Rachel speaks to Fran Kelly about living on $17 per day

Today, the single rate of Newstart is $244 a week – that’s just 45% of the minimum wage and is more than $130 under the poverty line.

On average, recipients are forced to live on less than $17 a day after they’ve paid their rent.

That’s less than $17 a day for all other expenses, including utilities, transport, food, personal care and job-seeking; and doesn't leave scope to save for other major expenses such as car license and registration renewal, replacement white goods or a health crisis.

For more information, visit our campaign page.

Audio is Copyright of the ABC.