Poverty experts tell Labor jobseeker payments should be lifted to 90% of age pension

The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee warns that unemployment benefits are still too low

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Jobseeker payments should be raised to 90% of the age pension and indexed to prevent people going “without life’s essentials”, the government’s poverty experts say.

The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee released its pre-budget report on Friday, warning that jobseeker and other working-age payments were still “too low” despite last year’s $40 increase in the base rate.

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