Page 21 - Peter Strong News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The welfare lobby says the increase of $3.57 a day from April 1, after the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement of $150 a fortnight has expired, is heartless.

The small increase announced for the JobSeeker rate has met fierce criticism, but the Morrison government will refuse any attempts to lift it higher.

Business leaders and welfare advocates have blasted the Morrison government’s decision to establish a hotline for employers to dob in unemployed Australians who refuse job offers, calling the measure out of touch with small business owners who believe “most unemployed people are not dole bludgers”. Unions have been even more critical of what they see as the “dangerous” hotline, warning it could force women into accepting jobs from employers who...

Advertisement Unemployed workers will get a boost to the JobSeeker payment, set to be announced on Tuesday, as new data shows an $80-a-fortnight lift would cost the budget less than $3 billion a year. As the federal government faces more pressure to deliver a permanent increase in the $565.70-a-fortnight JobSeeker payment, evidence from Anglicare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows unemployed people have used the coronavirus supplement to improve their quality of life. There were fewer people asking charities for help during the pandemic due to more generous government support for t...

Business leaders have called for clarity on the triggers for and nature of any future lockdowns, citing concerns about the damage to people’s livelihoods.