This research finds that inadequate social security payments play a significant role in shaping poverty and financial stress trends in Australia. It also finds that it is possible to address these challenges by increasing the overall social security budget.

This paper argues that Australia has the means to ensure that those who find themselves unemployed are not forced into poverty. The rate of Jobseeker should be set at a rate that guarantees that no Australian, and especially no child, lives in poverty.

This study used an online survey to examine how people receiving social security payments used the $550 Coronavirus Supplement (‘the Supplement’) and their time as a result of the temporary suspension of mutual obligations. The research indicates a substantial gap between Australian Government policy, policy...

The purpose of the surveys was to ensure that future policy options for money management considered the views of young people’s experiences of compulsory money management and get feedback on proposed options for money management.

This report looks at what can be learned from the experience of the coronavirus pandemic about the opportunities for reforms to government financial support for working age people and the key features of a social security system that has flexibility to respond rapidly to new...

This study investigated the potential of using the Department of Social Services DOMINO (Data Over Multiple Individual Occurrences) dataset as a fine-grained, within-year data resource for housing research, and in particular explores the capacity of the DOMINO dataset to yield new insights into patterns of...

The Morisson Government has argued that Australia’s internationally low unemployment payments are needed, in part as an incentive to encourage the unemployed to look for and accept work. This report tests the government’s theory by comparing Australia’s unemployment payments and unemployment rate (pre-COVID) to that...

This evaluation provides evidence about the outcomes of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) in the first three trial areas in which it was rolled out. The purpose of this evaluation was to create a new, integrated evidence base and use it to assess the impact...

Many Australians receive very little protection from income risk due to unemployment. A significant portion of people live paycheck-to-paycheck. This discussion paper outlines a new proposal to better support Australians experiencing unemployment.

This paper focuses on income support and its impact on work incentives for persons with disability. More specifically, it looks at key issues and policy choices that arise when designing such income support programmes.