Additional Comments from the Australian Greens
Poverty is political choice
Poverty is a political choice. You choose to keep us in poverty. You choose to keep us homeless. You choose to keep us hungry. You choose to keep us malnourished. You choose to keep us in poverty. Poverty is a political choice. Homelessness is a political choice.[1]
Anthony Albanese always politicises the fact that he grew up in public housing, but now people are growing up in and living in emergency housing, tents, cars and state 'care' because the government won't build enough public housing.[2]
1.1This Committee has heard clear evidence that poverty is widespread across Australia and devastating in its impacts. The evidence makes it clear that the simplest, most effective, and most urgent step is to increase income support payments for all recipients, regardless of their age. This should immediately be followed by the development of a national poverty line.
1.2The Australian Greens recommend:
Recommendation 1: That the Australian Government immediately lift the base rate of all income support payments to $88 a day, regardless of age.
Recommendation 2: That the Australian Government establish a national definition of poverty.
1.3The Australian Labor Party has long had rousing rhetoric on helping the disadvantaged, and ‘the light on the hill’. Labor cannot continue to present itself as a progressive political party while enacting a centre-right agenda that provides tax cuts for billionaires and leaves people living below the poverty line.
1.4In hearings across the country, the committee heard powerful, personal evidence from witnesses with direct experience of poverty.
1.5Abigail said:
Energy prices went up, inflation went up and the DSP did not. I had to start making difficult decisions. I couldn't save money, it was just impossible. There were some fortnights where I had to decide whether I was buying myself groceries or paying electricity bills.[3]
1.6Peter said:
To be on income support and have no money is very dispiriting. It is crushing. It is soul destroying. You become socially isolated.[4]
1.7Jo said:
I am 58 years old. I have been waiting for a total hip replacement for 14 months. I get $683.40 per fortnight on JobSeeker. It should be more than that, but Centrelink have not recognised my new lease that I have uploaded three times or answered my calls … I am going to lose this tooth because I can't afford to see a dentist.[5]
1.8Genevieve said:
… in Australia today there is a huge divide between the haves and the have-nots, far from the days when Robert Menzies made housing affordable and accessible for all. Australia has become a lot harsher for those with less and the safety net for low-income single-parent families has all but disappeared.[6]
1.9Glenys said:
I would like to read a letter I wrote to the paper out of sheer frustration, anger and worry … Every second week she shops for the few groceries she can afford. As the prices increase, she suffers depression and anxiety. Can she afford biscuits this week or bread and butter?[7]
1.10Witness A said:
If I wasn't poor, I'd have justice in my life. I would be safe and have time to heal. Other people would be held accountable for their actions. I would not have slipped through the cracks my whole life. I could afford dreams. If I wasn't poor, securing proper healthcare services would not depend on my likability. I would be harder to victimise. I would have teeth.[8]
1.11Rebecca said:
… when you're on it, the indignity of being on Centrelink and the hold that people have over you. Literally, if you miss a call for some reason—say you've run to the toilet, and in the five minutes that you've gone to the toilet, they've called you, in the hour period of time that they're supposed to call you—they cut off your payment.[9]
1.12David said:
Now, with my DSP alone, I am left with $177 for the fortnight after I pay rent. Of course, I can't do that all the time. I need to keep fuel in my car and money to pay for credit to contact prospective clients. I'm currently around five weeks in arrears; I'm just waiting for my eviction notice.[10]
1.13Isabelle said:
I have seen how this country treats poor people. I've been on the receiving end of it long enough to have had a gutful, and it regularly makes me think, 'Hey, maybe death might not be such a bad idea.' I was born in 1994, and the policy of the government—by which I mean every government in my lifetime—has been to break us down and then pay someone a hell of a lot of perfectly good taxpayer money to do nothing except tell us that you're going to starve us if we don't drag ourselves back up by our bootstraps.[11]
1.14Jennifer said:
I spent nearly eight years sleeping in my car because I couldn't find anywhere suitable to live. The longer I went without anywhere to live, without an address, the harder it became for me to find anywhere suitable to live.[12]
1.15Witness A said:
I'm trying to explain to my kids that we can't afford things but I'm not able to explain how we got into this situation, because of being legally barred from disclosing the domestic violence to them. I've had seven years of pretending to my kids that I'm not hungry or I've already eaten.[13]
1.16Jessica said:
I skip meals. I do deals with who I owe money to in any given fortnight … My daughter deserves a secure, stable home. In order to give her what she needs and what she deserves, I'm sort of working tooth and nail to deliver that as best possible.[14]
1.17Kristin said:
This has been a really hard day to sit through. It's always a really hard day, when we have these endless inquiries, to hear stories like the ones you've just heard—which everyone knows are not outliers—shared, and everybody wrings their hands and does nothing about it.[15]
1.18Greg said:
Once all the basic bills are taken care of, there are certain things you can't do. I've got a psychiatry appointment that's 500 and something dollars out of pocket, and you get $300 back, but I just keep having to postpone that, because it's not something I can afford now.[16]
1.19Chibo said:
I've never felt so mentally tortured as when I was unemployed, starting with Centrelink treating you like you're the last dirt from the street. Just coming into the whole situation—and I think a few people pointed it out in front of you here today—really impacts on your lifestyle, on your nutrition level, on anything.[17]
1.20Brian said:
My flatmate, Maurice, and I have been living in public housing since 1997 and 2008. … We've had two years of flooding from a neighbour above us, with ten floodings in two years, with human faeces in what was coming down.[18]
1.21Len said:
The reason I've come here today is to say part of the reason I went on the streets was that I couldn't cope on the money. I could not cope on the money paying private rental, going through what I was going through, the depression and whatever. But what brought me off the streets was permanent affordable housing. And that extra couple of hundred dollars that I was getting on the disability pension gave me a chance.[19]
1.22Alison said:
The systems that were meant to protect children have failed them. For 11 years, I have had to manage all of this alone with no respite and on minimum government assistance. My eldest granddaughter is now 16 years old and has recently been diagnosed with the same medical condition as me, plus complex mental health issues from thetrauma of her early childhood experiences, which resulted in her recently assaulting me. Because I cannot afford private health cover, I use my credit card to give her the immediate mental health intervention she needs from an expensive clinical psychologist whilst waiting for assistance from Perth Children's Hospital. This adds to the financial struggle.[20]
1.23The Australian Greens want to particularly thank Rita, Mel, Abigail, Peter, Jo, Genevieve, Glenys, Rebecca, David, Isabelle, Jennifer, Nijole, Jessica, Kristin, Greg, Chibo, Brian, Len, Alison, and all those with direct experience of poverty who shared their evidence with the committee.
1.24A fair society is one in which no one is left behind, regardless of their age.
1.25The Australian Greens charter calls for the eradication of poverty, and we believe that everyone, regardless of how old they are, has the right to access adequate high-quality resources to enable them to participate fully in society, and additional services and support should be targeted to disadvantaged people and sectors.
1.26We have consistently put forward clear proposals that would lift income support payments. In 2013, Senator Rachel Siewert introduced the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Caring for People on Newstart) Bill 2013, which would have provided an immediate increase in the rate of payment to people relying on Newstart, the predecessor to the JobSeeker payment. She also introduced the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Caring for Single Parents) Bill 2013, which would have provided an immediate increase in the payment rate of single parents forced to rely on Newstart.[21]
1.27In 2022, our election policy platform set out a clear proposal for an increase not only to JobSeeker but to other income support payments to $88 a day, ensuring that people would not be forced to rely on payment rates below the poverty line.
1.28Evidence to the committee has clearly indicated that poverty must be understood as a political choice. The extent and nature of poverty in Australia is fundamentally a reflection of the structural and systemic drivers behind why an individual can find themselves without sufficient income and living in poverty, and a crucial part of those structural drivers are the power relationships in a society.
1.29As Centrecare noted in their submission:
Given that the determinants of poverty are complex and often outside of an individual’s control then it stands to reason that addressing poverty is a collective responsibility, a notion expressed well by Ronald Henderson, the chair of Australia’s first comprehensive inquiry into poverty. Henderson said, “Poverty is not just a personal attribute: it arises out of the organisation of society”. This is particularly true in a wealthy country like Australia which has both the means and the knowledge to significantly reduce poverty. According to a 2022 Credit Suisse Research Institute report Australia is the richest country in the world on a per capita basis using the measure of median wealth. However, this statistic is skewed by the fact that there is a significant wealth disparity in Australia. The wealthiest 1% of Australians hold 21.8% of the country’s wealth, up from 19.6% in 2019 which confirms the disparity between the rich and the poor is growing.
Accepting the above, when considering poverty, it is hard to argue against the view that it is morally and ethically unacceptable for a wealthy and developed country like Australia to continue to allow a significant percentage of our population to live in poverty. Centrecare’s view is that the government has a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that all citizens have access to the necessities of life, such as food, shelter, healthcare, and quality education. A failure to ensure all Australians have these things is a violation of basic human rights and means we are failing to meet our obligations under important human rights treaties.[22]
1.30Similarly, Per Capita outlined:
Poverty is best understood as neither a personal failing nor as an historical accident. Rather, it is the consequence of power relations, such as those between working people and their employers, or between citizens and the state. As we will argue, the ability to recognise and respond to those power relations is obscured by the central idea and narrative of capitalism: that people make their own fortunes, through study, work, and saving, or are responsible for their own poor choices. In recent decades, that narrative has co-existed with the withdrawal of the state from social responsibility for service provision and welfare, alongside the incremental incursion of the market into the public sphere, the commodification of care and the financialisation of housing.
Public interest in and concern about poverty is rising, as more Australians become at risk of falling into it. Per Capita also sees growing evidence of public belief that government not only can play a role but increasingly has the mandate to do so. Attention is turning to flatlined wages, declining housing affordability, and rising costs of living, including rising costs of healthcare and even education in the public system that is meant to be free.[23]
1.31A social safety net that ensures no-one lives in poverty is also critical to justice and human rights.
1.32As Economic Justice Australia outlined in their submission:
The right to social security and a basic income is a fundamental building block of all human rights; other legal and human needs cannot be fulfilled without financial security. This right is also central to guaranteeing human dignity for all people.
A fair social security system is fundamental to addressing poverty. It provides a safety net necessary to keep a person (and their children) clothed, housed and fed, as well as stability to enable them to plan for the future and engage in their community.[24]
1.33Similarly, Anglicare Australia submitted:
Anglicare Australia believes that a fair society is one where everyone can live a dignified life and participate in their community. People need adequate support while they study, while they look for work, while they look after their loved ones, and to support themselves if they have a disability.
Social security payments were designed to provide a safety net Australians to maintain their capacity to contribute to their families and communities. Yet JobSeeker and related payments are now so low they trap people in poverty. For more than twenty years governments have failed to ensure that social security payments have kept up with the cost of living. The Anglicare Australia Network has for nearly the same amount of time documented how the most vulnerable in our community have borne the brunt of the harm caused by this government inaction, and we have repeatedly called for change.[25]
1.34Australian Lawyers for Human Rights also outlined the nexus between poverty and human rights:
Poverty is a violation of human dignity. ALHR submits that poverty in Australia must be approached from within a human rights framework. As a party to the core international human rights treaties Australia has recognised the inherent dignity of all people and the universal, indivisible and interdependent nature of all human rights. However, as a nation we have largely failed to develop effective anti-poverty strategies that recognise and address the wide range of human rights impacted by poverty.[26]
1.35The inquiry received submissions and heard from individuals with direct experience of poverty, as well as from a wide range of organisations: peak bodies, community groups, advocacy organisations, and representative organisations across the social services, medical, legal and other sectors. Two overwhelming themes emerged.
1.36The first is the need for an urgent increase to income support payments for everyone.
1.37The evidence before the committee clearly indicates that the current levels of income support payments are far too low and act as a structural driver of poverty. Additionally, it is clear that policy choices made by previous governments have pushed people onto the JobSeeker unemployment benefit (which has one of the lowest basic rates), despite their circumstances meaning they would be more appropriately placed on an alternative payment such as the Disability Support Pension (DSP) or the Parenting Payment.
1.38The committee heard from a large volume of stakeholders — ranging across the spectrum of advocacy groups, community services and emergency relief providers, and individuals with lived experience —that Australia’s income support payments were completely inadequate to meet the cost of essential, day-to-day goods and services, including food, rent and energy.
1.39The punishingly low rates of income support serve to create material and social deprivation, as well as entrenched disadvantage. The daily struggle to survive and procure essentials with not enough money is dehumanising and demoralising for recipients and their families. Insufficient income support denies them access to the basic goods and services needed to meet an adequate standard of living and robs them of meaningful opportunities, both social and economic, to participate in and contribute to society.
1.40A significant majority of the submissions urged that income support payments be immediately increased, as the most effective tool to reduce poverty in Australia.
1.41As the Antipoverty Centre outlined in their submission:
The priorities and decisions of this government and those of the past 30 years make us feel you would rather we were dead. This isn’t hyperbole, it’s an everyday conversation among those of us who rely on income support to live, or need support and can’t get it … The best time for the Albanese government to reverse direction and end these harms was the day it took power. The next best time is now.[27]
Recommendation 1
1.42That the Australian Government immediately increase the base rate of Jobseeker and other income support payments to $88 a day, regardless of age.
1.43The Australian Greens are particularly concerned and disappointed at media reports that the Labor Party is choosing to limit increases to JobSeeker based on age. This discounts the clear evidence provided to the committee that poverty has an impact across the lifespan, and that the experience of poverty is just as devastating for young people.
1.44As the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia wrote in their submission:
We believe that failing to invest in young people will result in substantial economic, social, and political costs …National poverty reduction efforts must include a focus on youth if they are to be successful. Against a backdrop of COVID-19 recovery, rising costs of living, low wages and major housing issues, this is a crucial time to work with young people to install a vision of a future that they feel hopeful and confident in.[28]
1.45Similarly, the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia wrote in their submission:
Young people in Australia today are experiencing a vastly different economic situation to older generations. As well as enduring disproportionate impacts from a series of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ financial and social events, effects of long-term wage stagnation and Australia’s ageing population, young people will also experience a greater tax burden in the future as environmental damage worsens and economic growth remains low … Underlying young people’s experiences of poverty is their experience of the labour market and economic participation. Since at least the GFC young people have been overrepresented in unemployment, underemployment, and precarious employment. Young people experience fewer employment opportunities, less working hours and lower wages …
The consistent refusal of successive governments to increase the rate of income support also impacts young people disproportionately as they experience higher unemployment and underemployment and are more likely to receive support payments outside of the Age Pension … Young people receiving Youth Allowance and JobSeeker consistently report going without essential items like medication and food and as costs of living continue to rise more young people are at risk of experiencing the detrimental impacts of abject poverty Keeping the rate of income support payments well below any poverty line while housing, food, medication, and education costs are predicted to continue to rise will have a significant impact on young people, their future, and the future sustainability of Australia’s economy.[29]
1.46We are particularly concerned about the impacts of poverty on mental health for young people. As the Western Australian Association for Mental Health noted in their submission:
The mental health impacts of poverty are profound and pervasive and have widespread effects on individuals, families and children and young people, and are multi-generational.[30]
…
Children and young people living in the 20% of least well-off households are four times more likely to experience severe mental health problems than those in the highest income households.[31]
1.47The National Union of Students outlined in their evidence to the committee:
We believe that everyone in Australia should have access to higher education through TAFE or university, no matter where they live or the amount of money in their bank account. Students deserve a truly equitable education system that does not discriminate based on factors outside of their control. But today we find that receiving that education is increasingly out of reach for many young students. The rising cost-of-living pressures; casualised and insecure work; high rents, combined with a highly inaccessible housing market; and the increasing cost of education fees—all of course exacerbated by COVID-19—are making it harder and harder for students to pay for their studies. We increasingly hear from our member student unions that, for students, studying full time is essentially impossible with the current income support measures, which really do not take into account a lot of factors that students experience …
Our Centrelink in Australia report on student poverty showed that more than 450,000 students aged 18 to 21 are locked out of our social security system, and another 110,000 students are paid at a rate of less than $28 per day. Every day, we hear from these students that they're experiencing the negative impact of living below the poverty line. We're constantly hearing from members and students that this is affecting their wellbeing a lot, whether it be their mental health, their experiences with the education system or a general inability to escape unsafe living situations. Students deserve better than this, I believe. Student poverty is a massive issue …[32]
1.48The Australian Greens urge Labor to ensure that students and young people are not left behind in this Budget, and act upon Recommendation 1 to increase income support payments for all, regardless of age.
1.49Poverty disproportionately impacts a number of groups, as set out in the main report — in particular, women, First Nations people, disabled people, older people, and other groups who are systematically disadvantaged. It is important that the committee continue its work to understand how particular groups are more vulnerable and can be better supported.
1.50However, neither this intersectionality nor arguments about ‘structural’ or ‘intergenerational’ factors should be an excuse for obfuscating the central, fundamental, urgent importance of raising the rate of income support for everyone, regardless of their age.
1.51As the Antipoverty Centre set out:
We reject the ideological underpinnings and framing of poverty as a “wicked problem” lending itself to intergenerational cycles of disadvantage that cannot be helped by simply giving people money. This narrative serves the interests of the architects of the poverty machine and those who perpetuate it. It is the reason why, despite endless cycles of consultation, targeted programs, and “place-based” experiments there are more of us in poverty, not less.
Supports and services can never fulfil their aims while trying to counter the effects of having insufficient resources. The idea that people need enough money to live should not be a radical one. The biggest barrier to escaping the poverty trap isn’t inherent human flaws, it’s poverty itself.[33]
1.52The committee will continue its important work in hearing evidence and understanding the factors that can make particular groups more vulnerable — but this cannot be an excuse for government failing to act immediately to raise income support payments above the poverty line for everyone.
1.53Similarly, while there are a range of different measurements of poverty, with differing strengths and weaknesses, there were clear recommendations from advocates, community organisations, and experts, that the Australian Government should immediately establish a national definition of poverty.
Recommendation 2
1.54 That government establish a national definition of poverty.
1.55The Australian Labor Party has a long history of rousing rhetoric on inequality and action to help the vulnerable and disadvantaged. As former Prime Minister Ben Chifley set out in 1946:
We have a great objective – the light on the hill – which we aim to reach by working the betterment of mankind not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labour movement would not be worth fighting for.[34]
1.56In 1969 Gough Whitlam said:
We are all diminished as citizens when any of us are poor. Poverty is a national waste as well as an individual waste.[35]
1.57In 1988 Bob Hawke famously promised to end child poverty, saying:
No society can afford, on grounds of morality or self-interest, to ignore the claims of those of its members who most need help … Nowhere is this lesson more true than in the case of those of our children who live in poverty.[36]
1.58In Opposition, key leaders of the Australian Labor Party emphasised the importance of addressing poverty. The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said while in Opposition, that the increase to Jobseeker legislated in 2021 was inadequate:
As the Labor Party we will be focused on poverty and hardship, not just as it relates to the JobSeeker payment, but more broadly as well.[37]
1.59On election night in 2022, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that:
During this campaign, I have put forward a positive, clear plan for a better future for our country. And I have shared the two principles that will be part of a government that I lead. No one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable …[38]
1.60In Opposition, Labor Senators supported key recommendations of this committee in its 2020 inquiry into the adequacy of Newstart:
(1)The committee recommends the Australian Government set a national definition of poverty. The Government should immediately commence work in collaboration with academic experts and the community sector to determine this definition.
(2)The committee recommends the Australian Government immediately undertake a review of the income support system to ensure that all eligible income support recipients do not live in poverty.[39]
1.61Even Labor Territory Ministers and backbenchers have recognised the need for an urgent, immediate increase to the rate of JobSeeker.
1.62We are deeply disappointed that the Australian Labor Party’s position has shifted from Opposition to now they are in Government, leaving them unable to support even the basic principle that people should not be forced to rely on an income support payment that is below the poverty line.
1.63The Australian Labor Party may argue that it faces fiscal constraints, but evidence to this committee made it exquisitely clear that there are simple options to raise revenue that would easily cover an increase to the rate of JobSeeker.
1.64Mr Greg Jericho, Policy Director (Labour Market and Fiscal) for the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, drew the committee’s attention to modelling he had done using a tool from the Parliamentary Budget Office which showed that it was possible to raise the rate of JobSeeker and avoid any long-term increase to the budgetary deficit by rescinding or modifying the Stage 3 tax cuts.[40]
1.65In setting out the details, he highlighted the nature of the policy choice before the Australian Labor Party:
People [the Government] have decided they want to bring in something [the Stage 3 tax cuts] that will give half of the benefit to four per cent of the people rather than lifting JobSeeker, which we know, from actual evidence during the pandemic, reduced poverty massively. To me it is a straightforward example—you can't hide behind the fact of saying, 'There will always be people in poverty and we can't do anything about it'. It's clear that something can be done.[41]
1.66A delay to raising JobSeeker and other payments across the board is effectively a decision that it is less important than other priorities, such as the Stage 3 tax cuts and the AUKUS submarines.
1.67Sadly, it appears that Labor’s light on the hill has been replaced by an unwavering commitment to the fiscal constraints imposed by a Liberal prime minister.
1.68To revisit former Prime Minister Ben Chifley’s question, if the light on the hill has gone out, what is the Australian Labor Party for?
1.69The Australian Labor Party cannot continue to present itself as a progressive political party while enacting a centre-right agenda that provides tax cuts for billionaires and leaves people living below the poverty line.
Senator Janet Rice
Chair
Footnotes
[1]Rita, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 13 December 2022, p. 21.
[2]Mel, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 6 December 2022, p. 29.
[3]Abigail, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 59.
[4]Peter, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 58.
[5]Jo, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 57.
[6]Genevieve, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 56.
[7]Glenys, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 60.
[8]Witness A, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 59.
[9]Rebecca, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 6 December 2022, p. 33.
[10]David, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 6 December 2022, p. 36.
[11]Isabelle, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 6 December 2022, p. 37.
[12]Jennifer, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 13 December 2022, p. 20.
[13]Witness A, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 31 January 2023, p. 45.
[14]Jessica, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 31 January 2023, p. 47.
[15]Kristin O’Connell, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 31 January 2023, p. 49.
[16]Greg, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 31 January 2023, p. 51.
[17]Chibo, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 21 February 2023, p. 30.
[18]Brian, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 20 October 2022, p. 60.
[19]Len, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 4 April 2023, p. 33.
[20]Alison, private capacity, Proof Committee Hansard, 4 April 2023, p. 34.
[21]For the text of the bills, see: Social Security Legislation Amendment (Caring for People on Newstart) Bill 2013 and Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Caring for Single Parents) Bill 2013.
[22]Centrecare Inc, Submission 15, p. 4.
[23]Per Capita, Submission 131, p. 5.
[24]Economic Justice Australia, Submission 16, p. 1.
[25]Anglicare Australia, Submission 7, p. 4.
[26]Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Submission 107, p. 3.
[27]Antipoverty Centre, Submission 29, p. 4.
[28]Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia, Submission 69, p. 5.
[29]Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, Submission 84, pp. 1–4.
[30]Western Australian Association for Mental Health, Submission 129, p. 4.
[31]Western Australian Association for Mental Health, Submission 129, p. 22.
[32]Ms Bailey Riley, President, National Union of Students, Proof Committee Hansard, 31 January 2023, pp. 32–33.
[33]Antipoverty Centre, Submission 29, p. 7.
[34]AustralianPolitics.com, ‘The Light On The Hill’ — Speech by Ben Chifley, https://australianpolitics.com/1949/06/12/chifley-light-on-the-hill-speech.html (accessed 2 May 2023).
[35]Museum of Australian Democracy, Election speeches — 1969 Gough Whitlam — Australian Labor Party, https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1969-gough-whitlam (accessed 2 May 2023).
[36]Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, PM Transcripts — Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia – Speech by the Prime Minister Conference on Child Poverty Melbourne – 6 April 1988, https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7310 (accessed 2 May 2023).
[37]Dr Jim Chalmers MP, Shadow Treasurer, ‘Transcript of doorstop interview by Jim Chalmers, ShadowTreasurer,MemberforRankin’,Transcript,25February2021,https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22media%2Fpressrel%2F7825233%22 (accessed 2 May 2023).
[38]‘Read income prime minister Anthony Albanese’s full speech after Labor wins federal election’, ABC News, 22 May 2022, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-22/anthony-albanese-acceptance-speech-full-transcript/101088736 (accessed 2 May 2023).
[39]Senate Community Affairs References Committee,Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia, April 2020, pp.30,41.
[40]Greg Jericho, ‘A new “build your own budget” tool reveals just how bad the stage-three tax cuts are’, The Guardian, 12 January 2023 (accessed 3 May 2023).
[41]Mr Greg Jericho, Policy Director, Centre for Future Work, The Australia Institute, Proof Committee Hansard, 27 February 2023, p. 32.
Inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia.
Senate
House of Representatives
Get informed
Bills
Committees
Get involved
Visit Parliament
Website features
Parliamentary Departments