Politicians Want To Cut Centrelink For Young People To Fix Australia's Labour Shortage

Two Australian politicians have shown their support for cutting Centrelink payments to young people to fix the country's labour shortage problem.

There are loads of job vacancies across Australia at the moment now that many states and territories have come out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Considering there were loads of redundancies and people being let go over the last two years, you'd think there would be plenty of people clambering for a job.

Employment hunting site Seek said it had recently posted the largest number of job advertisements in 23 years, however it noted how applications were below historical standards.

To address this issue, there are some policymakers who think it's because some Aussies are relying on welfare to get by instead of looking for jobs.

MP for Mackellar, Jason Falinksi, told The Daily Telegraph that cutting Centrelink as a stick approach to the situation would be good.

"It's a massive chance to get people who otherwise would be long-term welfare recipients, into work and in the long term make their lives so much better," he said.

One Nation MP Mark Latham added: "Ending the dole would force the bludgers into work, fill the labour shortage and eliminate unemployment in Australia.

"This is a one-off opportunity that the government has blown by returning to big immigration numbers to fill the vacancies."

There are probably a myriad of reasons why people aren't racing to take up a job, whether that be their mental health, the pay being offered by the companies, the experience they're requiring, or something else.

Some hospitality venues are taking a more carrot approach to ensure they keep their doors open.

Aria in Sydney is reportedly offering $100,000 worth of incentives to all new staff who join in a bid to fill some spots.

That restaurant, along with Cafe Sydney, have revealed they're closing over the Christmas time due to the labour shortage, which is arguably one of the busiest times of trade.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, existing staff in the hospitality and tourism industries are also now threatening to walk off unless they get better conditions or pay now that they have more bargaining power.

Australia's closed borders policy during the pandemic is being partly blamed as well for the labour shortage, as many spots would normally be filled by people here on a working holiday visa.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

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.

@stewartperrie