Anne Ruston under fire for saying raising Newstart would be gift to drug dealersThe social services minister, Anne Ruston, has been accused of being “out of touch” and “spreading dangerous lies” after she said that an increase to the unemployment benefit Newstart would end up in the hands of drug dealers and pub owners. But Terese Edwards, who facilitated the forum, on Wednesday confirmed to Guardian Australia that Ruston had made the comments. Ruston told Sky News on Wednesday that increasing the dole would not help people receiving welfare payments. “Just constantly spending more money and not getting any better result is not the right thing for us to be doing,” Ruston said. The government said the proposal has been established as a trial to determine if it was effective.

Source: The Guardian October 03, 2019 02:59 UTC