The next Australian Government could help lift a million people out of poverty by implementing several simple and affordable changes to our tax and welfare system, according to modelling released by the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These strategies, analysed in a new report A Fairer Tax and Welfare System, by the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Social Research and Methods, would only marginally affect the most well off and have no net impact on the nation\u2019s Budgetary position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report examines three options for helping families and individuals at risk of deep poverty and financial stress. Every day the Society\u2019s members hear stories about housing and homelessness concerns, low incomes and job insecurity, and challenges faced by refugees and First Nations people. These issues are covered in the Society\u2019s newly released election statement, A Fairer Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All three options increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 50 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018low\u2019 option increases JobSeeker by $150 per fortnight. The \u2018medium\u2019 option increases JobSeeker, Disability Support and Carer Pensions by $200 per fortnight, and increases the Parenting Payment (Single) to a new JobSeeker rate for single parents ($886 per fortnight).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u2018high\u2019 option increases JobSeeker by $436 per fortnight, Disability Support and Carer Pensions by $200 per fortnight, Parenting Payment to the new JobSeeker rate and Family Tax Benefit Part A by 20 per cent ($40 per fortnight for children under 13 years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The Society strongly supports the \u2018high\u2019 option identified in the ANU report,\u2019 said Claire Victory, SVDP National President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018This would help to lift one million people out of poverty and restore their dignity, and in many cases help them move towards re\u2011entering the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Far too many Australians are struggling to put food on the table, pay the rent in often unsuitable housing, and ensure that their children get the start in life they deserve. Increasing social security improves health, wellbeing and social outcomes, and also benefits the economy \u2013 so it\u2019s an all round win-win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The recent $4.00 a day increase to JobSeeker will make no impact on poverty and the 2022 Federal Budget contained no long-term solution to the nation\u2019s chronic poverty,\u2019 Ms Victory added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report\u2019s key author, Associate Professor Ben Phillips, the ANU modelling highlights strategies to reduce poverty without running up national debt or requiring anyone to make significant sacrifices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Our modelling shows you could make a massive difference to the lives of the bottom 20 per cent of income earners while only making a minimal change to the earnings of the top 20 per cent,\u2019 Assoc Prof Phillips said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Under our proposed changes the highest income earners would still retire with very healthy superannuation savings and continue to benefit strongly from their other investments. But up to a million people would get their heads above the poverty line.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St Vincent de Paul Society will present its suite of election policy papers to sitting MPs and the half Senate, as well as other candidates when they are announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018We\u2019ve put a lot of work into developing compassionate and practical policies that we hope will start the conversation about how a fairer Australia can be achieved,\u2019 Ms Victory said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The next Australian Government could help lift a million people out of poverty by implementing several simple and affordable changes to our tax and welfare system, according to modelling released by the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP). These strategies, analysed in a new report A Fairer Tax and Welfare System, by the Australian National … Continue reading “New report shows welfare and tax reforms would lift a million Australians out of poverty”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15915,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15914\/revisions\/15915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}