Australian Government Unveils Tough New Measures For People On Welfare

There was a lot contained in the 2021 Federal Budget that was revealed in Parliament last night (May 11).

One of the measures the government is hoping to bring in is more obligations for job seekers who are on welfare.

According to News Corp, the Coalition will be 'strengthening mutual obligations' for welfare recipients, which will require people to apply for up to 20 jobs per month from July instead of the current 15.

The increase in mutual obligations is designed to 'better support for job seekers in their search for work'.

Job seekers will also have to sign up to online employment services and constantly update their employment search on the government's JobActive system.

To make them more eligible for work, they will be forced to participate in 'intense activity' and short courses when they reach six months of unemployment.

The government has set aside $197 million to enable this campaign.

They're also allocating $2.5 million for the so-called DobSeeker, which is a hotline that people can call if they want to dob in someone who isn't seriously applying for the 20 jobs per month.

Government officials will also be looking into people's job applications with more scrutiny and will increase the number of audits done to ensure people are lodging serious attempts at getting work.

But it's not all doom and gloom for people who are on welfare.

The government will be increasing the JobSeeker payment for nearly two million recipients with a $9.5 billion five year commitment to the support network.

The increase in funding will mean an extra $50 per fortnight in the base rate for working-age payments.

The funding boost will apply to those on Youth Allowance, Parenting Payment, Austudy, ABSTUDY Living Allowance, Partner Allowance, Widow Allowance, Special Benefit and Farm Household Allowance.

People on the JobSeeker and Youth Allowance payment will have their income-free area raised to $150 every fortnight, which will mean they will get to earn more before the payment kicks in.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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