Morrison attacks Labor’s ‘unfunded Newstart empathy’

Scott Morrison has taken aim at the “unfunded empathy of the Labor Party” backing an increase to Newstart.

PM Scott Morrison in Question Time. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison has taken aim at the “unfunded empathy of the Labor Party” as he blasted the opposition for backing an increase to Newstart without saying by how much the payment should be lifted or the cost of the overhaul.

The Prime Minister is under pressure from some of his backbench MPs for the government to lift the $272-a-week payment, with former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce yesterday continuing to campaign for an increase.

“God knows how someone on $280 a week ever gets by. I don’t know how they do it,” Mr Joyce told the Seven Network’s Sunrise program. “It would be near impossible.”

Mr Morrison was asked by Labor in parliament yesterday whether he could live on the payment, which equates to about $40 a day. The Prime Minister said it was “certainly modest”. “The most important support provided by this government is to ensure people can get off welfare and work,” he said.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said any decision on Newstart would be based on what was affordable in the budget, arguing that 99 per cent of recipients of the allowance were on other welfare payments.

“We spend more than a third of our budget on welfare,” Senator Cormann told the ABC. “These sorts of judgments in the end do have to be made with a view of ensuring our welfare budget is sustainable.

“We understand that people on welfare — and people on Newstart allowance in particular — that is a tough circumstance and our focus is on helping all Australians, particularly those unemployed, in getting into work.”

Labor last week resolved to call on the government to review and increase the rate of Newstart but did not suggest what the increase should be. It also wants the issue to be referred to the parliamentary standing committee on economics.

The position taken by Labor at the last election was attacked by Mr Morrison in the parliament when he declared he would “not engage in the unfunded empathy of Labor’’.

“I will not go out as the Labor Party did at the last election pretending they’re going to do something about Newstart. But they won’t tell Australians how much they’re going to increase it by, how much is that going to cost and how are they going to pay for it,” Mr Morrison said. “I won’t do that. Our government has set priorities on investing in health, in schools, on education, on mental health, on combatting the terrible curse of suicide in our country (and) supporting veterans.

‘‘At the last election, the Labor Party came up with $387 billion of higher taxes and still didn’t come up with a way to fund an increase in the Newstart allowance.

“I will not allow this Labor opposition to go out and make all sorts of promises to Australians about Newstart when they have no intention of funding it and no intention of backing it up with a real policy.”