Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Council of Social Services CEO Deb Di Natale wants to see welfare payments increased from $48 to $70 a day amid rising costs of living

Transcript

NT Council of Social Services CEO Deb Di Natale wants to see welfare payments increased from $48 to $70 a day amid rising costs of living · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now we know that obviously the federal budget's being handed
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: down tonight. We have spoken quite a bit about that
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: already this morning. But they're also growing concerns about the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: cost of living pressures. They are exasperated by rising fuel
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: costs and various other things and joining me in the
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  Speaker 1: studio from NT Costs. So the NT Council of Social
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  Speaker 1: Services is Deborah Dinatali, Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Now, deb firstly, our Territorian is fighting it tough right
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  Speaker 1: now when it does come to the.
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  Speaker 2: Cost of living, Territorians are finding it tougher than they
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  Speaker 2: ever have before. I think all your listeners would also
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  Speaker 2: notice the cost of living just in terms of going
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  Speaker 2: to the petrol station, going to your local woollies. Everything
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  Speaker 2: has gone up and wages have not come up to
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  Speaker 2: be able to compensate for that increase in the cost
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  Speaker 2: of living.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really tough, and you know, I think for
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people, if you're on welfare, obviously it's
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  Speaker 1: really tough going because the cost of everything really high.
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  Speaker 1: Then when you talk about sort of you know, your
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  Speaker 1: low income earners and your working class, everything is just
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  Speaker 1: rising and as you've said, there wages very often not yes,
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  Speaker 1: And certainly in terms of income support and welfare, we
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  Speaker 1: have got more people per capita in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: who are income support recipients. And we know that there
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  Speaker 1: are so many people trying to get by on forty
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  Speaker 1: eight dollars a day, and that is anybody, by any measure,
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  Speaker 1: would say that that is not enough to be able
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  Speaker 1: to meet basic living needs rent, fresh fruit and veg
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  Speaker 1: and utilities. So what we say is one of the
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  Speaker 1: key things that we want to see in the federal
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  Speaker 1: budget tonight is we want to see that forty eight
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  Speaker 1: dollars a day increase to a minimum of seventy dollars
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  Speaker 1: a day. That will ensure that we don't have territorians
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  Speaker 1: living below the poverty line. Do we have any idea
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  Speaker 1: how that would impact the budget, you know, to seventy
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  Speaker 1: dollars the day in terms of I know you're not
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  Speaker 1: the treasurerer dead, but what kind of impact that would
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  Speaker 1: have then in terms of the budget and the treasure
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  Speaker 1: of the federal treasureer trying to juggle that additional cost.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, one of the things that we know when
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  Speaker 2: we looked at COVID and the supplements that came in
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  Speaker 2: with COVID is that the majority of the money that
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  Speaker 2: people received who were on income supports went straight back
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  Speaker 2: into the Northern Territory economy. So when people are living
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  Speaker 2: either at the poverty line or below the poverty line,
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  Speaker 2: they are shopping for their basic fruit and veg at
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  Speaker 2: their local store that's sort of five hundred meters a
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  Speaker 2: kilometer away when you give these If you were to
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  Speaker 2: give any supplements to middle class, high income earners, sure
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  Speaker 2: they might be able to make some advanced payment on
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  Speaker 2: their mortgages, and you're not going to see that money
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  Speaker 2: directly in your local business. So we say any increase
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  Speaker 2: is an increase to the economy and the NT What
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  Speaker 2: do you mean.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of that supplementary money more like bonus payments
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  Speaker 1: that came through, because I know there was a lot
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  Speaker 1: of concerns about them being spent some of that bonus
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  Speaker 1: money being spent on alcohol.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we saw a lot of reports that
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  Speaker 2: didn't really rely on the evidence in facts. I absolutely
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  Speaker 2: agree that there were probably some isolated episodes where you
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  Speaker 2: had people that were spending the money on alcohol, But
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  Speaker 2: by and large, and we've even got numbers from the
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  Speaker 2: Central Land Council that tell us there was between a
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  Speaker 2: seventy and eighty percent increase in the purchase of white goods.
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  Speaker 2: There was a seventy eight percent increase in terms of
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  Speaker 2: the cost of fresh fruit and veg So we know
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  Speaker 2: that the money that remote Aboriginal communities received was spent
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  Speaker 2: on buying things like fridges and washing machines. Money they
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  Speaker 2: never had to spend on those essentials before.
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  Speaker 1: Do you reckon that? I mean, that may have been
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  Speaker 1: the case in some of those remote communities, but I
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  Speaker 1: know here in Dahwin, the police had pointed to the
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  Speaker 1: fact that there was some of that bonus money that
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  Speaker 1: was being spent on the issues of alcohol. So would
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  Speaker 1: you have concerns if there was to be another bonus
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  Speaker 1: payment paid that that would obviously that that could be
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  Speaker 1: used in a way. You know, that's not going to
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  Speaker 1: be a benefit to anybody.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, we're not arguing here for a bonus payment.
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  Speaker 2: We're just arguing for people to go from forty eight
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  Speaker 2: dollars a day to seventy dollars a day, which will
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  Speaker 2: make sure that people are able to afford the essentials
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  Speaker 2: in life and are able to access good medical care.
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  Speaker 2: So there's no ask here from the causes around the
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  Speaker 2: country for a specific bonus payment. There is, of course,
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  Speaker 2: we are requesting that there be a fund in terms
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  Speaker 2: of people who are doing it tough with electricity to
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  Speaker 2: have a two thousand dollars cap a year where they
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  Speaker 2: can access an emergency fund if they are already in
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  Speaker 2: arrears and can't run the electricity, because that is obviously
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  Speaker 2: an essential to be able to get buy in a household.
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  Speaker 1: How many people do we have on on like welfare
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory?
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  Speaker 2: Deb do we know? Look in terms of job seeker
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  Speaker 2: it's the numbers I saw last time. We're about between
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  Speaker 2: twenty four and twenty eight thousand. We've got more people
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  Speaker 2: on job seeker in the Northern Territory per capita than
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  Speaker 2: in any other jurisdiction in the country. So on that
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  Speaker 2: basis we would say that we're doing it tougher than most.
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  Speaker 1: And then you know, when you look at those lower
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  Speaker 1: income owners as well, I'm assuming that, as we've touched
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  Speaker 1: on before, with the price of petrol and groceries and
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  Speaker 1: things like that, you know they're finding it pretty tough.
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  Speaker 1: You're hoping to see sort of any changes when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to easing the cost of living pressures, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for a broader range of Aussies as well, in that
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  Speaker 1: budget tonight.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And one of the things that we've seen is
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  Speaker 2: Territorians who have always purchased their essentials from woolies and
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  Speaker 2: coals and now ringing up and saying whether they're eligible
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  Speaker 2: for food bank. Really, so we know that it's not
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  Speaker 2: just people who are on income supports, it's overall in
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  Speaker 2: the territory and I know, representing a number of social
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  Speaker 2: services that those organizations have said to me that people
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  Speaker 2: who have never had to access assistance before in terms
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  Speaker 2: of food hampers or any other extra supports are suddenly
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  Speaker 2: showing up on their door and their act capacity. So
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  Speaker 2: unless the situation changes, it's just going to get tougher.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have heard that before, even when we've had
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  Speaker 1: food Bank on the show and spoken to us about
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  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it's people who are working that you
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't actually expect, you know, that maybe need a hand up,
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  Speaker 1: but they're able to get it there in that food
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  Speaker 1: bank and other places like that.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And if you're on a basic income and your
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  Speaker 2: income isn't going up to meet the cost of the
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  Speaker 2: rise in petrol, the cost of the rise of just
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  Speaker 2: fresh fruit and veg and you're trying to get kids
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  Speaker 2: to school, and you're trying to buy them any other medical,
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  Speaker 2: you know, stuff that they need. You're going to be
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  Speaker 2: going backwards.
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  Speaker 1: So, deb what's your take home today? I asked Greg
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  Speaker 1: Island the same from the Chamber of Commerce. What are
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  Speaker 1: you hoping to see when you sit down and watch
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  Speaker 1: tonight's budget.
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  Speaker 2: I'm hoping to see that we've got a government that
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  Speaker 2: is able to show leadership and is able to really
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  Speaker 2: live the words of the Wellbeing budget that they've been promoting,
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  Speaker 2: and to ensure that no Territorian is left behind well.
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  Speaker 1: Deborah Dina Tali, the CEO of Mt cost I always
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you very much for coming in
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you to you and your listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Katie, thank you,