The power of advocacy and research – working hand-in-hand

Single Parents Payment – Let's finish the job

Last year, the Albanese Government extended eligibility for Parenting Payment Single (PPS) to single parents with a child under 14, benefitting 77,000 women. We welcomed this measure for partly overturning the previous punitive and cruel policy which forced single mothers onto the much lower JobSeeker rate when their youngest child turned eight.

But nearly 17,000 single parents have been left behind. There are 16,910 single parents with 17,905 children aged 14–16 still on the lower JobSeeker payment of $818.80 a fortnight, compared to $989.00 a fortnight for PPS. If these single parents had received the PPS they would have gained an additional $2,893.40 between 20 September 2023 and the 2024–25 Budget on 14 May 2024.

We call on the government to finish the job in this year's budget. We know that moving from JobSeeker to the Parenting Payment Single does not remove women from poverty; it simply makes them a little less poor. But for women supporting children, a little less poor is extremely significant. In this case, giving women on Jobseeker whose youngest child is aged between 14 and 16 access to PPS would increase their income by up to 21 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget announcement this month that single parents will be kept on the Parenting Payment Single until their youngest child turns 14 is welcome news – and a success story of how research and advocacy can come together to help drive reform.

The announcement comes off the back of tireless work and advocacy led by Terese Edwards (CEO, National Council of Single Mothers and their Children), Sam Mostyn (Chair, Women's Economic Equality Taskforce), and Dr Anne Summers AO (Professor of Domestic and Family Violence, UTS).

It's a powerful case study for research impact.  

Dr Summers released her groundbreaking report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty, in July 2022. Using previously unpublished data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the report is the first of its kind – using the government’s own data to show what campaigners like Terese Edwards had been saying anecdotally for years, that government policy was forcing victims of domestic violence to choose between poverty or staying in violent relationships.  

Summers’ report showed 60 per cent of single mothers in Australia fled violent relationships.

The federal government policy of moving recipients of the single parent payment (overwhelmingly women) to JobSeeker when their youngest child turned 8 years old, plus punitive mutual obligation requirements, means women who escape violent relationships have a high probability of living in financial distress. They are often unable to pay rent, phone bills, register their cars, or even eat enough meals in a day. It equally means their children grow up in poverty.

The campaign for change brought together the lived experience of single mothers, the authority of a government-backed taskforce, and independent university research – combining to galvanise widespread support for the proposed changes.  There was strong support in the media – Laura Tingle twice reported on the issue as part of the 7.30 Report; and there were key political decision makers who themselves had lived experience of single parenthood either as a parent or growing up the son of one.

The success of this campaign is not just the much-needed policy reform that was announced in the budget, but importantly a real shift in national discussions around the economic security of women and the beginnings of a shift in narrative around women receiving welfare support.

To address entrenched problems in our society we need to think big. Academics and universities are in the position to support change with independent research and data – working alongside people with lived experience in mutually beneficial partnerships for the public good.

There is no blueprint for reforming bad laws, but the success had by Edwards, Mostyn, Summers and the many activists who supported the cause is a timely reminder of the many moving parts involved in a successful coalition for change.