For decades, successive governments have kept unemployment payments in Australia below all accepted measures of adequacy – JobSeeker now sits at just 41 per cent of the minimum wage, and Youth Allowance is even worse at 34 per cent.

The results of this are clear in recent official data on death rates and ACOSS’ latest Raise the Rate survey.

Of the 1560 people who responded to our survey, most of whom receive JobSeeker, about half can’t afford enough fresh vegetables, fruit and meat. Medicine and medical appointments are unaffordable for about three-quarters of respondents.

Beyond food and medicine, inadequate income support left nine in 10 respondents socially isolated, with some describing themselves as not living, but merely existing. Others described the deep shame and stigma they felt of living in poverty.

People receiving income support in Australia are likely to eat poorly and lack medical care or social support because they do not have enough money.

Shocking new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released this month shows that people are also more likely to die.

The mortality rate for people receiving working-age payments was more than nine times that of the broader population in the 11 years to 2022. Three in five people aged 22-64 who died between 2012 and 2022 received an income support payment such as the Disability Support Pension or JobSeeker.

For people receiving a working-age payment, “deaths of despair” were well above that of others in the community.........

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