Liberal backbencher Julia Banks has hit back at claims no politician could survive on $40 a day and insisted she could easily get by on the measly income — and now she’s being challenged to do just that.
Banks’ comments come after Opposition leader Bill Shorten called for an urgent review into the government’s welfare payments, most notably Newstart and Youth Allowance. Shorten said no politician would be able to live on the $40 a day allocated to people on Newstart and called for the government to focus on those living “at the very bottom of our society”.
Just hours later though, Banks hit back and told ABC Radio’s Rafael Epstein she “could live on $40 a day knowing that the government is supporting me with Newstart to look for employment”.
After one listener called in to brand her “out of touch”, she shot back and argued, “I speak to constituents every day, and all I can say is the dignity of having a job and finding work is what our policy is about”.
Now, in a result she may not have expected, Hobart Youth Allowance recipient Sherri Prendergast, 22, has challenged Banks to try to get by on the wage –…
