A group of 99 prominent Australian women have come together to write a powerful letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, demanding his government take meaningful action on the country’s lackluster social security payments in this month’s budget.
The group, made up of leaders from the business, political, community services and indigenous affairs sectors, called on the Prime Minister to provide “a substantial increase to the youth and jobseeker allowance” in this federal budget.
The urgent plea comes amid growing pressure on the government to do more to tackle gender violence, and comes after a group of leading economists last week called on the Labor Party to strengthen jobseekers or they would risk “entrenching the disadvantage.”
The government-appointed Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee made raising rates its priority recommendation in its 2024 report.
“Women escaping violence need to know that there will be a decent social safety net for them,” committee chair and former Labor Minister Jenny Macklin wrote in the new letter.
Australian leaders have written to Anthony Albanese calling for change
The women urged the Prime Minister to do more to tackle gender-based violence and increase payments to job seekers. She is pictured speaking at No More! National Anti-Violence Rally March at Parliament House in Canberra last Sunday
Also among the signatures are Chief Women’s Chief Executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, former Indian MP Cathy McGowan, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar and the president of the Union of education, Correna Haythorpe.
An estimated 500,000 women receive Jobseeker’s Payment, currently $55 a day, and Youth Allowance, currently $45 a day.
The group wrote ‘fixing the adequacy of the jobseeker and youth allowance to provide basic economic security for women cannot wait.”
Last year, the government made changes to the payment for single parents, ensuring payments continued until the youngest child turned 14, instead of eight.
In its letter, the group said this had been “very welcome” but that there were still “large numbers of women of all ages receiving Jobseeker and other working-age payments that are simply not enough to cover basic costs.” “.
“For First Nations women, for women of diverse backgrounds, for women of all backgrounds, the impacts of poverty on the ability to stop violence and live in safety are profound,” she says.
‘No one should be forced to live in poverty. The evidence is clear: a key reason why women cannot escape violence is because they do not have economic security.”
Former Labor Minister Jenny Macklin (left) is among the 99 signatures on the letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right)
Albanese himself has acknowledged this and said as much when he announced last week an extension of the Escape from Violence Payment, worth up to $5,000 for eligible applicants who are trying to leave or have recently left an abusive relationship.
“We understand the insidious links between financial insecurity and stress and vulnerability to family and domestic violence,” he said Wednesday.
“Too often, financial insecurity can be a barrier to escaping violence.”
But since applicants only receive an initial cash payment of $1,500, and the other $3,500 is provided in the form of goods and services, the letter told her that women “need to know that they will have basic long-term economic security.”
‘Increasing social security payments will not eliminate the need to invest in frontline services and take other critical measures to achieve women’s security. However, it is a critical part of ensuring that women can do what they need to be safe,” the letter concludes.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) and Mr Albanese (right) will put the finishing touches on the budget this week.
On Sunday, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, also Minister for Women, did not want to know whether or not the Government would increase social security payments.
“We look across the board at what’s possible,” he told ABC’s Insiders.
‘But we have made no secret that we want to make sure… that we are driving economic equality for women. Women experience financial insecurity.
‘And so, part of the answer is the payment system.
“In every budget we look at what we can do with the payments system to make sure we are providing as much support as possible to people who need that extra help.”
Last week, economists including Christ Richardson and Nicki Hutley called on the government to use the budget to increase the jobseeker and youth allowance to 90 per cent of the age pension, a move that would cost the budget $4.6 billion per year. anus.
