Granting low-wage workers a “living wage” instead of a minimum wage is far from costless, and there are much better ways of helping people genuinely in need.
ParentsNext has punitive dimensions that threaten people’s human rights. Now a Senate Committee will determine whether it’s helping or harming vulnerable parents and their children.
The Conversation played host to really important new ideas in 2018. Some will take years to develop. Others will never come to fruition. But they’re important.
In his Sunday announcement, Shorten says the ALP’s ten-year plan to build 250,000 houses and units would be Australia’s “biggest ever investment in affordable housing”.
A new ANU computer algorithm can provide near instant answers about how to get the best bang for welfare dollars. It says we should boost Newstart and cut either pensions or family benefits.
Peter Whiteford, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; Ben Phillips, Australian National University; Bruce Bradbury, UNSW Sydney; David Stanton, Australian National University; Matthew Gray, Australian National University, and Miranda Stewart, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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.
Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Conny Lenneberg on Newstart, poverty and inequality
Executive Director of Brotherhood of St Laurence Conny Lenneberg spoke to The Conversation about the inequality created by the low level of Newstart, which hasn't been boosted for many years.
Christian Porter said Australia’s welfare system ‘was costing over 100% of all income tax raised’ under Labor after the GFC, and that it’s ‘around 80%’ under the Coalition. Is that true?
Social Services Minister Christian Porter told Q&A that ‘rates of drug use amongst unemployed are 2.5 times higher than amongst employed people’. Is that correct?
With a $1 trillion modernisation programme signed off and atomic scientists deeply worried about the future, American policy on nuclear weapons is pretty much business as usual.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s Kon Karapanagiotidis said that what a politician can claim for a one night stay in Canberra is equivalent to an entire week on Newstart. Is that true?
Having made a commitment to reduce spending, the federal government will have its work cut out with this year’s budget, which may require revisiting policy ideas that have caused it pain in the past.
What aspects of the government’s reforms succeeded in assisting people into employment? And did the reforms improve the population’s economic well-being? Or have they left some groups worse off?