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

I am disappointed again in this government and their announcement today around their plans for JobSeeker. Thousands of people across my electorate are on JobSeeker and the Newstart rate. Before COVID, there were about 5,000 people. Today it is 10,000 because of COVID, and they have just been hit with the hardest news: their JobSeeker payments will drop. They will go back not to $40 a day but to $43.75 a day—yes, it's a slight increase, a very small increase, but that's all they get to live on. The government should be ashamed of themselves at the way they're treating people who are looking for work. Not only are they going to have to survive on poverty wages, but the government is going to say that they have to look for 15 jobs a month, then 20 from 1 July. What jobs, government? Right now, there are eight jobseekers for every job. What jobs are you talking about?

Government Member:

A government member interjecting—

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

An interjection: 'Move out to the bush!' This government is also saying that an employer will now have the ability to dob in people who refuse jobs. People could turn down work, turn down extra shifts, for childcare reasons. We don't have a flexible childcare system in this country. We don't have the ability to support mothers looking for work in this country. There are many reasons why people turn down jobs that aren't suitable. The government has let down Australian jobseekers today. (Time expired)