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LYNNE Wilson earns the same amount of money on government payments as she did in a job she held 30 years ago.
The difference now is that cost of living has gone up and the 56-year-old has five children.
"Scott Morrison said 'a job is the best form of welfare'. But how am I supposed to get a job if I can't afford good clothes to present myself well?" she said.
"And the reality is that when I go for a job they look at my age - and they look at me and see a Muslim. They won't say that, but you know."
Nine Bendigo welfare groups joined with local MP Lisa Chesters to launch the Raise the Rates Alliance at a rally on Tuesday.
They include Haven; Home, Safe, Bendigo Foodshare, Bendigo Family and Financial Services and the Salvation Army.
It comes as the federal government continues to resist calls to raise the Newstart allowance, which the providers say is grossly inadequate.
Something is wrong with the system when the largest - and fastest growing - group of people on Newstart are between 45- and 55-years-of-age, Ms Chesters told the rally.
"They are people who have worked hard all their lives, and then through illness or a shut down at a workplace have found themselves unemployed," she said.
Minister for families and Social Services Anne Ruston did not answer a question about whether Newstart is enough to live off, but did say the Morrison government is committed to supporting Australians to get off welfare and into work.
"We are delivering results with more than 1.4 million jobs being created since we were elected," she said.
"We believe welfare is about more than providing a safety net payment. It's about creating jobs, pathways to jobs and supporting people overcome the barriers they face."
Bendigo's Sharron Jamison never thought she would be middle-aged and living in poverty.
The 61-year-old's life had been on a "downward spiral" in the two-and-a-half years since her husband had died.
"It offends me deeply that media propaganda wants us to believe that people on Newstart are drug addicts and dole bludgers who refuse to work for a living," she said.
"I'm an educated woman with tertiary qualifications previously employed in the teaching industry."
Ms Jamison stopped working seven years ago to look after her husband when he got sick. She is struggling to find work because of her age and because her qualifications are now out of date.
She has been sleeping on a friend of her daughter's couch. Another person living in the house is a 55-year-old woman who cannot afford to live on her own.
"I have been applying to rental properties since February this year, but to no avail. It is irrelevant that I am a good tenant with excellent references," Ms Jamison said.
"In the eyes of prospective landlords my income is simply too low. As a consequence I have begun selling off my furniture. I can no longer afford to keep it in storage."
It takes an average 156 weeks for people on Newstart to get off the payment in the Bendigo electorate.
Recently released Haven; Home, Safe data shows the housing service helped 288 people living on new start in one month alone.
Nearly 200 of them were classified as homeless or living in inadequate or inappropriate conditions. Ninety-nine of them were sleeping rough.
Ms Wilson has a home but says it is a struggle to make ends meet.
"I knew it would be a struggle. But it did turn out to be a bit harder than I originally anticipated," she said.
Between Newstart and another government payment Ms Wilson gets $91 a day, but covering the basic necessities like the car, food and power bills costs $125.
"That doesn't include extras like school fees and buying clothes," she said.
Meeting the shortfall means going to charities.
"And I cut back where I can," Ms Wilson said.
"I will not cut back on food or having warmth, so I'm constantly running around telling the kids to turn electric things off, watch the water.
"And I'm just in debt, constantly. I have to make arrangements with all the utilities to say 'this is all I can pay off right now'. I'm on payment plans so that I am always paying something off and constantly in debt."
Yet, as Ms Wilson tells her children, you cannot be all doom and gloom.
"You need to be optimistic, you just have to keep going. Always look on the bright side of life," she said.
Story continues below blog from Tuesday's rally
Earlier
Welfare groups are gathering in Bendigo to call for an increase in the Newstart allowance.
The rally will soon begin in the Bendigo CBD.
On Friday, the Newstart payment was indexed by less than 24 cents per day, or $1.65 per week.
The indexation took effect in the same week in which the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures show that unemployment rose to a 16 month high of 716,800.
Nine local organisations will launch a Raise the Rate Alliance at the rally, along with member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters.