Young Aussies Are Protesting JobSeeker Cuts By Handing Out Their Resumes At The PM’s Office

jobseeker protests

Today, young people all around Australia will protest the JobSeeker cuts happening next week. As part of the protest young people will be handing out their CVs at Scott Morrison’s office, demanding the government makes a plan for the future post COVID-19.

On September 25th, the $550 JobSeeker supplement will be cut by $300, with the base rate of the JobSeeker payment dropping to $815 a fortnight. Cai said that these cuts would mean “25% of our incomes will be lost.”

“We’ve come into a job market that is pretty insecure, most of us are on casual part-time work. And also we are the ones establishing our careers for the first time,” said Desiree Cai, lead organiser for Tomorrow Movement.

“We’re really squeezing job seekers and young people who are on these payments into this really narrow hole where they have to live on less money than before, but have no way of finding a job at all,” she said.

Young Aussies want to stop the reduction to JobSeeker, but they also want to put the government on notice and tell them to make a plan for the future. According to the event organisers, this would involve a Climate Jobs Guarantee.

A Climate Jobs Guarantee is “an ambitious idea about what the government can do to create jobs. It’s killing two birds with one stone. You can create jobs by investing in the climate crisis and investing in renewables, investing in the care sector, and all these places where there is work in society that is needed,” said Cai.

So how will the event be run in Melbourne, who are currently in a Stage 4 lockdown? The protest will involve a number of socially distanced art activities, as well as a big virtual rally. The virtual rally will be created by compositing images of real young people, creating the illusion that they are protesting in front of an iconic Melbourne landmark.

“Young people around the country are protesting today because we will be the hardest hit by the long-term impacts of this recession. We are taking action to demand the Morrison government create direct jobs, good jobs and a living income for all,” said Jasmine Walker, who is leading the virtual protest in Melbourne.

The protests commence at 8am today, for more information head to the Tomorrow Movement website here.

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