00:00Poverty is extremely difficult and expensive.
00:07Your life just is really, really hard and it's really, really constant.
00:12During the COVID pandemic, a coronavirus supplement doubled most welfare payments and substantially reduced poverty.
00:20We also know that people spent a lot of that increase in income, so it potentially stimulated the economy.
00:27With the extra income, Melissa Fisher ate more nutritious food, could afford medicines and attend a gym.
00:34When the supplement ended, her health fell apart and she ended up in hospital.
00:38A few years ago, I had actually been diagnosed with malnutrition and scurvy.
00:45With an estimated one in seven people living in poverty, the impact is borne by individuals, but the cost hits everyone.
00:53There's extensive research that shows that poverty is associated with poorer rates of health, lower rates of education, higher rates of crime.
01:02Hayley Winchcombe's research found every $100 invested in higher unemployment payments has delivered a $24 social return.
01:11That social return included physical and mental health benefits and positive impacts on childhood development.
01:18There were other efficiencies too, like reduced hospitalisations and medical costs, less interaction with police and the courts and lower lifetime use of the social security system.
01:30It's certainly costing Australians a lot to have this level of poverty in the country.
01:35The coronavirus supplement cost $20 billion for the year or so it existed.
01:40A recent report estimates child poverty cost the economy $60 billion a year, and that's just in New South Wales.
01:46Welfare payments have increased in recent years, not by nearly as much as advocates would like.
01:52.
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