Could You Live on the Breadline?: Wollongong woman living on JobKeeper shows how tough it is on new SBS TV series

The 43-year-old has been living in a Housing NSW apartment in Wollongong in NSW's Illawarra for a year, after extricating herself from some domestic violence relationships.

Before that, she had a full-time job with Wollongong City Council and regular paycheque.

And she knows what people think when they hear where she lives, because she used to think the same thing.

"I know from my own previous experience when I worked in Wollongong council, if I'd see someone with an address from here, I'd be a bit hesitant," Shenane said.

"I'd be a bit intrigued to meet them but the address does give a lot away about a person."

She had worked for Wollongong council for six years and then moved to Parramatta council for another four.

And then everything changed for Shenane.

"A couple of years ago I fell into a DV relationship," she said.

"Because I worked in a high-profile Aboriginal position I resigned because I was pretty much turning up to work with black eyes.

"I had a good career and I didn't want to lose it by having that stain on my name so I resigned. But because I resigned I got more entrenched into the DV relationship, then I went from one DV relationship to another."

So she knows how quickly a person's situation can change.

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She's now surviving on JobSeeker payments where, after paying rent and utilities, she has no more than $180 a fortnight to live off.

"I've got no room for savings - when I first stopped work I used all my savings up from work to be able to help myself get on an even keel," she said.

"I see my kids who are in care once a month and I spend around $300 on visiting them on the one day.

"So I have to make one fortnight's pay last for the whole month. I go and get food hampers from Sydney, go and get bulk meat, fill the car up and that's it, that's me done."

Shenane is one of three people living on welfare who appear in the SBS series Could You Live on the Breadline?.

They are paired up with a prominent person - in Shenane's case it was NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong - to get them ready for life on the breadline. Because then they have to try and live for several weeks on the small amount left over from the welfare payment.

"When I was working and I was living above the breadline I wasn't really aware of how hard this life is when you're on a low income," she said.

"I used to work with a lot of disadvantaged and elderly people.

"A lot of elders would say to me they couldn't afford meat and I had to scoff and think 'you probably can you know, just don't buy smokes'.

"But now that I'm in that position I can fully empathise with them. You just can't buy meat, it's really a luxury."

In recent years there has been a growing chorus for the federal government to raise the amount of the JobSeeker payment.

Shenane said that was something that would help people survive - and she suggested car registration concessions would make it easier for her to find a job too.

"I can't pay my car registration because I don't have enough money," she said.

"And now that I don't have a car I'm less employable - it's like a catch-22.

"They give pensioners a free registration I think they need to look at that for people on JobSeeker; if you've got a car and you've got a means to get around you're more able to look at opportunities.

"Even just ID - it's really hard to get ID because it costs money. It costs $80 for a birth certificate, $68 for a licence renewal - all of that adds up."

Could You Survive on the Breadline airs on SBS, Wednesday at 8.30pm.