KPMG has used its submission to a Senate inquiry to call for an overhaul of the Newstart allowance, arguing that it should be benchmarked against both 50% of median household income and 50% of the minimum wage, and should be at least 80% of the combined Age Pension plus Pension Supplement. The accounting firm’s chief economist Brendan Rynne contends that at present Newstart is making it harder for the unemployed to find work due to the cost of travelling to interviews. KPMG has advocated increasing Newstart by nearly $100 a week, to $370. It estimates that this would cost the federal Budget between $3 billion and $3.5 billion a year. From The Australian:
Currently, the payment is $277.85 a week for a single person with no dependants, which is 36 per cent of the $740.80-a-week minimum wage and 60 per cent of the $459.65-a-week age pension plus pension supplement.
KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said the level was so low it was limiting people’s abilities to find work and otherwise participate in society.
