Thousands are being unfairly forced into mutual obligations during Christmas
While some welfare recipients were lucky enough to have activities suspended, many are getting no break from their ‘mutual’ obligations over the holiday period.
Minister Burke, Minister Rishworth, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, and the Department of Social Services have all decided to give a large number of welfare recipients one last kick in the guts for the year. Instead of receiving a much-needed break from the ‘mutual’ obligations dragnet over Christmas, thousands of disadvantaged Australians will be forced to report their points under threat of payment suspension.
How did this happen?
Yesterday, a temporary suspension of ‘mutual’ obligations went into effect over the holiday and new year period. The text reads:
Departmental Shut Down period 2022/23
Mutual obligations will be suspended for all participants from Monday 19 December 2022 through to Monday 2 January 2023 inclusive. Due to system timing, your obligations will not appear as ‘no longer required’ until the suspension commences on 19 December 2022.
All Points Reporting Periods and Job Search ending during this time (19/12/22 – 02/01/23) will be set to no longer required.
If your reporting period falls outside of these dates, you will be required to report your points and minimum job search as per normal arrangements.
By sheer 'luck of the draw', some participants who had their obligations due on December 19 2022 will experience a 6 week suspension of their reporting deadline (with their next one due in early February, 2023). While it’s great some are getting that relief, it’s despicable that others will be getting nothing.
To break down how absurd this is: If welfare recipients are due to report on the 2nd of January next year, they receive a one month suspension to their mutual obligations deadline. However, if they are due to report on the 3rd of January, they get no break, and all their obligations are due that day, directly after the holiday and new year period.
What’s incredibly interesting is the Department’s stated reason for why this discrepancy exists. Because providers aren’t open for the 2 week Christmas period, the Department says this could create issues for participants who miss deadlines, as they might not be able to re-engage with the provider who just cut off their payments.
The Department then reasons that, for participants whose obligation due dates fall outside of this shutdown period, their ability to meet requirements won’t be affected in this way – and thus, they don’t require a mutual obligations suspension.
This is the same Department which tells us that providers are vital in helping people get into work and engage with their activities. If they’re shut down for 2 weeks, or half of an entire reporting period, wouldn’t that have to be – by the Department’s own logic – a major detriment to jobseekers?
This is another clear (if entirely accidental) admission that the Department believes a job agency’s primary purpose is policing participants with suspensions and re-engagements. Here, they’ve essentially said the quiet part out loud: that providers don’t actually help people complete their requirements. They’re just there to punish us when we fail to do so.
Well, we have news for the department. In addition to providers themselves being shut over the holiday and new year period, almost all non-retail or hospitality businesses are closed, and the labour market in general experiences a significant slowdown. It is well-reported that people on low incomes struggle even more to afford the basics over the holiday period, which in turn makes it harder for welfare recipients to meet mutual obligations requirements. This is especially true at a time where the cost of the basics continues to rise rapidly.
And that’s why we are directing participants in all programs who have not been lucky enough to have their due date for obligations fall in the shutdown period to contact the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Natalie James, to request that they be granted a 2-week suspension of their next deadline. You can find that template here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZcIgr3OZ6wMENGpbkM6WuwC1z8JdBNEN9Xe1gIsRlSU
While most people in the country, including our exorbitantly paid politicians, will get a rest these holidays, it’s unbearably cruel that some of the most disadvantaged people are being punished into pointless activities over the Christmas break. Rather than giving us any real support, Tony Burke and Amanda Rishworth have left coal in welfare recipients’ stockings.
Media contact:
Daniel Levy, AUWU Secretary
0407 509 444 / daniel@auwu.org.au