Two major-party MPs have launched a cross-party push to put the focus on unacceptable levels of poverty in Australia as they call for an increase to the “inadequate” jobseeker payment.
The parliamentary friends of ending poverty group, chaired by the Labor backbencher Alicia Payne and the Liberal MP Bridget Archer, will launch on Tuesday night with speeches from Rev Tim Costello and economist Chris Richardson, who has long called for an increase to unemployment benefits.
