Fact Sheets
How To Take Action (Even If You’ve Never Done It Before)
Sources And Info
Percentage of people skipping meals dropped by half, to 33%.
93% of people reported they could afford more fresh fruit and vegetables, 86% more meat.
People struggling with medical costs fell by over 40%, however 2 in 5 still reported difficulty paying for medicine and health services.
75% of people were able to catch-up on bills.
69% found it easier to pay rent and considered moving into safer or more suitable accommodation, around 60% said they could better cover emergency expenses and save for major household purchases like fridges.
“This supplement has reduced anxiety and stress in my household. It has helped me get my car fixed, we now eat better and healthier. We are able to set aside money for emergencies and small holidays to see family. I can afford my water, electricity and gas bills, and to have the Internet (which is an essential for my studies). I can afford to upgrade my fridge, freezer and other goods that raise my bills.”
96% of people renting privately are in rental stress
48% have received a rent increase in the past 6 months, a third reporting an increase of $30 or more per week
62% are eating less or skipping meals
71% Cutting back on meat, fresh fruit and vegetables
70% of car users had difficulty travelling to work, medical appointments or other commitments
57% are having shorter showers or taking fewer showers to save on energy costs
70% have cut their use of heating
46% going to bed early to keep warm
28% currently have an energy bill debt with an extra 22% expecting to into debt at their next bill
62% had difficulty getting medication or medical care due to increasing costs
96% of people said the inability to keep up with the cost of living harmed their physical and mental health
“Now the cost of living has skyrocketed, I am having to cut back further on essentials, and I often can’t eat healthy food, nor can I afford things like fuel or registration or, at times, essential medicines.” Person receiving JobSeeker payment
“I am homeless with my dog, staying in an awful crisis accommodation. There are maybe one or two properties in the whole state that I would be able to get on JobSeeker. I am desperately trying to find employment, which is almost impossible without a suitable stable base. I don’t know what to say, I’m leaving the crisis accommodation tonight.” Person receiving JobSeeker payment
“There is a real social aspect to the increased cost of living. Aside from getting to vital appointments, I can’t afford additional fuel to visit family or friends and can’t afford to buy additional food to invite them over for a meal, or even coffee. I am embarrassed & increasingly isolated. The lack of social contact is debilitating.” Person receiving JobSeeker payment
‘An exploratory study examining the changes to Australia’s social security system during COVID‐19 lockdown measures’ Elise Klein, Kay Cook, Susan Maury, and Kelly Bowey, Australian Journal of Social Issues.
Journal article that explores the history of welfare conditionality in Australia, including mutual obligations, and the effect of the $550 per fortnight Covid supplement and mutual obligation suspension in 2020.
The payment helped people meet their basic needs:
• Food, medicine, and housing
• Invest in long-term future eg. buy things to help with employment, pay off debts
• Meet the needs of their children and help them live better lives eg. new school uniform and shoes, maths tutoring, send them on outings with friends, “I’ve felt more dignity… It has made me feel like a good parent being able to actually care for my children…”
Improved people’s physical and mental health due to Covid supplement:
• People reported improved well-being from less anxiety and stress
• Feelings of dignity
• Focus on more productive, longer-term goals “I was able to redirect my thoughts away from the constant worry and calculation of every penny to productive and creative activities and thinking”
The suspension of mutual obligations helped people’s psychological and physical health:
• “No anxiety. No waiting to hear if you got an interview. No knock backs which impacted on my self‐worth”
• “I have PTSD because I'm a survivor of domestic violence. Anxiety is characteristic of PTSD and the way Centrelink behaves is very much like my ex‐husband. One day they want one thing, so you do it, then the next day the rules change and your whole existence is in question. Centrelink is exactly like an abuser and you just can't function like that. Having those impossible‐to‐fulfil expectations removed meant that I was able to have a normal experience of life for the first time in around 11 years.”
• “[my son and I] were able to eat healthy meals… It was brilliant to feel like a better mum, to be present for my child, with lower stress, better food, and the ability to pay bills”
• “I can focus on my health conditions that impact me physically and my children's health conditions too, attending appointments”
Covid supplement increased engagement in labour market:
• Allowed people to plan, be strategic with finances, and work on initiatives to help engagement with labour market
• “A future became possible. People respected me more. And it helped set me on the path of doing a Masters in Education, which I wouldn't have had the confidence to do without my improved situation”
• “Instead of doing busywork and ticking off boxes [related to mutual obligations], I could really focus on study and what I needed to do to get to where I wanted to go. And I was able to make progress for the first time in a couple of years towards that goal”
• “My mental health is the main thing, I’ve actually felt worthy. My bills are all paid on time… I’ve been able to give my children a normal life like other children, and I’ve been able to go back to study so that I have a chance at a better future. I guess it gave me some hope!”
Suspension of mutual obligations gave people time and space to engage in the formal labour market:
• “More time to live properly and actually look for work properly”
• “Less time worrying about rushing to apply for any and every job to meet quotas, and [instead] focus on quality over quantity”
• “[I] could apply for jobs on my own terms without any involvement from a Job Agency. The agencies often ‘refer’ you for jobs you have no skills in – so for them to leave me to my devices was fantastic”
• “Ability to focus solely on professional development activities relevant to professional fields and career aspirations. Allowed me to gain clarity as to what postgraduate study I am likely to commit to. In contrast, mutual obligation requirements which required 25 hours working retail in an op shop has very little relevance to well‐educated thirty‐somethings with 3‐5 years [of] experience in a professional field. In fact, those forced activities can potentially harm one’s attractiveness to employees in terms of the optics generated and the irrelevant skills and tasks that are required… Less time wasted applying for required number of jobs in fields that aren’t relevant to my experience or I am unlikely to land a position in regardless”
Both the Covid supplement and mutual obligation suspension allowed people to engage in other forms of unpaid productive work:
• Care and community work, unpaid childcare, advocacy, and volunteering
• Reduction in stress and an increase in resources allowed them to focus on activities important to them and their community
• “It may seem small, but I was able to start doing little things for others and causes I care about. When I saw a friend in need I could buy them a meal. I was able to contribute to a fines fund for people arrested protecting Djab Wurrung country. I didn’t spend much on me but I felt like I could do more for the collective good, being able to give a little to people who needed it rather than feeling helpless.”
• “It has made me feel like a good parent being able to actually care for my children”
• “[I have] not had to worry that I would be kicked off the payment”
• “No time‐wasting meetings with providers who don't care about my circumstances or my wellbeing”
• “The best mental depression and anxiety cure and relief, [e]specially when the unemployment rate is so high”
• “I have been changing lives all over the place and becoming a public figure in my community that stands for love, acceptance, mental wellbeing and togetherness… I have an employee; I talk in panels and speeches and webinars about social impact… my life is about to change forever and I'm about to be able to say goodbye to Centrelink forever. Yet, this fortnight, I am told I am now required to start applying for 12 jobs a fortnight. It's madness. All the employers around here already know me and will wonder why on earth the founder of the area's most exciting social enterprise is applying to their cafe for a job as a barista. It MAKES NO SENSE.”
Poverty is policy induced:
• Poverty levels decreased during the pandemic
• “Social security policy settings directly affect the experience of poverty in Australia”
• There are “serious limits” to views that payments above the poverty line are a disincentive to find work. “People with financial security and time were able to engage further with the labour market and make strategic decisions about their economic futures”
• A review of OECD policies found that higher payments correlate with lower unemployment rates.
• Victorian and Federal parliamentary committees have recommended governments focus on poverty alleviation through the social security system to improve economic security and ease demand for crisis support.
Punitive narratives around people accessing welfare are “stigmatising, counterproductive and not based in reality”
• People spent their Covid supplement paying bills, purchasing household supplies like groceries, paying mortgage or rent, accessing medical services, saving it, and paying down debt
• This contrasts with stigmatising narratives that “associate unemployment with irresponsible behaviour, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement”
• “Underpaying people and mandating mutual obligations also perpetuate negative stereotyping.”
• “Parents’ lack of material and temporal resources creates and perpetuates a vicious cycle from which it is difficult for them or their children to escape.”
• “As our findings suggest, when mutual obligations were suspended and people had greater resources, they used these to advance their future prospects. When the Supplement was reduced, people returned to feeling trapped within a cycle of poverty and despair.”
‘State of the Nation in Suicide Prevention – September 2022’ Suicide Prevention Australia
and
‘Cost of Living Has Become the ‘Highest’ Risk Factor to Australian Suicide Rates, Report Finds’ John Buckley, VICE Australia, published 6 September 2022.
Cost of living and personal debt was the greatest risk to suicide over the next 12 months (74%), followed by social isolation (73%), housing access and affordability (72%), family and relationship breakdowns (70%), and unemployment (62%)
This is the first time an economic issue has led the survey as a source of distress.
66% of Australian surveyed in a YouGov poll on suicide prevention believe that recent social and economic circumstances will mean current suicide rates are likely to be higher this year than the previous year. Further, 64% believe that current social and economic circumstances will mean future suicide rates will be higher next year than this year.
“It wouldn’t take much effort at all to curb the cost of living pressure by lifting more than 1 million people out of poverty and raising the rate of JobSeeker”
“The raw data shows that JobSeeker is driving people to an early death, and we hear, every day, from members who are being pushed to the brink,” Jeremy Poxon, Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union
‘Experts urge higher income support payments to stem youth mental health crisis’ Luke Henriques-Gomes, Guardian Australia, published 10 September 2021.
Australia's Mental Health Think Tank consisting of Prof Patrick McGorry, Lifeline chair John Brogden, Black Dog Institute director Helen Christensen, and former national health commissioner Prof Maree Teesson has said reinstating the $550 Covid-19 supplement would be “absolutely the first and most decisive action the Australian government could take” to address the youth mental health crisis.
• It would also “reduce the burden on over-stretched mental health services now and in the longer term”
• “Economic insecurity, unemployment and importantly the prospect of unemployment were key drivers (of mental distress) in multiple studies”
• “This measure is both fast and effective,” she said. “In a crisis, that’s the kind of action that we need.”
‘Jobs Availability Snapshot 2022’ Anglicare Australia
• “There remains a clear need to raise the base rates of government support for people who are unemployed. People seeking work should not be trapped in poverty while they search for a job, and current rates are so low that they are a barrier to jobseeking in and of themselves.”
• “Entry level jobs have been slowly disappearing and becoming harder to compete for. Nearly half, or 44 percent, of all vacancies required tertiary education or at least three years' experience.”
• For every entry-level vacancy, there are fifteen people seeking work.
• Throughout Australia, there is no region with enough entry-level jobs to meet demand.
• “When discouraged jobseekers, potential workers who are actively looking for work, and underemployed workers are taken into account, there are 38 jobseekers competing for each entry-level job”
• Anglicare Australia recommends an end to compulsory participation and abandonment of mutual obligations
• When Australia’s JobSeeker payment was doubled and mutual obligations lifted it gave Australians access to a form of basic income. This lifted hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty - “many for the first time”.
• The changes during the pandemic showed “Poverty is not inevitible. It is a policy choice. The simple act of providing a liveable income to so many people, including those who were out of work or employed casually, all but eradicated the problem of poverty in Australia.”
“Socioeconomic factors are key determinants of health. Having access to material and social resources and being able to participate in society are important for maintaining good health.”
Compared to people in the highest socioeconomic areas, people in lower socioeconomic groups are at greater risk of poor health, have higher rates of illness, disability and death, and live shorter lives.
Health risk factors:
• 1.6 times as likely to be obese
• 1.3 times as likely to be insufficiently active
• 1.2 times as likely to have uncontrolled high blood pressure
Chronic conditions:
• 2.0 times as likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• 1.9 times as likely to have diabetes
• 1.6 times as likely to have signs of chronic kidney disease
• 1.6 times as likely to have coronary heart disease
• 1.1 times as likely to be newly diagnosed with cancer
Death:
• 2.6 times as likely to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• 2.0 times as likely to die from lung cancer
• 1.6 times as likely to dies from coronary heart disease
• 1.3 times as likely to die from stroke
• 1.1 times as likely to die from stroke
Burden of disease:
Compared with people living in the highest socioeconomic areas, people in the lowest socioeconomic areas experienced burden of disease that was estimated to be:
• 2.4 times higher for type-2 diabetes
• 2.2 times higher for lung cancer
• 2.0 times higher for coronary heart disease
• 1.6 times higher for stroke
• 1.2 times higher for dementia