Contributed from Victoria

On Sunday evening, the Grattan Institute called for the payment to be lifted by $60 a week, as part of a series of recommended policy priorities for the next federal government. Last Tuesday, the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee recommended bringing it to 90 percent of the pension – an increase of $126 a week or $18 a day.

Anyone believing this is all right should try to live on this amount for a little while. It would be an education. A society that does not care about the less fortunate should be held up for question. Inequality is inherently undemocratic, for democracy entails equality of opportunity. If some are not provided the means to equal opportunity, this condition is not met.

Image from ACOSS: The human face of unemployment

A report by the British National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the revealed that Australia has the lowest welfare payment in the OECD after the United States, Britain, and Greece. Not a particularly good place to be, given Australia’s wealth and potential. We should be emulating the best practice. Not the worst.

As of January, 858,705 people across the country lived off jobseeker, with 639,970 getting the full rate, and 150,885 on a partial rate. Others had their payment may suspended at the time or are on the system but receiving no payment for different reasons.

Arguably prompted by election pork barrelling during a looming election period, JobSeeker, will see a tiny increase in payments. This is a miserable $3.10 per fortnight. Not even enough for one cup of coffee. Still, the insult is sold as coming from a caring government.

Cartoon by Chris Downes

The CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) CEO Cassandra Goldie has weighed in and called for a lift to $82 a day to start making it a liveable payment. This is the least a caring society should expect.

The Grattan Institute’s director Brendan Coates says the research data makes it clear that Jobseeker payments are so low that it hampers people looking for a job. The Grattan Institute happens to be a pro=Labour think tank. So, this assessment is coming from the government’s own turf.

A more generous government could be a vote catcher. Not surprising when most of us are feeling the pinch from the rising cost of living. And if those in a better position are feeling pain, imagine what it is like for those who are worse off.

Justice is denied by the ongoing commitment of governments to outworn notions that unemployment payments must be a punishment. The reality is that the economy has undergone a structural change where genuine full-time employment is no longer the reality for all. If society cannot resolve this problem, it has the obligation to look after those who fall through the holes.

In any case, the right to have an income to have a socially acceptable standard of living is enshrined as an international human right to which Australia is a signatory.