Anti-Poverty Network SA

16/06/2026

We're heading to the Senate Inquiry into Intergenerational Housing Inequity this morning.

Our biggest message: Build more public housing.

Read our media statement below and watch through the link in comments.

14/06/2026

It's not a shameful thing to be unemployed. But it is a shameful thing to be a billionaire, or the world's first trillionaire.

12/06/2026

Can you help build the case to Raise the Rate?

The national anti-poverty peak body Australian Council of Social Service has launched its 2026 Raise the Rate Survey and wants to hear from people receiving JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Parenting Payment, Austudy, ABSTUDY and other working-age payments.

Every day we hear from people skipping meals, going without medication, living in insecure housing and making impossible choices between essentials. We know the current rates are inadequate, but personal stories and evidence help strengthen the case for change.

If you receive one of these payments, please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share it with others.

Link in comments.

11/06/2026

The 2026 Cost of Living Index found that after paying for just rent, food and transport:

-A single person on JobSeeker falls $251 behind every week.
-A single parent on Parenting Payment falls $174 behind every week.
-A couple with two children on JobSeeker falls $428 behind every week.

And that's before paying for electricity, internet, insurance, medications, school costs or any unexpected expenses.

For years, politicians and commentators have told people on social security to "budget better". This report confirms what people experiencing poverty have been saying all along: you cannot budget your way out of an income that is simply too low to cover the basics.

People survive by skipping meals, delaying medical care, going without heating and cooling, living in overcrowded housing, falling into debt, and relying on emergency relief. That isn't a personal failure. It's a policy failure.

The report also highlights a truth that is rarely discussed: not everyone receiving JobSeeker is unemployed. Many recipients are people with disabilities, chronic illness, caring responsibilities, older workers facing discrimination, or people piecing together insecure and part-time work.

Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Nobody should be forced to live in poverty because they lost a job, got sick, became disabled, left a violent relationship, or are raising children alone.

It's time to raise income support payments to a liveable level and ensure everyone can afford the essentials of life: a safe home, healthy food, transport and dignity.

Poverty is a political choice. It doesn't have to be this way.

08/06/2026

We heard a politican claimed that "Middle Australia has no appetite for raising welfare payments."

We're not so sure and nor are the Grannies for Action.

So this Wednesday, we're asking you to bring a friend.

Bring the mate who thinks people on JobSeeker just need to budget better.

Bring the relative who says "there are plenty of jobs" or that people should "grow their own food".

Bring the neighbour who thinks unemployment payments are already generous and just meant to be a short-term option, and higher payments will disinsntivise people to work.

Bring anyone who's never had to survive on $58 a day or thinks people on welfare are "dole bludgers!"

Join Grannies for Action and Anti-Poverty Network SA for a community forum where people with lived experience of JobSeeker will share what life is really like when your income doesn't cover the basics.

No politicians. No media spin. Just the reality of trying to pay rent, keep the lights on, buy food and get by on one of the lowest unemployment payments in the OECD.

Sometimes people's views change when they hear directly from those living the experience and learn that Australia's economy needs unemployed people.

If "Middle Australia" really has no appetite for raising JobSeeker, let's find out why.

WHEN: Wednesday June 10, 6:30pm-8:00pm

WHERE: Pilgrim Uniting Church, 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide (Parking & Transport Info on the Pilgrim Uniting Church Website)

TICKETS or MORE INFO: Scan the QR codes on the image.

Everyone welcome, especially the sceptics!

04/06/2026

THOUGHTS ON THE STATE BUDGET:

For those experiencing homelessness or housing crisis, there was not much:

-No new funding for public housing, despite almost 14,000 people on the public housing waiting list: after next year, we will not be building enough public housing to keep pace with population growth, let alone meet community need

-Homelessness services are massively under-the-pump: Vinnies, Hutt Street, and Catherine, received small boosts, but overall funding has gone down since COVID, and we know frontline organisations are having to turn people away

-We have tens of thousands of empty private homes across SA, homes that could house people: the State Government could have used the State Budget to tax those homes, or it could even have used its legal powers to forcibly purchase those homes, to boost housing stock...but nope...

-Rent-to-Buy will be helpful for those on middlish incomes, but for those on the lowest incomes, drowning because of huge rents and keep soaring, the situation remains bleak...debt, despair, poor health, and if things get very grim, homelessness...

-But it did not have to be this way. Budgets are about priorities. There was huge spending on prisons and police. And spending on an outrageous Golf Course redevelopment. And there was a Budget surplus: money that could have been spent on more public housing.

03/06/2026

While we welcome the increase to minimum wage, we still cannot ignore that those below the poverty line have been left behind for far too long. A government is supposed to govern for all not just those that are employed. Inequality and poverty are continuing to increase while Labor “chooses” to ignore it. We say chooses because make no mistake it is a choice.

Australia's minimum wage will increase by 5.97 per cent, and minimum award workers will get a 4.75 per cent pay boost, in the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) annual wage review.

02/06/2026

The amount of wealth in this country, hoarded by an extraordinarily tiny group of people, is mind-boggling.

And, if you are anything like us, this would make your blood boil.

This isn't inevitable. It's the result of political choices.

While people skip meals, sleep in cars, struggle to pay rent and rely on overstretched charities, the wealth of those at the very top continues to soar.

Extreme wealth should be massively taxed, and spent on the community: more public housing, higher welfare payments, stronger public health and education systems, and much else.

Nobody needs or deserves to be a billionaire.