The Government’s come out and said it: they have no intention of keeping Newstart (now known as the JobSeeker Allowance) at the current level for much longer.
On the ABC’s News Breakfast this morning, Michael Rowland hounded Treasurer Josh Frydenberg over whether he had any intention of keeping the allowance at its current level, which was effectively doubled at the start of the pandemic.
“Does it sit well with your conscience for job seekers – and there’ll be 7% unemployed by the end of next year – to go back to receiving $40 a day?” Rowland asked.
Frydenberg wouldn’t buy into it.
“Our goal is actually to get those people off unemployment benefits and into a job, and the best way we can do that is to generate economic activity,” he replied.
That’s code for: yes.
Treasurer @JoshFrydenberg says the increase to JobSeeker payments is still only temporary and will be wound back after the coronavirus.@mjrowland68: Are you happy for people to go back to receiving only $40 a day?@JoshFrydenberg: Well I want people to get into a job. pic.twitter.com/GLC45Sq4Fv
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) May 5, 2020
“We’ve been very consistent in our position in relation to all our payments and our programs in the context of COVID-19, namely that they’re temporary, that they’re targetted, that they’re proportionate,” he added.
So while the news doesn’t come as a shock, it will likely come as a disappointment to many Aussies.
Frydenberg’s assertion that the JobSeeker Allowance can be halved once people start going back to work ignores the fact there will always be people out of work at no fault of their own.
While creating jobs is a nice goal, cutting income assistance for the most vulnerable does nothing to help their situation.
props to @mjrowland68 for pressing the treasurer on this multiple times — many JobSeeker recipients would love the opportunity to respond to his comments https://t.co/bxsxaYFWKe
— jeremy poxon (@JeremyPoxon) May 5, 2020
A poll taken by Essential found 57% of Aussies don’t support the JobSeeker allowance being reduced back to $40 a day. Meanwhile, a further 15% of respondents were still undecided.
This means cutting the allowance will probably be very unpopular.