Later he reiterates: “I had a very good upbringing." When I first met Alex, he was living independently in a one-bedroom flat he’d been in for eight years. Alex has worked for most of his life with a bung leg. Early on he did outdoor work, later he was a patrolman driving between locations checking on building security. After 13 years at a mattress factory, at age 44 he was made redundant. In 2012 he went on Newstart. Loading Newstart for single unemployed adults is $555.70 each fortnight, or just under $40 a day. Both Labor’s Jenny Macklin and then-Liberal Julia Banks once declared they could manage on the Newstart allowance. Neither of them were put to the test and Macklin later apologised. In May 2018 John Howard went on the record saying he believes the freeze on Newstart has gone on too long. Scott Morrison has no plans to increase it. Alex’s experience may be instructive.

This is how Alex managed on Newstart for six years. In order to maintain the $288 per week rent on his one-bedroom flat, and pay for utilities and food, he turned off his fridge and heating. He lived on two-minute noodles, 65-cent cans of baked beans, packet soups and bread. He couldn’t afford margarine. He came to Olive Way for lunch three days a week. He showered at the Salvos to save on water and heating and rather than use his washing machine for bed linen, he slept on his couch in an overcoat. His bad leg was playing up as he grew older but the only time he went to the pharmacy was when he had the flu. He’s had the flu three times in three years. A Myki travel card and mobile phone were necessities to keep up with Newstart job-hunting requirements. Even with the addition of rental assistance which brought his fortnightly payment to $695, rent took more than 90 per cent of his income. He did not turn on the lights in his flat but used the torch in his mobile phone. Loading To reach the tram stop, Alex held on to the fence posts down the street. Sometimes he’d keep his balance by walking with one foot in the gutter to even up the height of his legs and keep him more stable against the camber of the footpath. He caught the tram every day and got to know the drivers. As well as the Salvos and Olive Way, he went to numerous appointments necessitated by Newstart job-hunting and skills-learning requirements. When he had to move out of his flat, a tram driver who’d become a friend offered to mind his washing machine and fridge until he found another place to rent. This man and his wife also invited Alex to share Christmas with them.

Patronising remarks by the staff at the disability employment support centre sparked a steely kind of outrage in him. But when they told him they’d easily found work for a double amputee, he became anxious and angry. He was so used to accommodating Newstart requirements that he began worrying that amputation was being proposed. When the demerit point system was invoked, the threat of having Newstart cut back put a darkness across Alex’s face I had not seen before. By the time Alex’s Disability Support Pension (DSP) assessment review came up, he was homeless. His landlord wanted to renovate and Alex had to move out. He was fearful about what sleeping rough might mean for the arthritis in his damaged leg. Initially he set up in a neighbour’s garage with no bathroom facilities. Then, in a rare stroke of good fortune, he got a room in a housing facility for homeless men. He could shower, eat, sleep and stay warm. His face was shining. Loading Last week, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp was interviewed on ABC radio after the new Federal Assistant Housing Minister, Luke Howarth, had publicly downplayed the problem of affordable housing for people on low incomes. He was "putting a positive spin" on it. Capp said that her office received more letters about people sleeping rough in the CBD than anything else. These letters weren’t asking for law and order, she said. They were asking: “How can we help?” There are programs that offer unfiltered on-the-ground information for politicians and senior decision makers in industry. For those who are open to acknowledging their lack of experience with the day-to-day realities of poverty, Financial Counselling Australia offer A Day in the Life. With permission from callers, these visitors get to listen in to the details and stories of financial stress. It is sobering information, and it is often clear that the circumstances have not arisen due to carelessness or poor choices.

When the internal Centrelink review dismissed his DSP application a second time, Alex was ready. He went to see his local MP, Adam Bandt, who was moved to speak in Parliament about Alex’s situation. It is possible that without Bandt’s intervention, Alex would still be waiting to have his appeal heard. His case came up at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) early this year. He had prepared himself with advice from Social Security Rights Victoria and evidence the GP and physiotherapist at his local community health centre had helped him collect. Alex carried a carefully tended plastic shopping bag of documentation. When he met refusal and bureaucratic blocks, he had a way of reporting his situation that reminded me of TV courtroom dramas. Often, he would say that he was going to “get to the bottom of the truth”. Alex Phillips has had to overcome many obstacles to secure a Disability Support Pension. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui The AAT ruled that Alex met the criteria for a DSP. He is no longer living on Newstart. The pension is set at $1063 per fortnight and he is free from the requirement to attend pointless job interviews where employers would lose interest as soon as they saw his disability.