Low dole payments key to marginals

Two of the most marginal seats in the country, held by Labor, also have an above-average number of people on the dole.

Longman MP Susan Lamb. Picture: Annette Dew

• Federal Election 2019 Full Coverage

Two of the most marginal seats in the country, held by Labor, also have an above-average number of people on the dole, which could damage Bill Shorten’s chances of retaining the electorates unless he promises to increase payments.

The Queensland electorates of Herbert and Longman — with margins of 0.1 and 0.8 per cent respectively — are held by Labor’s Cathy O’Toole and Susan Lamb. There are more than 7400 people on the Newstart Allowance in Herbert and 6600 in Longman.

Although most of the top 10 marginal seats are held by members of the Coalition — which has tightened welfare expenditure significantly in government and only belatedly decided to give a one-off payment to people on the dole after the budget this month — there is significant pressure from ALP members to raise the rate.

Newstart, which is worth less than $270 a week for a single person, has not had a real increase in 25 years, prompting even former prime minister John Howard, business groups and serving Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos to concede it is too low.

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said broad concern about the low rate of the payment existed across the country.

“Many of the key seats in this election have large numbers of people on Newstart,” she said.

“We know that increasing Newstart is a vote-changer for people who receive the payment or who have received it in the past.

“Seven of the top 10 marginal seats have above-average numbers of people on Newstart. Political parties must take seriously increasing Newstart as the most important step in stopping people from spiralling into debt and poverty.”

Although Labor is running for government on a platform of reducing inequality, many of its policies are targeted at low-income working families. It has only committed to a “review” of the welfare payment if it wins office.

There is also an above-average number of people on Newstart in Capricornia and Leichhardt, held by the Coalition’s Michelle Landry and Warren Entsch respectively.