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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-22 Daily Xml
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JobSeeker Payment

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:35): Three hundred dollars may not be much for the Morrison Liberal government but it is certainly a lot for those who have just lost it from their fortnightly JobSeeker, formerly known as Newstart, payments. The $550 supplement will be cut after September to $250 a fortnight. It was surprising to hear the Prime Minister yesterday admit that he was wrong to make a deadline to end JobKeeper and JobSeeker.

With the extension of the scheme, it is an opportune time for the government to seriously consider what the permanent rate for JobSeeker should be. It is obvious that $40 a day is inadequate in meeting the basic needs of people looking for work when the economy is so vulnerable and when, even without COVID, it is failing people. Forty dollars is not enough to support yourself, much less if you have a family, and it is certainly not enough to look for a job and has the effect of driving people further into poverty.

If this government was serious about fixing this country's problems with demand and consumption, as well as creating jobs, they would seriously consider permanently raising the rate. Social media campaigns calling for permanently raising the rate have been posting photos of what could be purchased with the $40 a day Newstart rate compared to the current JobSeeker payments. The photos showed a comparison of tinned foods compared to what most of us would class as the essentials, such as fruit and vegetables, pasta and bread.

This scheme is not about being generous. It is about giving people the ability to live. Unemployment rates have reached an astonishing number in South Australia. The rate currently sits at 8.8 per cent. Although we expected a spike in unemployment, this number is a chilling reminder that we are still only at the beginning of the economic impacts of recession.

With the announcements about changing JobSeeker yesterday, the Morrison government has also mandated that those on the scheme must start applying for more jobs quarterly, at a time when businesses are either not operating or closing down. I think that the Morrison government has little understanding of the number of jobs available for Australians. For every job vacancy in Australia, there are 13 people looking for work.

The JobKeeper scheme is also receiving a wind back, with payments to businesses going from $1,500 to $1,200 for full-time workers, and those working fewer than 20 hours a week will receive $750. In South Australia alone, 11,200 jobs disappeared in May, taking the total number of job losses since March to 48,300. Over 28,000 of those jobs belonged to women, the majority of whom were employed part-time or casually. Women, who prior to the pandemic were already in a more vulnerable position in the workforce, are now further disadvantaged by the impacts of coronavirus.

We know that women have been disproportionately impacted by the job losses since the pandemic. They make up the majority of the casual workforce and in industries that are not covered by the JobKeeper payments. It is shocking that the federal government still refuses to give all workers the ability to access JobKeeper, meaning that further job losses are forecast, which will further push people into financial hardship.

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