Latrobe Valley charity groups are dismayed that the federal budget has failed to raise the Newstart allowance as recipients continue to live below the poverty line.
St Vincent de Paul Morwell president Kevin Hutchinson said local job seekers were struggling to survive and some were even accessing their superannuation to pay bills.
“Our position has been for the past couple of years that the unemployment rate needs to be lifted,” Mr Hutchinson said.
Mr Hutchinson estimated 60 per cent of people accessing St Vinnies were on Newstart which was putting more pressure on charities to pick up the slack the government allowances were not covering.
“You could understand if people were not taking available jobs but the jobs are not there. This verges on cruelty,” he said.
“I’d like to see more effort into protecting the jobs that already exist instead of forcing people to look for jobs that don’t exist.”
Last week, Deloitte Access economist Chris Richardson called for a $50-per-week raise in Newstart and described current rates as “unnecessarily cruel”.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there is only one job available for every eight jobseekers. Figures from June 2017 revealed 7885 people were on Newstart in the Latrobe Valley.
The single dole rate is $278 per week and this has not increased in real terms in 24 years.
Mr Hutchinson said lifting the dole made good economic sense as low income earners would spend more money in the local economy on essential items or even simple luxuries like a cup of coffee.
Morwell Neighbourhood House volunteer Vicky Osborn worked as a car detailer for 20 years. She went onto Newstart when her husband retired from the railways to take a pension after 48 years.
“Who would employ a 62-year-old?” she said.
Ms Osborn said every penny from their Centrelink payments went on essentials like bills, utilities, and fuel but the couple still couldn’t make ends meet.
The neighbourhood house runs a twice-weekly food bank which Ms Osborn has to access once a month.
She said some weeks she had to pay bills instead of buy food.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said the point of Newstart was to provide transition payments while people were moving back to work and it was not intended to be a permanent solution.
“The more jobs we can create in the Latrobe Valley through record investment in infrastructure and building business confidence, the less need [there is] for locals to receive Newstart payments,” Mr Chester said.
“The government has a range of incentive payments to help people find work and stay in work and there are also support measures and other welfare payments to assist people in financial difficulty and provide additional support to families in need.”
