Following the delivery of the Federal Government’s first Budget, the outlook for unemployed and unwaged persons in the ACT is decidedly mixed. While the removal of ParentsNext and the expansion of the single-parent payment to parents with a child under 14 is welcome support for single parents, the 15% boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance is a good start and the commencement of additional payments for JobSeeker recipients over 55 instead of 60 is positive, the key recommendation of the the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee - a substantial increase to the base Jobseeker payments – was not acted on.
Moreover, despite the known abuses of the private industry Job Services Providers, the mutual obligations system and Work for the Dole were left largely in place, licensing continued corporate control over society’s most vulnerable; alongside the continued entrenchment of income management programs.
We call on the members of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party present at this conference to advocate for and act on the policies set out at Chapter 11 of the ACT Party Platform, specifically:
Unemployed, unwaged and underemployed workers
23. Develop and implement comprehensive training and employment programs tailored to the special needs of the long-term unemployed, including people from marginalised groups, people with disabilities, long-term unemployed and students.
24. Provide meaningful and useful support for the unemployed, including centres which provide information, resources and other services.
25. Act to permanently peg all income support payments to a minimum of the Henderson poverty line.
26. Mutual obligations voluntary, and programs like and Work for the Dole and ParentsNext removed entirely
27. Immediately end all government imposed income management programs.
28. Cease any attempts to recover overpayments made to welfare recipients where they have not intentionally caused the overpayment.
29. No Robodebt – any debt recovery against welfare recipients to be overseen by Public Servants, with discretion to waive the debt in cases of obvious hardship.We recognise the advocacy of Alicia Payne MP in this regard.