’ he said.
‘That’s why we want to move as many people as we can off that payment and into good, secure, well-paid jobs.
With a Budget due on May 9, the Treasurer has sidestepped calls from Labor backbenchers to raise JobSeeker, now at $693.10 a fortnight for a single individual with no children (pictured is a Centrelink queue in Melbourne in 2020)
‘We recognise there is a range of views out there about the adequacy or otherwise of this payment – I have a lot of respect for the people who’ve made this suggestion to us today in the letter that has been released today.
‘These are good people making suggestions.’
Dr Chalmers was responding after Labor backbenchers called on the government to increase JobSeeker in a joint open letter with the Australian Council of Social Service.
They included Dr Michelle Ananda-Raja, the first-ever Labor member for the wealthy seat of Higgins, in Melbourne’s inner east covering Toorak, and Louise Miller-Frost, who last year became the first Labor member since 1949 for the beachside Adelaide electorate of Boothby.
They were joined by the Labor member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, and Kate Thwaites, who represents for Jagajaga in Melbourne’s north.
The former member for Jagajaga, Jenny Macklin, was previously the minister for families and community services who in January, 2013 suggested she could live on $35 a day, when asked about the level of Newstart, as the dole was then known.
Those comments coincided with 80,000 single parents moving from the parenting payment to the dole.
Last week Ms Macklin – as chair of the federal government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee – called for an an increase to JobSeeker.
She also signed the ACOSS open letter.
‘The committee recommends the government, as a first priority, commit to a substantial increase in the base rates of the JobSeeker Payment and related working age payments,’ her committee said.
Labor backbenchers called on the government to increase JobSeeker by signing an open letter with the Australian Council of Social Service. They included Dr Michelle Ananda-Raja (pictured right with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese), the first-ever Labor member for the wealthy seat of Higgins, in Melbourne’s inner east covering Toorak
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has suggested the unemployed would be better off getting a job when asked if he could live on $49.50 a day
Dr Chalmers has again downplayed the idea of increasing the dole, after ACOSS released the open letter which was also signed by former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe, Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Bridget Archer and teal independents Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, Kylea Tink, Sophie Scamps, Zali Steggall, Kate Chaney and David Pocock.
They were joined by former federal Liberal leader John Hewson, the Greens and independents Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines, along with millionaire Simon Holmes a Court, who funded Climate 200 teal independent candidates, former Telstra chief executive David Thodey and former David Jones CEO Paul Zahra.
‘At $50 a day, the current rate of JobSeeker isn’t even enough to cover the essentials like weekly food and medicines, let alone get a haircut, or buy a new shirt for a job interview,’ the letter said.
‘And with the Reserve Bank predicting that unemployment will rise by 150,000 next year, we must ensure income support payments cover basic costs.’
The former member for Jagajaga, Jenny Macklin (back with former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard and minister Tanya Plibersek), was previously the minister for families and community services who in January, 2013 suggested she could live on $35 a day, when asked about the level of Newstart, as the dole was then known
Unemployment in March remained at a 48-year low of 3.5 per cent but the Reserve Bank is expecting it to hit 4 per cent by June 2024, which would still be below the 4.75 per cent level Treasury regards as full employment.
Inflation in the March quarter eased to 7 per cent, down from a 32-year high annual pace of 7.8 per cent in the December quarter but still well above the Reserve Bank’s 2 to 3 per cent target.
Dr Chalmers suggested the upcoming Budget was more likely to focus on helping welfare recipients deal with cost of living pressures, by giving them an energy supplement instead of a social security increase beyond the twice-yearly indexation for inflation.
‘Cost of living pressures are still coming at us from around the world and they are still being felt around the kitchen tables of this country,’ he said.
‘That’s why the Budget will contain cost of living relief which prioritises the most vulnerable people in our community.
‘Assistance, for example, with energy bills will go to people on pensions and payments.’