Post by Banjo on Mar 7, 2012 4:55:17 GMT 7
NewStart allowance gap grows wider
Pensioners can look forward to an extra $6.70 per fortnight when payments are adjusted this month; unemployed Australians just $2.90.
Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday ruled out any immediate attempt to address the disparity between the pension and NewStart, which is widening with each half-yearly adjustment.
Once close to the pension, NewStart is now only two-thirds of it and is on track to amount to less than half of it by 2040.
The pension is indexed to male wages, typically climbing 4.5 per cent per year. NewStart and student and sole-parent allowances increase with the lower consumer price index, typically by 2.5 per cent per year.
Speaking to the National Press Club, Mr Swan acknowledged there was ''a case about the gap that has opened up'', but said: ''How we can deal with that in the longer term is a difficult one given that the fiscal pressures and so on the government is facing.''
Australian Council of Social Service chief Cassandra Goldie said NewStart was now so low, at $35 per day, it was hard for people on it to present themselves for jobs.
''There is a growing consensus ranging from business organisations, economists, the union movement, to the broad community and social services sector that the current rate is simply not enough and is hindering their efforts to find paid work,'' she said.
Asked whether the disparity would worsen for another 10 years, Mr Swan said he wouldn't make predictions and that his priority was getting people into jobs.
He offered no hope to veterans also wanting their military superannuation pensions indexed by male wages rather than the CPI.
''We said we would have an inquiry in 2007 and we did have an inquiry into indexation and that inquiry knocked it back,'' he said.
Read more: www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/newstart-allowance-gap-grows-wider-20120305-1uefe.html#ixzz1oNOCMciJ
Pensioners can look forward to an extra $6.70 per fortnight when payments are adjusted this month; unemployed Australians just $2.90.
Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday ruled out any immediate attempt to address the disparity between the pension and NewStart, which is widening with each half-yearly adjustment.
Once close to the pension, NewStart is now only two-thirds of it and is on track to amount to less than half of it by 2040.
The pension is indexed to male wages, typically climbing 4.5 per cent per year. NewStart and student and sole-parent allowances increase with the lower consumer price index, typically by 2.5 per cent per year.
Speaking to the National Press Club, Mr Swan acknowledged there was ''a case about the gap that has opened up'', but said: ''How we can deal with that in the longer term is a difficult one given that the fiscal pressures and so on the government is facing.''
Australian Council of Social Service chief Cassandra Goldie said NewStart was now so low, at $35 per day, it was hard for people on it to present themselves for jobs.
''There is a growing consensus ranging from business organisations, economists, the union movement, to the broad community and social services sector that the current rate is simply not enough and is hindering their efforts to find paid work,'' she said.
Asked whether the disparity would worsen for another 10 years, Mr Swan said he wouldn't make predictions and that his priority was getting people into jobs.
He offered no hope to veterans also wanting their military superannuation pensions indexed by male wages rather than the CPI.
''We said we would have an inquiry in 2007 and we did have an inquiry into indexation and that inquiry knocked it back,'' he said.
Read more: www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/newstart-allowance-gap-grows-wider-20120305-1uefe.html#ixzz1oNOCMciJ
