The Socialist Alliance is joining the growing number of people and organisations campaigning for a big increase in all pensions and other welfare benefits. Susan Austin, Hobart Socialist Alliance co-ordinator, said, “It is outrageous that people on welfare were almost totally ignored in the recent federal budget. PM Kevin Rudd says he wants to look after Aussie battlers, but he’s forcing a whole sector of the population to live in poverty while giving tax cuts to even high-income earners and keeping a major budget surplus aside.”
Duncan Meerding, a Hobart member of the Socialist Alliance who receives the blind pension, said, “Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan have promised to improve the method of indexation of pension payments in the future, but this hardly compensates for the fact that the cost of living for people on welfare increased 6% over the last quarter, as against the Consumer Price Index figure of 4.2%”.
The Socialist Alliance believes that it is absolutely unacceptable that, according to the Council of the Ageing, in a wealthy country like Australia 39% of single adults over 65 years of age live below the Henderson poverty line. Data from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research shows that all couples with children who rely on a pension as their only source of income are below this very tightly defined poverty line.
Austin pointed out “But if we take the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s less miserly definition of poverty (less than 50% of median earnings), then a single pensioner, who in late 2007 was receiving $268.65 per week, would have to double their pension to get above the poverty line!”
Meerding said, “The Socialist Alliance says welfare payments for all those in need are a basic human right. We call for a guaranteed income for all at a living wage. We acknowledge that this would require a big increase in the welfare budget, but Australia can clearly afford this.”
Duncan Meerding, a Hobart member of the Socialist Alliance who receives the blind pension, said, “Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan have promised to improve the method of indexation of pension payments in the future, but this hardly compensates for the fact that the cost of living for people on welfare increased 6% over the last quarter, as against the Consumer Price Index figure of 4.2%”.
The Socialist Alliance believes that it is absolutely unacceptable that, according to the Council of the Ageing, in a wealthy country like Australia 39% of single adults over 65 years of age live below the Henderson poverty line. Data from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research shows that all couples with children who rely on a pension as their only source of income are below this very tightly defined poverty line.
Austin pointed out “But if we take the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s less miserly definition of poverty (less than 50% of median earnings), then a single pensioner, who in late 2007 was receiving $268.65 per week, would have to double their pension to get above the poverty line!”
Meerding said, “The Socialist Alliance says welfare payments for all those in need are a basic human right. We call for a guaranteed income for all at a living wage. We acknowledge that this would require a big increase in the welfare budget, but Australia can clearly afford this.”
The Socialist Alliance also calls for an end to the Welfare to Work provisions, which unfairly penalise supporting parents, people with disabilities and the long-term unemployed.
The Alliance also demands an end to assessments based on relationship status (and hence an end to the distinction between the “single” and “couple” payments). “Everyone needs an independent income whether they are partnered or living alone,” Meerding said.
For more info see the Socialist Alliance’s Charter of Welfare Rights available for download from http://www.socialist-alliance
Contact Susan Austin on 0418 643 133 or Duncan Meerding on 0419 406 875
