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Awareness of Newstart payment amount

6 Aug 2019

Q. As far as you know, how much is the weekly Newstart payment for a single person with no children (this is the benefit paid to people who are out of work)?

  Total Gender Age   June

2018
Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+  
Less than $250 per week 24% 23% 25% 25% 23% 25%   23%
Between $250 and $300 per week 40% 40% 40% 33% 40% 46%   27%
Between $300 and $400 per week 10% 10% 9% 11% 11% 8%   10%
More than $400 per week 5% 6% 4% 8% 5% 2%   4%
Don’t know 21% 21% 22% 23% 22% 19%   36%
Base (n) 1,102 543 559 348 374 380   1,091
  • Two-fifths (40%) of participants correctly selected ‘Between $250 and $300 per week’ as the Newstart payment.
  • Younger participants (18-34 year olds) were less likely than other age groups to correctly select the Newstart payment (33%), while 55+ year olds (46%) were more likely than others.
  • In June 2018 only a quarter (27%) of participants selected the correct weekly amount for Newstart, which is significantly lower than in 2019, and more than a third (36%) didn’t know.
  Total Income
NET: Lower Income NET: Mid-Income NET: High Income
Less than $250 per week 24% 24% 28% 23%
Between $250 and $300 per week 40% 46% 38% 37%
Between $300 and $400 per week 10% 9% 13% 9%
More than $400 per week 5% 4% 4% 8%
Don’t know 21% 17% 17% 23%
Base (n) 1,102 399 301 275
  • Almost one-in-ten (8%) high income participants thought that the weekly Newstart amount was more than $400, twice as many as those on lower or mid-incomes (both 4%).
  • Forty-six percent of lower income participants correctly selected $250-$300 per week as the Newstart payment.
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