On 25 July 2019, the Senate referred an inquiry into the adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 27 March 2020. On 23 March 2020, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 2 April 2020. The reporting date has been further extended to 16 April 2020. The reporting date has been further extended to 30 April 2020.

Further detail about the scope of the inquiry is provided in the terms of reference.

Making a submission

Submissions were sought by 30 September 2019. If you cannot send your submission by this date, please contact the committee secretariat.

If you would like to make a submission, you may find it helpful to look at the guide for preparing a submission. It includes suggestions on what to include in a submission, a check list, and information about what happens to your submission once it has been received by the committee.

The committee welcomes submissions from people receiving income support payments or others affected by the payments system, however, we would like to note that the committee does not have the ability to advise on, advocate for, or take action on individual cases.

The committee can receive submissions as public documents—which are published on the committee webpage. If your submission is published, the information in it, including your name can be searched for on the internet.

The committee can also decide to receive submissions on a confidential basis or with your name and personal details withheld. If you do not want your submission to be publicly available, you can ask the committee to keep your submission confidential – please include the word confidential on the front of your submission as well as a reason for requesting confidentiality.