Is it acceptable to deliver a surplus on the backs of single parents and their kids?

Is it acceptable to deliver a surplus on the backs of single parents and their kids?

Raising kids on your own isn’t easy. Single parents have a tough job.

So it’s hard to see why the Labor Party and the Coalition decided to make things even tougher for over 100,000 single mums and dads by cutting their parenting payment and putting them on the Newstart payment.

Even for single individuals, without kids to support, the Newstart payment is $130 below the poverty line.

It’s not enough for job seekers and it’s certainly not enough for mums and dads trying to raise kids.

Put simply, the cuts to parenting payments by up to $100 a week are a cost cutting measure being dressed up under the guise of ‘helping people into work’.

The Greens opposed this move because it is a harsh financial penalty that will hit single parents and their children the hardest, all in the name of a budget surplus.

Tell your MP that forcing parents to live in poverty is no way to deliver a budget surplus.

The Australian Greens are campaigning hard for a $50 per week increase to Newstart Allowance.

The low rate of Newstart makes it harder for people to overcome the barriers they face to finding a secure job. As people struggle to pay their rent, utilities, fuel and car registration, it makes it harder and harder to look for work, undertake training or work experience.

So far the ALP and Tony Abbott’s Coalition have opposed increasing Newstart. They seem to believe that punishing people by forcing them to live below the poverty line is better than supporting them to return to work and care for their families.

Write to your MP asking for an increase of $50 per week to the Newstart allowance.

As I asked a rally in Canberra yesterday - why does the Government think it is acceptable to deliver a surplus on the backs of single parents and their kids?

Yours sincerely,

Rachel

P.S. In the next two sitting weeks both houses of Parliament will vote on motions introduced by my colleague Adam Bandt and I calling on your MP to support a $50 per week increase to Newstart. Ask your MP whether you can count on their support to help single parents and other job seekers out of poverty by lifting the Newstart allowance.

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