'I regularly don't eat at all': how people on Newstart get by

Extract from The Guardian

Australian politics

A survey of 500 people on Newstart and Youth Allowance reveals many recipients are skipping meals, medication and showers to save money

Luke Henriques-Gomes

@lukehgomes

Mon 29 Jul 2019 04.00 AEST Last modified on Mon 29 Jul 2019 04.01 AEST

The government has been fending off calls to increase unemployment benefits by $75 a week. Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images

There is one experience that almost all Newstart recipients might share in common: skipping meals to get by on $40 a day.
The resounding response to a survey of about 500 Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients suggests many are missing multiple meals each week.
As political support grows for an increase to Newstart, the Australian Council of Social Service surveyed people on the payment about how they get by on $277.85-per-week.

It found 84% of those who responded said they had skipped meals to save money.
And of those that were skipping meals, 30% said they missed between three and four each week. A further 13% went without food at least eight times a week.
“I regularly don’t eat at all,” one survey respondent said.

The Morrison government has so far fended off calls for a $75 a week increase to the unemployment benefit, which is advocated by Acoss and the Greens.
Labor, which has joined the push without nominating a figure, backed a Greens proposal to hold a Senate inquiry last week.
The Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said people were skipping meals because of the “grossly inadequate” payment.
“Our survey shows people can’t afford rent, food, energy, clothing, transport, haircuts, dental care or internet access, which severely hampers their chances of getting a job, especially as there is only one job available for every eight people looking,” she said.
Other findings include the 65% respondents who said they didn’t eat meat to save money, and around the same proportion said they didn’t use a heater or cooling.
More than 60% reported that they had not been able to see a dentist in two years.
Some survey respondents reported halving their medication and only showering sporadically to save electricity.
“I am no longer purchasing food that requires refrigeration so that I can turn the fridge off,” one respondent said.

While single, childless Newstart recipients who receive the base rate are commonly thought to live on $40 a day, the figure does not take into account bills and other expenses.
Asked how much they were left with after paying for housing, nearly 60% said they had less than $100 left for the week after they paid their housing costs. A further 39% reported having $50 or less.
A separate Salvation Army report has found that people on Newstart live on $17 a day on average after accommodation costs.
Despite the government’s claims that Australia’s safety net was the best in the world, Guardian Australia reported last week that the Newstart allowance is considered one of the lowest unemployment payments in the OECD.
Departmental data, meanwhile, disproves the claim made by Coalition frontbenchers that most people on Newstart are only on the payment for a short period. In fact, at December 2018, the average was three years.
A $75 a week boost would cost about $3bn a year.