Modern life is an expensive undertaking and for the city of Sydney and its surrounds, soaring house prices and an above average cost of living can put a serious strain on the purse strings of those who call it home.
Australia spends over , more than it does on health, education and defence combined. It might sound like an impressive figure, but as NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong, journalist Caleb Bond and author and TV personality Julie Goodwin discover in SBS’s new three-part documentary series Could You Survive On The Breadline?, it falls short of meeting the needs of the thousands of Australians who rely on it to get by.
The series sees Jenny, Caleb and Julie go on separate immersive journeys to experience what day-to-day life is really like for welfare recipients in three distinct Australian communities. They must survive on government payments to not only buy necessities and pay bills, but cover the cost of their accommodation as well, and in doing so face the difficult decisions that are daily occurrences for welfare and low-income earners.
Each of the contributors has a very different reason for wanting to participate in the nine-day experiment. For Julie, it’s the memory of her own struggle to make ends meet when she was younger that leads her to want to unpack some of the stigma surrounding unemployment. In Jenny’s case, it’s her firm belief that more needs to be done to assist the disadvantaged, and that “no one should be too poor to be able to live.” Like many Australians, Caleb has been outspoken in his criticism of the welfare system, having previously compared the dependency of those receiving payments to that of heroin users, but he is now ready to have his perspective challenged and listen to the people who know life on the breadline best.
Caleb Bond in ‘Could You Survive On The Breadline?’ Source: SBS
At the beginning of their journeys, each of the contributors must give up all access to their current lives, and leave the comfort of their homes to travel to three different locations where they will spend just over a week living on the breadline: an inner city community, the outer suburbs, and a regional area. It’s a confronting and very obvious shift for all three, and they are visibly shocked by the circumstances in which they find themselves. Caleb is faced with inner city life on a disability payment, where the maximum amount for a single adult is just , and witnesses the sacrifices that must be made to ensure every dollar counts. Julie finds herself with just over to cover her costs courtesy of the Jobseeker allowance, and discovers the challenges that come with life in emergency accommodation in south-west Sydney. Jenny journeys out of Sydney to the Illawarra region and comes to understand just how critical safe and secure housing is for a single mum living on welfare.
As the series continues, and each of the three immerses themselves in the lives of the struggling households surviving on welfare, the real impacts of disadvantage begin to show. In 2020, there were living below the poverty line. The as half the median household income of the total population, which in Australia translates to for a single adult living alone. It’s sobering, then, to realise that Jobseeker for a single adult with no children is currently around . Throw the disadvantage brought about by the pandemic into the mix, and the outlook for many people who rely on these payments is dismal.
NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong in ‘Could You Survive On The Breadline?’ Source: SBS
It’s hard not to get emotional listening to the effects of this constant uncertainty and instability and Jenny, Caleb and Julie become more determined to search for ways to address the problem. Employment is the obvious place to start, but as each undertake their own job hunt, they are disheartened by the lack of opportunity and all notions of a quick fix prove to be misinformed. This is a long-term problem that requires a long-term solution; a one-size-fits-all approach has no place here.
The more the contributors listen to those generous enough to allow them into their lives, the more it becomes clear that, as a nation, there exists a problematic attitude within our society that it’s easy to simply ‘get off welfare’. This belief that self-sufficiency is possible for all is one that is proven wrong time and time again throughout the series, and there is a very real sense that the individuals that find themselves in these situations could be any one of us. The stories they share reveal that an unexpected job loss, chronic illness or violent relationship can be all it takes to transform a life of relative comfort into one of poverty and reliance on government payments. When you add the barriers presented by disability, lack of opportunity and stigma, getting off welfare is a far more complex and challenging task than most of us could ever realise.
Julie Goodwin in ‘Could You Survive On The Breadline?’ Source: SBS
The series is a powerful reminder that there are real people behind the statistics, and that the ability of a person of privilege to make informed decisions about what those who experience disadvantage are entitled to is limited at best. The individuals Jenny, Caleb and Julie meet along the way will inspire you, challenge you, and leave you questioning whether life on the breadline can ever be considered a choice after all.
Could You Survive On The Breadline? premieres exclusively at 8.30pm, Wednesday 17 November on SBS and . Episodes air weekly over three weeks. Watch the trailer now:
