Extract from The Guardian
Liberal’s claim she could live on $40 a day prompts small but vocal protest outside her office
Newstart recipients protest outside MP Julia Banks's office – video
Annie McLoughlin had one thought when she heard Liberal MP Julia Banks’s claim she could live on Newstart’s $40 a day.
“I just thought, she’s not really on the same planet as people who are under the pump,” McLoughlin said. “If you’ve got children to look after, how are you actually expected to get out from under?”
“I thought she was a fool, basically.”
McLoughlin was so outraged by the comments that she joined a small protest outside Banks’s electorate office in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Friday. The protesters, organised by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, wanted to give Banks the weekly budgets of Newstart recipients, to show her the kind of hardship they faced.
Banks wasn’t in the electorate office, and the protesters said the doors were locked, leaving them unable to deliver the documents. Earlier this month, Banks courted controversy when she said she could “live on 40 bucks a day knowing that the government is supporting me with Newstart looking for employment”.
The position conflicts with the views of former prime minister John Howard, Deloitte’s Chris Richardson and the Business Council of Australia, who have all said the current rate is too low.
McLoughlin, who is 59, said living on Newstart was a constant struggle. She gets by on canned food, pasta, oranges and peanut butter (for the protein).
“Put it this way, if I was going to get a takeaway coffee, it would be a special experience for me,” she said. “Because they cost almost $5 in some places. That’s too extravagant.”
She has just enrolled in a technician course to boost her employment prospects, after struggling to secure employment due to her age.
The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) led a pre-budget campaign for an increase in the Newstart rate, which has remained frozen for 18 years.
Research released earlier this week showed Newstart recipients who were also supported by the Salvation Army were left with just $17 a day, after housing costs.
Banks’s office was contacted for a response.
“I just thought, she’s not really on the same planet as people who are under the pump,” McLoughlin said. “If you’ve got children to look after, how are you actually expected to get out from under?”
“I thought she was a fool, basically.”
McLoughlin was so outraged by the comments that she joined a small protest outside Banks’s electorate office in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Friday. The protesters, organised by the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, wanted to give Banks the weekly budgets of Newstart recipients, to show her the kind of hardship they faced.
Banks wasn’t in the electorate office, and the protesters said the doors were locked, leaving them unable to deliver the documents. Earlier this month, Banks courted controversy when she said she could “live on 40 bucks a day knowing that the government is supporting me with Newstart looking for employment”.
The position conflicts with the views of former prime minister John Howard, Deloitte’s Chris Richardson and the Business Council of Australia, who have all said the current rate is too low.
McLoughlin, who is 59, said living on Newstart was a constant struggle. She gets by on canned food, pasta, oranges and peanut butter (for the protein).
“Put it this way, if I was going to get a takeaway coffee, it would be a special experience for me,” she said. “Because they cost almost $5 in some places. That’s too extravagant.”
She has just enrolled in a technician course to boost her employment prospects, after struggling to secure employment due to her age.
The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) led a pre-budget campaign for an increase in the Newstart rate, which has remained frozen for 18 years.
Research released earlier this week showed Newstart recipients who were also supported by the Salvation Army were left with just $17 a day, after housing costs.
Banks’s office was contacted for a response.
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