Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are over 10,000 people in the Bendigo electorate currently receiving JobSeeker, many of them for the very first time. We are still at stage 3 in Bendigo, in terms of the COVID-19 restrictions, and in Melbourne they are still at stage 4, so it's very hard for people to look for work. That is why I share their concern, particularly the 10,000 people in my electorate, that the JobSeeker rate will be dropped, that this government is cutting back the coronavirus supplement payment.

This will hit these families hard. It's hard to look for work, at the moment, when stage 3 restrictions are in place. You cannot go door to door. You cannot ring a business in the hope that they'll be there, because a lot of businesses aren't. This is the reality of looking for work in Victoria. Yet this government is cutting support. This isn't just going to hit these individuals and households hard; it will also hit our local economy hard. Do the maths. Cutting the payment by this much, times that by 10,000-plus, and you will take a lot of money away from local businesses in my community.

I urge the government not to proceed with this move, in September, particularly in Victoria. These payments, like the supplement, need to be linked to restrictions. We are doing it tough in Victoria, and we need a federal government that will support us.

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