Prime minister Scott Morrison says his government has no plans to raise Newstart beyond the usual indexation levels, while talking up national employment figures, declaring “how good are jobs”.
The comments come as one of his backbenchers warn people will turn to crime if the welfare payment is not increased.
While advocating for an increase in the payment for those in regional and rural communities, the former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce said it was a “reality of life” that those attempting to get by on Newstart would “grow dope” or steal in order to make ends meet.
But Morrison ruled out any change beyond the six-monthly indexation change, which last added just 30 cents a day to the $275.10 a week base payment, increasing it by just over $2.
“More importantly, for those who are on Newstart … well over 90%, about 99% per cent, of people who are on Newstart are actually on other forms of payments as well,” Morrison said.
“It’s about getting people into jobs. The latest jobs figures show 20,000 additional full-time jobs. That’s good news, that’s great news, more jobs. How good are jobs.”
The oft-repeated claim from government MPs that most people on Newstart also receive other government assistance is true, but in the majority of cases that payment works out to less than $10 a week.
Business leaders have repeatedly called for a real-term increase to the unemployment payment, saying it was much needed to stimulate the economy.
Morrison said the government’s tax package, passed by the parliament including Labor and the crossbench earlier this month, would do the same job.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to support the economy, and that’s the tax relief provided to more than 3.5 million people that live outside Australia’s metropolitan areas,” Morrison said.
“Tax relief. We also made the changes to the deeming rates last weekend, and that’s an appropriate adjustment after the movement in the cash rate by the Reserve Bank.”
Newstart has not seen an increase, in real terms, since the Keating government.
Joyce has become the latest government MP to call for the payment to be reviewed and increased but with a focus on those who live in rural and regional communities.
“I need to go to bat for my people, and the people out in regional areas, we don’t have a public transport system, you’ve got a secondhand, dumpy car, you don’t have a doctor down the street, you need to drive to town for it,” he told ABC News.
“You’re looking at $50 a week plus in fuel just to pick up your groceries. They’ve got a different predicament to people in the cities. People end up in the little regional towns, they end up in the small towns, because they keep falling down and down.
“You can’t do it on $280 a week.”
Labor MPs have also begun to break ranks and demand an increase to the payment, with party policy to have the payment reviewed.