Calls for suspension of demand that welfare recipients meet employment agencies
A national organisation representing Australia’s welfare recipients has called on the government to suspend mutual obligations to prevent people having their payments suspended during the coronavirus crisis.
Under normal circumstances, people who receive payments such as Newstart must record their job searches online and attend meetings with employment services agencies to avoid having their income support cut off.
The government has said people forced into isolation according to the official health advice can access a 14-day personal crisis exemption before they require a medical certificate.Under normal circumstances, people who receive payments such as Newstart must record their job searches online and attend meetings with employment services agencies to avoid having their income support cut off.
Yet there are fears that others who do not officially need to self-isolate but are unable to meet their obligations due to the unfolding pandemic may have their payments suspended.
Guardian Australia has spoken to a woman with a compromised immune system who was told she would still need to attend an appointment with an employment services provider despite her condition.
Jeremy Poxon, an Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union spokesman, said the organisation had written to the government to ask that it suspend mutual obligations for jobseekers across the country.
Poxon said it would be impossible for some people to meet obligations – such as recording their job searches online – in areas where public libraries and other facilities were being closed.
“If they don’t suspend mutual obligations, people will be penalised and cut off in the middle of this crisis,” he said.
Research shows that Newstart recipients are more likely to suffer from poor health, while government data shows about 40% of people on Newstart have a partial capacity to work, meaning Centrelink acknowledges that they cannot work full-time due to an illness or disability.
Among them is Vanessa, a Newstart recipient who said she was told by her disability employment agency on Friday that she would still need to attend an appointment.
Vanessa, who did not want her surname used, said she had undergone chemotherapy over a significant period of time and was now required to take an immunosuppressant for the rest of her life.
She is avoiding leaving the house to keep herself safe but would need to take a tram to get to the job services provider. “My appointment is next Wednesday and I have to go,” she said. “If I don’t go, I don’t get money.”
Current government advice states that only those who are exhibiting symptoms, those who have returned from overseas, and people who have been in close contact with a confirmed case must self-isolate.
In a fact sheet published on Monday afternoon, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment said people were required to keep attending appointments unless they needed to self-isolate in line with the official advice from the health department.
Asked if the government was considering suspending mutual obligations, a department spokeswoman said employment service providers were being “encouraged to be responsive and [flexible] during this challenging time”.
She said it was “recommended” providers use the “online portal and phone to negotiate alternative job-seeking activities where appropriate with jobseekers”.
The spokeswoman said jobseekers with concerns should contact their provider or the National Customer Service Line.
“The Department will continue to monitor this situation closely and will review this advice as needed, in line with direction from the Department of Health,” she said.
Vanessa believed the current arrangements precluded her from getting an exemption. Her provider is aware of her health issues and concerns but was told her appointment was going ahead.
“I don’t have the virus, nor have I come into contact with someone who has,” she said. “I am, however, in a category of being more susceptible by being immuno-compromised. It is my understanding that I don’t fit the current rules for not attending the appointment.”
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