Natasha Thomson lives with severe chronic pain, but it took her more than two years for Centrelink to approve her disability support pension (DSP).
Ms Thomson, 28, said her experience of applying to receive the DSP welfare payment was "dehumanising to say the least".
Prior to receiving the DSP, Ms Thomson was relying on the JobSeeker payment, but it paid less than $45 a day. It meant, at times, she had to choose which basic necessity was more important to get by.
After two rounds through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, she was successful in receiving the funds necessary for her to make ends meet - but only just.
"For me, having that [DSP] meant that I could comfortably pay my rent, pay my bills. It was just all around security, and I wasn't scraping by on the barest of minimums. I could afford to go to a doctor, I wasn't choosing between filling a prescription and getting food," she told SBS News.
The DSP payment is 35 per cent higher than what JobSeeker recipients receive. It means people with a pending application for the DSP are living below the poverty line.
She said she is still "limited" because "it's not a huge payment", and wants to see more done to combat welfare payment problems as Australia's cost of living continues to soar.
Her concerns come as the Greens launch their mammoth plan to bolster income support payments for Australians to receive $88 a day - placing all welfare recipients over the poverty line.
The so-called liveable income guarantee is the Greens' most expensive policy initiative and is expected to cost $88.7 billion over the four-year forward estimates period, based on analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
"We're offering people a ... a guarantee that people will be lifted out of poverty and have the income that they need to be able to have the essential basics in life covered," the Greens spokesperson for family, ageing and community services, Janet Rice, said.
The payments subject to the proposed increase would include the age pension, JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Disability Support Pension, Parenting Payment and Carer's Payment.
Senator Rice said the experiences of Ms Thomson are real and can be a challenge that shouldn't exist for people living in a "wealthy country".
"We know that the cost of living is a massive issue in the upcoming election. We've got food prices rising, we've got petrol prices rising.
"If you were already ... really struggling to get the basics together, it doesn't take much to push you over the edge.
"We are a wealthy country, we can afford to be having income support benefits that mean that people aren't living in poverty," she said.
The costings rely on taxing billionaires and corporations, through proposed policy measures from the Greens such as the so-called billionaires tax and corporate super-profits tax, which do not have the support of the major parties.
Senator Rice said the policy measures should be seen as a package that will form a central plank in their position if a hung parliament arises in the wake of a federal election.
"It's a choice. Having people living in poverty is a political choice. And that's what we would be putting into the Labor Party (in the event of a hung parliament)."
She said the policy is expected to stimulate the economy with recipients likely to spend it locally as part of non-discretionary spending.
"By having those policies, you're in a position to be able to lift everybody out of poverty, and which has got massive economic benefits as well.
"The best way to have economic stimulus is to put money in the hands of the people who are struggling to get by, because every extra dollar that they get, they're going to spend at the local supermarket to get basic provisions for themselves. It makes good economic sense."
On Saturday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a to help 5,000 young Australians to get into work through a pre-employment program.
Neither the Labor Party or the Liberal Party have put forward a plan to back a permanent increase to social security payments, as part of their election policy platform.
Calls for a permanent increase to welfare payments like JobSeeker to allow people to live above the poverty line have the support of the Australian Council of Social Service, the Business Council of Australia and Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe.
In a report released by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre earlier this month, severe poverty would be eradicated in Australia if JobSeeker recipients received an additional $20 a day, with increased rent support payments.
