In the article 'Boosting welfare would just go to ‘drug dealers, pubs’: Minister', Lucy Dean wrote "...called for the rate of Newstart payments to be increased by $75, up from $559 a week." This should be $559 a fortnight.

The articles linked to this one state the correct rate, but there is a big difference between $250 a week and $500. People should not need to go to other articles to find the correct information, especially when it is so contradictory as to possibly create confusion.

To effectively participate in political and social discourse, people need correct information. This article may reinforce to people with existing prejudices against the unemployed that Newstart recipients actually have more than enough to live on and are just whining about wanting more. News outlets are not responsible for people's meanness or narrowness of mind, but it is important to ensure critical, easily-verifiable statements are correct so as not to provide fodder to those trying to demonise people on society's margins.