The Australian Greens said today the Federal Government is making things even more unfair for people struggling on Newstart by implementing new, hard-line participation rules. 

“Rather than listening to the evidence and doing more to help people, the Government has taken an even more punitive approach to jobseekers who are already doing it tough,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services said today. 

The Australian Greens said today that the new budget submission from ACOSS puts further pressure on the Government to increase support for jobseekers and single parents in next month's Budget.

"The Government needs to listen to ACOSS and the individuals and organisations who are calling for an increase in Newstart," Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services said today.

"People are falling further and further into poverty. The Government needs to provide a meaningful increase in Newstart in the May budget.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has spoken at a rally in support of single parents in Perth today, saying the Government must act in the May budget to help vulnerable people.

“Job seekers and single parents affected by the Howard Government’s welfare to work regime have been joined in January by another 84,000 sole parents affected by parenting payment cuts,” Senator Siewert said today.

The Federal Government must address the growing chasm between Newstart Allowance and pension payments in the May budget, the Australian Greens said today.

“Reports today of the analysis commissioned by the National Welfare Rights Network paint a stark picture of a flawed system of income support that is failing to help some of the poorest people in our community,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services said today.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has today addressed the ACOSS National Conference, calling for the Government to increase Newstart by $50 per week in the face of growing campaign momentum and public support.

“I've been working on these issues for a number of years, and it is great to see over the past year a significant increase in the level of interest in this issue, more sympathetic media coverage, more interest in understanding the realities of living in poverty,” Senator Siewert said today.

In light of a damning report from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Australian Greens are calling on the Government to take immediate action to reverse the cuts to single parents and to increase Newstart.

“The report shows the deep flaws in the Government’s cuts to single parent payments, and the Committee finds they are unable to conclude that these measures are compatible with human rights,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on family and community services said today

The Government has again failed to show any willingness to take a more compassionate approach to helping the hundreds of thousands of jobseekers and single parents struggling on Newstart Allowance.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services raised the issue of payment rates in Senate Question Time today, saying both jobseekers and single parents on Newstart were falling further behind the increasing cost of living.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services says significant rent increases in Perth are making things even tougher for those struggling to survive on Newstart.

"Latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of WA show an increase in rental prices of 4.4% in just the last three months. This will place those on Newstart under even more severe financial pressure," Senator Siewert said in Perth today.

Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today that MPs need to take action in Parliament in order to match their public  statements of support for single parents and people on Newstart.

“MPs are making a habit of speaking about the need to help single parents, without taking action in Parliament,” Senator Siewert said today.

“What is the point of public platitudes if MPs then walk into the Parliament and then vote in an entirely different manner?

The Australian Greens said today that efforts to increase the income free area of Newstart Allowance represented a piecemeal approach to reforms that would not help long term unemployed people facing multiple barriers to employment.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on families and community services said today the Government is trying to mitigate the electoral damage caused as a result of parenting payment cuts and ongoing inaction on payments like Newstart.