Barnaby Joyce urges unemployed Australians to get a job, slams proposal to increase welfare

Barnaby Joyce has erupted over plans to increase welfare payments by $56 a fortnight, claiming the move will encourage unemployed Australians to stay jobless.

Barnaby Joyce has slammed Labor’s plan for increasing Jobseeker payments and urged unemployed Aussies to get a job in a fiery rant on Sunrise

Jobseeker payments are set to be increased by $56 a fortnight in September in an effort to combat the rising cost of living in Australia.

The Coalition is instead pushing to double the income-free area for Jobseeker recipients in a bid to encourage people to work without the fear of their benefits being cut for earning more.

In a heated interview on breakfast TV, Environment minister Tanya Plibersek argued that cost of living was a “real strain on Australian families”.

She said that if the bill passed, it had the potential to help millions of people.

But Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce hit back, arguing the proposed increase would only encourage people to stay on welfare.

Barnaby Joyce has unleashed on Sunrise. Picture: Sunrise

“The biggest issue is cost of living, power prices going through the roof, money going overseas,” he argued.

“Did you know there’s more than 156,000 people who have been on unemployment benefits for over a decade.

“There’s a further in-excess of 150,000 who have been on unemployment benefits between five years and ten years.”

The Business Council of Australia says roughly 40,000 people have been on JobSeeker for 10 years.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek held her own on Sunrise. Picture: Sunrise

Barnaby didn’t hold back! Picture: Sunrise

The career politician then said that Aussie employers need help finding employees. The unemployment rate is currently at 3.5 per cent in Australia.

“In the current circumstances, motels are screaming out for workers, farmers are screaming out for workers, people are screaming out to get people are screaming out to get people to work,” he said.

Joyce then declared that it seemed “perverse” to start upping benefits suddenly.

“If they are on disability or unemployment benefits, what are they doing? We are trying to encourage people to make a substantive step in their life; getting a job is the best security that they can have.

“We want to target that,” he said.

Ms Plibersek hit back immediately and pointed out there was a “problem” with Joyce’s proposal.

“75 per cent of people on unemployment benefits won’t benefit from it. This is something that they tried out in COVID-19. If it was such a good idea, then why don’t they keep it going?,” she asked.

Things got tense on Sunrise Picture: Sunrise.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek laid it all out. Picture: Sunrise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already slammed the Coalition’s proposal to increase the income area for jobseekers.

On FIVEaa, Albanese called it “madness” to vote against the modest increase but then turn around and vote for people on JobSeeker to be able to double their incomes.

“It does nothing at all for the almost four in five jobseekers who don’t access the income-free area at all,” he said.

“The income-free area was $300 a fortnight during the pandemic, the Coalition reduced it back to $150 … and one of the reasons they did it, is, the conservative estimates are that a doubling of the income-free area it will put another 50,000 would become eligible for jobseeker overnight,” he said.

Albanese said the proposal could do the opposite and “provide a … disincentive to full-time work.”