Cash inflicts more punishment on JobSeekers with return of 'mutual' obligations in Victoria
Victorians have sacrificed to keep the country safe and the employment minister is punishing them for it
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union condemns the government’s continued attacks on unwaged, underemployed and insecure workers – the people who have borne the greatest economic cost during this pandemic.
Senator Cash has again attempted to bury a sickening decision to impose harsh penalties on income support recipients in Victoria from 23 November by releasing a statement late on Friday afternoon.
The minister has again shown her contempt for the people she is supposed to care for by failing to listen to the people affected by her decisions.
The reintroduction of ‘mutual’ obligations doesn’t even make sense in the rest of the country, let alone in the state that has suffered the most, making sacrifices that have kept the rest of the country safe.
Victorians have just survived the most brutal lockdown in this country, one of the most brutal in the world, which proved effective but has put people under enormous strain as they bore a great cost to protect each other.
The mental and emotional distress experienced after months of isolation is only exacerbated by the grim prospect of few job opportunities, and at a time when the government is forcing people back below the poverty line after proving that this is unnecessary. And the minister has now added an extra blow, coercing people into pointless and harmful activities.
The government’s feigned concern about the mental wellbeing of Victorians is an absolute sham.
The minister is hiding behind the farcical notion that economic indicators support this cruel decision to subject Victorians to further harm on the back of a gruelling period of lockdown. The government’s own forecast is for a continued increase in unemployment and people on income support payments.
There has been no ‘snap back’ in economic activity. The vast majority of jobs that are returning are bad jobs – lower paid, lower hours and less secure than the work that existed before this recession. Since the government’s changes to the rate of JobSeeker and JobKeeper we have seen payroll jobs fall, wages fall, recruitment levels fall and retail spending fall.
In September the AUWU warned the minister that reintroducing penalties would hurt people and she ignored our calls to cooperate and communicate clearly to prevent this.
Job agencies have no capacity to handle this change. They have demonstrated time and again that they are willing to put people and the entire country’s COVID response at risk simply to boost their coffers. This in a year when they have cashed in to the tune of $500 million dollars, profiting from the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people suddenly thrown out of work.
We have since seen the extraordinary human toll of her inept and savage decision in to bring back penalties in other states, with more than 260,000 payment suspensions imposed since 28 September. The voices of unemployed people need to be heard before these decisions are made and this is a clear demonstration that without us, they only cause harm.
Job agencies have continued to flagrantly lie to people about the current rules, including in Victoria, where during the most severe lockdown JobSeekers were still being told they had to complete mutual obligations activities. Around the country since the rules changed on 28 September we have seen widespread lies about in-person activities, with JobSeekers being told they are required when in fact they are optional, and this is only going to get worse.
Since the reintroduction of mutual obligations in other states we have seen a pattern of providers missing scheduled appointments, causing yet more distress and confusion, and in some cases causing people to be cut off their payment through no fault of their own.
We are again deeply angered by the refusal of the minister and the employment department to engage with stakeholders, work with us to ensure appropriate processes and safeguards are in place, and to provide adequate time for JobSeekers to receive clear information about the rules changes.
Media contact: 0413 261 362 / media at auwu.org.au
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