Fixing Newstart isn't enough. We need a comprehensive inquiry into our complex and bewildering social security system, especially as it applies to single parents.
A presentation about the age of automation, the promise of more leisure time and what makes a 'good life' will launch Australia's pre-eminent conference on social policy at UNSW next week.
The Newstart Allowance received by people looking for work falls well below the minimum income required to achieve a basic standard of living, UNSW research has found.
The targeted additions to spending in the budget are in part symbolic, but also likely to be quite progressive in their impact, write Peter Whiteford and Gerry Redmond.
Close to two-thirds of Australians who turn to welfare agencies for help are missing out on the "essentials of life", a national survey from the Social Policy Research Centre has found.
