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Appropriateness of Newstart benefit amount

6 Aug 2019

Q. The Newstart benefit for a single person with no children is about $280 per week.

Do you think it is too high, too low or about right?

  Total Gender Age c June

2018
Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+  
Too high 5% 7% 3% 6% 7% 2%   9%
About right 30% 31% 30% 42% 24% 27%   26%
Too low 58% 57% 59% 46% 60% 66%   50%
Don’t know 7% 5% 8% 6% 9% 5%   15%
Base (n) 1,102 543 559 348 374 380   1,091
  • Almost three-fifths (58%) of participants thought that the Newstart benefit of $280 per week was too low for a single person with no children.
  • Two-thirds (66%) of participants over 55 years old thought that the Newstart benefit was too low, compared to 46% of those 18-34 years old.
  Total Federal Voting Intention
Labor Coalition Greens NET: Other
Too high 5% 3% 7% 2% 9%
About right 30% 25% 40% 25% 25%
Too low 58% 66% 48% 69% 59%
Don’t know 7% 6% 6% 3% 7%
Base (n) 1,102 320 387 107 159
  • Two-thirds (66%) of Labor voters thought that the Newstart benefit was too low, compared to 48% of Coalition voters. Coalition voters were more likely than Labor voters to believe that the benefit was about right (40% Coalition, 25% Labor).
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