Anthony Albanese has rubbished the coalition refrain that the best form of welfare is a job, saying that's not always true.
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The opposition leader has told a welfare sector conference that while Australia is a great nation, it can't be perfect when so many people are living in poverty.
Social mobility is getting harder and entrenched intergenerational poverty is a real challenge, he said.
"Poverty holds our nation back. It creates stress, anxiety and hopelessness," Mr Albanese told the Australian Council of Social Service gathering in Canberra on Wednesday.
"We are all diminished when kids in Australia are turning up at school hungry, or not turning up at all because they hate feeling like they're different. It's untapped potential."
He noted similar countries such as New Zealand and Canada had legislated plans to reduce poverty, but no such blueprint existed in Australia.
And he took aim at the catchphrase "the best form of welfare is a job".
"In some areas of Australia, like Queensland's outback, unemployment sits at 12 per cent," Mr Albanese said.
"Many Australians try their hardest to get a job, but can't because they're perceived as too old or they've taken a break from working to care for family and then don't have the right experience, or there just aren't any opportunities where they live.
"It's not that they aren't having a go - it's more that the odds are stacked against them."
The opposition is rethinking the suite of policies it took to the May federal election, but it has strengthened its stance on unemployment payments.
It will continue to call for an increase to the $40-a-day Newstart payment - something also backed by the welfare sector, the Reserve Bank and big business.
Meanwhile, the government's plan to roll out cashless welfare cards in the Northern Territory has hit a speed bump.
Although the underpinning legislation passed the lower house on Wednesday, Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie has told the government that the minor party isn't prepared to vote for it in the Senate yet.
Ms Sharkie and her two Senate colleagues will visit remote NT communities in January to see if locals want to be on the cards.
Labor will attempt to change the bill in the Senate so the scheme is voluntary in the Top End.
Some people in the NT are currently on another income management tool which quarantines 50 per cent of welfare payments so it can't be spent on alcohol or drugs.
The cashless welfare card quarantines 80 per cent of payments.
Australian Associated Press
