Extract from Daily Mail
- Liberal MP Julia Banks is blasted for comments she made regarding welfare
- Ms Banks, who makes about $200k a year, claimed she could live off $40 a day
- It's been revealed that Ms Banks owns six properties in Victoria
- Members of the public have denounced Ms Banks as being 'out of touch'
An
affluent Liberal Party backbencher who claimed she could live on the
minimum $40-a-day government welfare allowance owns six properties.
Julie
Banks's parliamentary register of interests shows she owns six
properties across Victoria, one of which is a $3.4 million mansion in
Melbourne's east.
A breakdown of her
multimillion-dollar property portfolio reveals she owns four homes with
her husband, while two are investments she shares with her brother.
Ms Banks, who holds the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm, angered welfare recipients when she said existing Newstart and Youth Allowance payments were adequate for the the unemployed.
Liberal Party MP Julia Banks has faced a storm of criticism over comments she made regarding welfare payments in Australia
'I could live on 40 bucks a day knowing that the Government is supporting me with Newstart looking for employment,' she said.
Her
statement contradicted economist Chris Richardson's assertion the $539 a
fortnight unemployment benefit was 'unnecessarily cruel', and should be
raised by $50 a week, ABC News reports.
Ms
Banks said such a suggestion amounted to 'socialism', and it was
possible to live on $40 a day - prompting talkback listeners to accuse
her of being 'insulting' and 'out of touch'.
'I am certainly not,' she responded.
'I
speak to constituents every day and all I can say is the dignity of
having a job and finding work is what our policy is about.'
Ms Banks (pictured: left)
declared that she would be able to live on welfare payments $40 a day.
The political backbencher currently makes $199,040 a year
One welfare recipient who's been
living on a $400 a fortnight Youth Allowance for six years is
challenging Ms Banks to put her money where her mouth is take up the
same daily budget
Coming from a
Liberal MP whose base salary is $199,040, Julia Banks' opinions offered
little solace for those who have to struggle with the-day-to-day
realities of life on the dole.
Sherri
Prendergast, 22, has been living on a $400 a fortnight Youth Allowance
for six years, and is challenging Ms Banks to put her money where her
mouth is take up the same daily budget.
'It kind of makes me wonder when was the last time that she was living off $400 a fortnight,' she said.
'If you make more money than what people on Newstart are getting, I'd challenge people to do it, see what it feels like.
'If
you've never had to worry about whether or not you can get something as
simple as toilet paper, then you're not going to know what it's like.'
Ms Banks (pictured: right)
disputes accusations that she is 'ignorant' and 'out of touch', saying
that 'I speak to constituents every day and all I can say is the dignity
of having a job and finding work is what our policy is about'
Ms
Banks, who was born and raised in Melbourne to Greek migrant parents,
has previously held prestigious roles as a lawyer and senior executive
director at Kraft Foods and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
She
has been a federal member of parliament since 2016 when she won the
marginal seat of Chisholm off Labor, following the retirement of former
speaker Anna Burke.
She was the only
Liberal candidate to win a seat off Labor, giving Malcolm Turnbull's
government its one-seat majority at the last federal election.
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