A Singleton father of five school-age children says Centrelink's rigid application of income rules is "cruel and punitive" as he attempts to care for his family after the death of his wife.
Boilermaker Stuart Johnstone said he agreed with assertions that the federal Labor government risked turning its back on the people who voted it into power if it did not do more to help those on welfare payments.
Several Labor backbenchers have broken ranks and called publicly for Treasurer Jim Chalmers to substantially increase the level of JobSeeker in next month's budget.
Mr Johnstone, a former party member who handed out how-to-vote cards for Labor at last year's election, said JobSeeker payments should rise.
"JobSeeker is a cheap place where the government can dump people," he said.
"It's not enough. When you have Bill Shorten coming out two weeks ago saying that he couldn't live on it, Jim Chalmers coming out saying that it would be tough.
"How do they expect us to find a way to live on this money?
"Jim Chalmers is the one balancing the books for the country. If he can't find a way to make JobSeeker work for people, he's admitting there's a problem and he doesn't have the political will, the courage, to do anything about it."
The 55-year-old's wife, Claudine, died of breast cancer in 2020, leaving him to raise his 16-year-old twins and their siblings, aged 12, 10 and 8, on his own.
Mr Johnstone was diagnosed with cancer in October and treated for six weeks with radiation. He has another operation scheduled for May to remove a papilloma from his sinuses.
When his youngest child turned eight, he lost access to the parenting payment, which is a maximum of $949 a fortnight, and was moved to JobSeeker, which tops out at $745 a fortnight.
Mr Johnstone, who works part-time so he can care for his children, said Labor had an obligation to its core constituency to improve JobSeeker and called for changes to the way Centrelink reduced payments when a welfare recipient started earning an income.
"Over the last 18 months our employer has given us all three pay rises totalling around 12.5 per cent," he said.
"Every time I get an increase, Centrelink reduces my payment. Working four days a fortnight, I was losing about 66 per cent of my payment. Working five days in the fortnight, I probably lose close to 85 per cent.
"As much as I believe the payments need to increase, they also need to address the situation of the reduction of payments.
"Reducing the payment is cruel and punitive. Why should my payments reduce because I'm contributing to the tax bill and society?"
Hunter Labor MP Dan Repacholi said he would "love to see an increase in the rate to ensure we leave nobody behind".
"There is no doubt that the rate for JobSeeker is low and people are not keeping up with the cost of living," he said.
"I'm not sure where the budget is up to financially, and I know we are not able to fund every single good idea.
"We will see what is delivered by the Treasurer on budget night."
Mr Johnstone said Labor had to change a welfare system which "demonised" people who could not work as much as they would like.
"If it's not the Labor party that's going to help me and my children, which political party will?
"In the midst of all this, with the major parties' primary vote falling because they're not meeting the needs of their core constituents, to me this falls into that bracket. I'm a core Labor constituent."
Mr Johnstone said two of his children had special needs, three of them needed glasses he could not afford, and he did not know how he would buy presents for three looming birthdays.
"There's so much my children see that their peers get from parents who are working two jobs that I can't provide for my children.
"We go to op shops, and there's nothing wrong with op shops, but when that's your only option, that's quite depressing.
"I need to replace my car. If my fridge or washing machine broke down, I can't afford to replace them.
"I can't afford to save that kind of money because the government takes so much of my payments away from me."
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