Submission to the Committee inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty 2023

This submission is not comprehensive but it addresses a range of issues facing people on the
lowest incomes, whether in or out of paid work. Poor people in this country are not being left behind. We are being actively held back by the same politicians who do little more for us than spew empty rhetoric. Decades of making budget savings off the backs of the poorest people in the community and ratcheting up punishment for those who dare to seek help have left us trapped in a carefully calibrated poverty machine. For many of us there is little hope of escape.

Overview of key recommendations

• Immediately increase income support payments to at least the Henderson poverty line until a modern measure of poverty is developed.
• Work with unemployed advocates to develop a sophisticated and responsive measure of poverty fit-for-purpose in the 21st century.
• Immediately remove participation requirements and other forms of conditionality, including income control and forced labour programs like Work for the Dole.
• Adopt our recommendations for the Economic Inclusion Committee in the short-term and transition to an independent process for setting payment rates in accordance with the best available poverty line.

You can read the submission in full below or read our related media release here.