Around 30,000 Aussies are set to be kicked off JobSeeker payments this Friday when the government reintroduces income asset tests.
Asset testing looks at the things you own such as your car, any investment properties you might have, and other valuable personal belongings such as computers and jewelry. For example, single non-homeowners will be kicked off JobSeeker if their assets are worth more than the threshold of $482,500.
“My understanding is that there will be somewhere in the vicinity of 30,000 people who currently have assets in excess of the threshold,” Social Services Minister Anne Ruston told the ABC.
“Some of them […] have assets significantly higher than the thresholds that existed prior to us going into the pandemic.”
Ruston added that Centrelink’s still in the process of contacting people who are about to lose their payments.
Here’s how things will change. To stay on JobSeeker, people will have to prove the total value of their possessions – including their car and investment properties or even holiday homes, if they have any – are worth less than $268,000 for single homeowners.
This limit will be increased for people who are renting or living at home, as well as people in relationships, with $616,000 being the highest possible threshold.
At the moment, there are around 1.5 million people receiving the JobSeeker payment, many having lost work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
These changes were announced back in July, along with news that the the coronavirus supplement would be halved to $250.
Earlier the interview, Ruston reiterated that the current JobSeeker rate is “temporary” and that it’ll eventually go back to the old Newstart levels after a decision is made “a little later in the year.”
However she did admit the higher rate of payments may well continue until at least the end of the year, if the economy doesn’t recover quickly enough.
Regardless, the government appears to be trying its best to squeeze as many people off the payment as possible.
