AUWU grieves as harsh JobSeeker rate cut comes into effect
Working age payments have been brutally cut, putting unwaged workers' health and safety at risk
You can call the Australia crisis support services Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union is devastated to wake up to the harsh reality millions of us will today have payments slashed by up to $180 per fortnight.
Today’s drastic cuts are a direct attack by the Morrison government and exposes their contempt for nearly 2 million people and 1 million kids. The government has brutally and needlessly chosen to force millions of people to rely on a poverty payment. Their poverty machine is designed to crush us while funnelling billions of public money from our welfare system into private organisations who brutalise us.
No matter how you look at it this is a cut to payments, not the government’s claimed “increase”. Compared to yesterday people affected by the cut will have up to $180 less per fortnight, and those on the JobSeeker payment will be $40 below the poverty line of $85 per day – $2 more than this time last year, when they were $38 below the poverty line.
Image credit: Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union
The welfare system is not safe for unemployed workers.
This heartless, politicised decision will entrench poverty and lock people out of work for years or decades, as we have seen in every past recession. It exposes that the prime minister’s professed “top priority” of protecting our mental health and preventing suicide is a complete sham.
The AUWU has been flooded with messages from people who are severely distressed, a disturbing number of whom have self-harmed, expressed thoughts of suicide and who fear homelessness and domestic violence. Our welfare system kills people. The government should not be creating the conditions that produce such harm and distress.
Government policies on welfare are the worst contributor to women’s inequality in this country and a major reason why people can feel forced to stay in violent relationships or unsafe workplaces.
There is no safety for women in the social safety net.
While Australia is in the midst of a national reckoning on sexism and violent misogyny, the government is penalising unemployed women with these cuts, denying women safety, autonomy, and inhibiting their freedom to leave violent relationships and households.
The government punishes waged workers trapped in the welfare system.
The changes to how much people can earn before their payment is reduced expose that the government does not care whether we have paid work or not. They punish us either way.
Today’s change cuts the JobSeeker payment to 52% of the poverty line of $85 per day. The effect of changes to how much JobSeekers can earn will rip $150–180 per fortnight away from more than 250,000 people who receive more than $250 per fortnight in wgaes, making it even harder to pull ourselves out of poverty.
A person on JobSeeker can work nearly 30 hours a week and still be below the poverty line and stuck on an unemployment payment.
Social security should mean we are all above the poverty line.
The government has chosen to put us into poverty and it can choose to lift us out again, just like it did last year when payments were lifted to the Henderson Poverty Line. Anything less is immoral.
Media contact: 0413 261 362 / media at auwu.org.au
Background
The Henderson Poverty Line is $1,185.70 per fortnight (Poverty Lines, Melbourne Institute, September 2020 figures published March 2021)
From 1 April JobSeekers will receive $620.80 per fotnight, down from $715.60.
There are 24,700 entry level jobs out of a total 192,000 vacancies across the country (National Skills Commission Vacancy Report, Feb 2021)
1,326,815 in jobactive; 348,722 are over 50; 250,817 are disabled (Labour Market Information Portal, accessed 1/4/21)
There are 54 people in jobactive (forced to look for 15 jobs a month from April) for every entry level job.
Businesses will receive up to 19 million applications per month, regardless of whether applicants are suitable for the jobs they are forced to apply for.
Total people affected by rate cut is about 1.9 million according to the most recently available figures:
1,221,599 on JobSeeker (DES monthly profile, Feb 2021)
135,660 on Youth Allowance Other (DES monthly profile, Feb 2021)
193,281 students on Youth Allowance Student (DES monthly profile, Feb 2021)
338,651 on Parenting Payment (DES demographics data, Dec 2020)
About 1 million children are in families affected by the rate cut (evidence from DSS at senate estimates, 25/3/2021)
There are 256,600 people on unemployment payments even though they have a job and earn more than $250 per week – these people will receive a higher cut of $150–180 per fortnight. (DES monthly profile, Feb 2021)
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