Inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities

Submission to: Senate Community Affairs References Committee
This is a joint submission from FCA and the State/Territory financial counselling associations. Fairness should be the underpinning principle in decisions about the level of income support payments. We support an urgent increase in Newstart by at least $75 per week to ensure people are more likely to be able to keep a roof over their heads and pay the household bills. We support an independent review of the adequacy of income support payments and the introduction of an independent body to set such payments to ensure they remain adequate into the future.