This morning, Baptist Care Australia joined ACOSS Australian Council of Social Service and many social service providers from across the country at Parliament House to call for urgent action to lift incomes for people on the lowest payments, including JobSeeker. With the cost of living crisis deepening, we stood alongside key independent and Greens MPs who made it clear that there is political will to raise the rate if the government chooses to act.
Currently JobSeeker is just $56 a day and Youth Allowance just $47 a day. Both rates are less than half the minimum wage and leave people unable to afford basic necessities such as rent, food and medicine.
We need urgent action to #RaiseTheRate to at least the pension rate of $82 a day without further delay. Raising the rate isn’t just the right thing to do, it is a vote winner. We must ensure that poverty reduction is a top priority in the lead-up to the federal election.
We’re grateful to ACOSS for leading this critical work and look forward to working together to keep this issue front and centre.
Read the media release: https://lnkd.in/gijAH899