Australia is a “Representative Democracy”, which essentially means citizens can vote for eligible officials who then represent their constituents’ best interest within the government. Australia’s way of governing (institutions and practices) reflect the British and North American traditions, combined with some unique Australian aspects1. Australians vote for the candidate they think will best serve their interests, its hard to know what every individual wants without the use of polls, polling data is the easiest way to quantify how many Australians in a given sample size think on a certain topic. Polls can have a range of different questions from abortion laws to education expenditure, and as I will soon explain, taxes and public spending. Given that representatives are elected to impose the will of the Australian people, its important for those representatives to look at polls to make sure that what they’re legislating coincides with public sentiment – because if it’s not, they will be out in the next election, for the people who align with the voter’s views more closely.
An important topic for many Australians living pay check to pay check, homeless or in between jobs is the state of welfare, at the end of the day many of the people receiving welfare from the government in the form of Newstart have families to feed or rent to pay. With the rising cost of living in Australia, its hard for those on these payments to keep their heads above water.
Newstart entitles you to $39 per day for a single person, even with possible rent assistance and clean energy supplement its $49 per day for a single person. Youth Allowance is even less! For reference a single pensioner earns $75/day, $89/day for a minimum wage worker and $135/day for an average wage earner2. With that in mind its important to note that Newstart has not seen an increase in terms of real income in 24 years3. The progressive thinktank, Australian Institute sponsored a study, that showed since the 1990’s the level of financial support given to the unemployed has fallen, where it is now 30% below the poverty line3.
An Essential Poll released in 2018 showed that 68% of respondents agreed to an increase in Newstart. Furthermore, the same poll indicated that 70% agreed that “a fair government would raise the rate of Newstart, Youth Allowance and related payments to ensure everybody has enough to live on while they look for paid work”3.
The Australian Institute conducted a national survey in 2016 of more than 10,000 Australians, that discovered 55% of respondents said the senate should not pass legislation that would see a cut in Newstart Allowance, with just 32% of respondents agreeing with the cut4.
Further research has been conducted on the issue of government size, implicating the general populations yearning for a more generous welfare state. A poll of 1557 Australians by Research now for the Australian Institute found 64% of those who responded wanted “more public spending on public services and infrastructure, funded by more tax revenue, in particular from wealthy people and profitable companies, and less inequality in Australian society”. Only 11% selected lower public spending, less tax revenue and more inequality, 10% wanted neither and 15% were unsure5.
An Ipsos survey, realised in 2018 showed that ~90% of those surveyed supported free universal access to health and education and ~80% said the rich should be taxed more to support the poor. David Elliot, from the Ipsos Social Research Institute said the findings indicate that Australians have confidence in socialist ideals, and believe the implementation of those ideals could help the country6.
As you can see public views signify a compassion which seems to be lacking in our Parliament, but why is that? I don’t think I’m at all capable of answering that question, but what I can say is that if you are reading this thinking, I agree that Newstart should be raised, you’re not alone many of Australians side with you and if you’re politicians don’t, vote them out- that’s the beauty of our Representative Democracy.
References
1 https://www.moadoph.gov.au/democracy/australian-democracy
2 http://blog.deloitte.com.au/weekly-economic-briefing-newstart-needs-new-lease-life/
3 https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2018/06/community-support-renews-pressure-major-parties-raise-newstart/
4 https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2016/09/poll-reveals-strong-rejection-newstart-cuts/
5 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/18/most-voters-want-turnbull-government-to-tax-more-and-reduce-inequality-poll-finds
6 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/strong-support-for-free-health-education-and-for-taxing-rich-more-poll-20180502-p4zcsj.html