A growing number of MPs speak out, with one calling for a significant lift to $400 a week, up from the current $275

A growing number of Labor MPs are pushing for the party to adopt a bolder strategy on Newstart, with one saying the opposition needed to “show some guts” to pressure the government to lift the payment.

Mike Freelander, the Labor MP for the western Sydney seat of Macarthur, told Guardian Australia he wants the party to commit to a “significant” increase to the government benefit, proposing it be lifted to $400 a week, up from the current rate of $275.

“We need to show a bit of guts and we need to increase it and we need to campaign on increasing it significantly,” Freelander said.

“I think we need to increase it to a figure of around $400 – it is a big ask, it is a lot of money, but we need to do it.

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“I have discussed it with some of the welfare groups in my electorate and if they (Newstart beneficiaries) are going to be able to rent a room in a boarding house and provide for food and transport costs that is the figure that we need to be looking at.”

Freelander said that without a significant boost to the payment, the government was “consigning a group of people to the far outreaches of society with little prospect of improving their lives.”

He said that while Labor had rightly presented itself as a prudent economic manager in the lead up to the election, the party could not stick to its position of promising a review for the next three yers.

Freelander’s move to nominate an increase was matched by the Labor MP for the seat of Spence, Nick Champion, who said he believed that a $75 a week increase being advocated by the Australian Council of Social Service should be adopted to end the “poverty trap” of the current level.

“No one can live on $270 bucks a week, or $14,000 a year when you look at it on an annual figure,” Champion said.

“This is a payment that sits below subsistence levels, it makes it very hard to secure housing, health care, education or employment prospects, particularly if unemployment goes on for a long time.”

He said that the problem of the stagnant Newstart payment, which is indexed to the consumer price index rather than to wage increase, was one for the government to address, but said he believed Labor could campaign strongly for a rise.

“There has to be some pressure on them to address what is a very serious issue from an economic point of view, from a fairness point of view and from a social justice Australian egalitarianism point of view.”

He suggested the $75 increase, which is estimated to cost about $3.3bn, could be phased in through two or three separate increases to ease the pressure on the budget.

The MP for the seat of Perth, Patrick Gorman, said he had questioned whether the $75 a week proposal put forward by Acoss was sufficient to fix the problem, but said lifting the payment should be a priority for the 46th parliament.

“It is no secret that there are many of us who would like to see Newstart increased,” he told Guardian Australia.

“If we are going to make an intervention and have a dramatic increase then we should make sure that it does actually fix the problem.

“My view is that we should increase it and do whatever we can from opposition to achieve an outcome of a substantial increase.

“Let’s make sure that they are given the best chance to have a decent life while they are on Newstart and a decent chance to put themselves into the job market.”

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The call from within party ranks for the opposition to revisit its policy on the Newstart payment comes as the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, sharpens his criticism of the government for failing to act, saying the payment is “too low”.

Labor had promised a review of the payment had it won government, which it said was the first step to lifting the benefit, and has now called on the Coalition to take similar action.

“The fact is that were we successful on the 18th of May, we would have had an inquiry into the rate of Newstart. That was not an inquiry so that we could lower it, that was an inquiry obviously so that we could look at what an appropriate level is,” Albanese said.

He said a Greens bill to lift Newstart that will be debated in Parliament on MOnday “doesn’t change anything” and accused the minor party of only being interested in “bagging the Labor party”.

“The Greens have forgotten that the Coalition’s in government and are obsessed by attacking Labor. That’s up to them.”