IF YOUR income was cut to $234 a week - the unemployment payment - what would you choose to go without?

Almost 60 per cent of Australians who were asked this question in a recent poll said they would stop buying fresh food and half said they would not visit the doctor when sick.

One in 10 Australians live below the poverty line. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Maree O'Halloran, president of the National Welfare Rights Network, said yesterday that 551,000 single people aged over 21 relied on the $234 a week Newstart Allowance to cover all expenses, an unemployment payment that was ranked the relative lowest of 30 OECD nations.

In November, the network asked 1294 Australians to nominate items they would have to forgo if they lived on the sum, finding half would pull out of education and 75 per cent would stop driving.