Every person in Australia deserves to have enough money to have a safe place to stay, put food on the table and live a good life. Yet the ACOSS submission Surviving not Living; the (in)adequacy of Newstart and related payments, based on an internet survey of 892 people between the ages of 16 and 30, found more than 60 per cent of respondents had less than $100 per week left after paying rent, and 37 per cent were left with less than $50.

Our elected representatives need to act now and make decisions that prioritise equality, opportunity and wellbeing for every person, in every community. QCOSS, alongside ACOSS, have been campaigning for the federal government to Raise the Rate of the Newstart allowance by at least $75 per week for many years now. QCOSS spoke about this in our recent submission to the Social Securities Inquiry, including the QCOSS Position Statement on Newstart.