My week on Newstart has been an eye opener (and I already knew quite a bit), not just the big things, but for all the small things that we otherwise take for granted, like a cup of coffee. For me it was only a single week. For many of the 500,000 Australians on Newstart, this is their daily experience. I'd like to think that it is only a brief experience for most, but the fact is over 60% of the people on Newstart have been there for a year, not out of choice, but because they are desperate for work but don't fit neatly back into the workforce.
Living on Newstart for just a week has already given me a taste of what many people experience month after month, when living $130 under the poverty line. I met single mums, older workers who have been retrenched, young men and women, people living with a partial disability or with mental illness, migrants struggling with language. Not one of them said to me that Newstart is what they want for their lives, or for their family. Many recounted the difficulties they had faced in finding an employer who would take them on because of their unique circumstances.
I don't believe it is OK to condemn these people to poverty, to a feeling of shame and to social isolation; to punish them while they search for a 'new start' for themselves rather than give them practical assistance to seek out work. One man told me that despite knowing he cannot read and write in english, his JSA sat him in front of a computer and left him to fill in the forms he needed to provide before he could get further help. Years of both old parties stirring up fear about welfare cheats and dismantling our social support system has left ordinary Australians with a safety net so low, it barely functions at all.
I've learnt many things this week, and benefited immensely from all the tips sent in and suggestions from service providers. To wrap up my week, I want to share some of the lessons learnt.
The biggest lesson of all: A $50 a week increase to the single rate of Government allowances like Newstart, would make a lot of difference to so many people and increase their probability of getting back into work, by helping to ensure they are in good physical and mental health with secure housing and regular meals, have decent clothes, transport and a phone to seek out work and that their confidence remains intact.
Senator Rachel Siewert lives on Newstart
The weekly allowance is set at $244 plus $60 if you qualify for the maximum rent assistance. I factored in $185 for a one bedroom unit - the cheapest accommodation I could find in the metro area.
Lesson learned: from the stories shared by Newstart recipients and from financial Counsellors and other service providers, I now realise that $185 was wildly optimistic. Housing is the biggest fixed cost, and it is clear that cheap accommodation is extremely difficult to find and people end up homeless.
After factoring in utility bills, and a small amount of mobile pre-paid top up, then factoring in six return trips on public transport, plus $5 of fuel to allow me to go shopping and to visit my mum who lives too far away from public transport, I was left with $10.11, for food, personal care, household items, clothes, haircuts, medical costs, the dentist and all those other bills, the lot.
Lesson learned: this didn't include any of my annual bills such as car registration and insurance, which would be another over $20 a week. Nor did it include any of my 12 month contracts such as the internet, which are difficult to exit from if you lose your job.
The next thing I did was plan out my meals and try to shop for the week. I'm a vegetarian, so I didn't purchase meat, but $54.75 got me some vegetables, pasta, rice, tinned beans and tomatoes, breakfast cereal, cheese, eggs, bread, milk, tea bags and not a lot else. There was definitely no treats or expensive brand names in my trolley and this was just food - I relied on my existing stocks of toothpaste and shampoo, my margarine in the fridge, as well as all the things you don't think about, such as batteries and light globes, but when they run out (like the margarine did on day four) would have a hard time replacing.
Lesson learned: I spent all my food budget for the week on the first day, which left me with $11.25 in my wallet for all other expenses. Having so little left me feeling very exposed, and many people have since told me that it was a mistake to spend all my money first up, because you're left with nothing if a crisis happens - even something little like an unexpectedly high bill or the toaster explodes. I also found that despite trying to be economical, by day four, I was starting to run out of fresh vegetables and at day six was left with only cereal, pasta, some eggs and cheese sandwiches - definitely not a healthy or sustainable diet.
When you live on so little, even a minor crisis can turn into a big deal. If I broke my reading glasses or blew a tyre on the car, finding even $100 for an emergency fix would be impossible. This is how people get into debt or financial hardship, with a five week wait to see a financial counselor for advice, if they even know they can seek out that assistance.
One of the beautiful things about this campaign is that so many people have shared their stories and tips with me. But I know that for many people finding out how to get help has not been easy, and there seems to be little support from Centrelink to link you up with all the other supports that are out there (if there is many, many people didn't receive such support, which says a lot about how it is delivered). And it is also very difficult to maintain even social networks. I've not had money for a cup of coffee with a friend, let alone to have someone over and cook them a meal.
Lesson learned: living under the poverty line is socially isolating and causes serious anxiety. Without knowledge about the support services, and without even the money to go and have a cup of coffee with a friend, many people 'go without' more than just friends and social outings, they go without hope and support.
< Day 5: Community services & hard times
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Increasing the allowance rate by $50 per week - $7 per day - would be an important start to make things a little easier for the hundreds of thousands of Australians relying on this assistance. You can look back through my week on my Facebook page, and you can read more about this issue in our background paper.
