Budget for 2023: Job seeker’s payment decision slammed by welfare beneficiary’s mother
Brisbane’s mother has issued a letter of challenge to the prime minister after downplaying expectations that the government would significantly increase welfare payments in this year’s budget.
The government was told by a task force set up by Treasury Secretary Jim Chalmers that income support payments, such as $50 a day for Jobseeker, were “severely inadequate.”
The government has called for job seekers’ pensions to be raised to 90% of senior pensions (about $68 a day, about $1000 for two weeks), but the government is set to ignore this recommendation.
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The government says raising the job seeker rate will hit the budget by $24 billion, and it can’t afford it.
The decision has drawn the ire of welfare and advocacy groups, with one JobSeeker resident mother saying the government was “not very wise” in choosing to keep payments at current levels. says.
“Sit with me. How about swapping households for a month? Then you say you can’t afford to pay for it,” Pauline said on the project.
The mother of two, living on just $50 a day, lost her “brain ability to think about anything” other than how to make ends meet, and went to the food bank multiple times a week. They say they are forced to go.
She also works casually and said she often had to pick up shifts because she couldn’t afford to pay for gas to work.
Pauline said spending the extra $20 a day takes “a little bit of pressure off.”
“For me, it means my electricity bill is still on my payment plan and I need to monitor what I spend my money on,” she said.
“For me, it’s about being a little more free on gasoline.
“It is [my daughter] If you have a friend who wants to catch up with you at the local park on Monday, I’ll have gas to take her there.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/mums-challenge-to-the-prime-minister-on-jobseeker-payments/news-story/35d6997d0ab921a9f149ea4d55a0755f Budget for 2023: Job seeker’s payment decision slammed by welfare beneficiary’s mother