By Jennifer Duke and Shane Wright
Unemployed Australians will be given a permanent $50-a-fortnight rise to the JobSeeker payment when the coronavirus supplement ends in March, while employers will have the power to dob in anyone refusing a job offer.
The federal government on Tuesday announced the dole would be lifted to $615.70 a fortnight, or about $44 a day, after March 31, up from the base rate of $565.70 a fortnight.
The base rate of JobSeeker will be increased after March.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Job seekers’ obligations will also be increased, with the number of job searches required each month to rise gradually to 20 from July 1, and a new hotline for employers will be put in place to discourage people from refusing offers of work.
The new rate is equivalent to an increase of just under $4 a day and people will be able to earn $150 a fortnight before they start to see a reduction in their payments. The measures are estimated to cost about $9 billion over the forward estimates.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision was about a change of gears to move from “short-term emergency measures to long-term arrangements”.
“It is the single-largest increase in the JobSeeker payment since the mid-’80s, year-on-year,” Mr Morrison said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said 1.95 million people would receive the $50-a-fortnight rise in the base rate from April 1.
At the moment, with the $150 coronavirus supplement, unemployed households receive $715.70 a fortnight before considering other payments. The supplement is also paid to those on other government payments, such as Youth Allowance, Austudy and Parenting Payments.
About 240,000 single parents with a child under the age of eight would receive $850.20 a fortnight under the new plan, Senator Ruston said. Another 290,000 Australians on JobSeeker who receive Commonwealth rent assistance will get $768.80 a fortnight.
The accessibility payment to those in isolation who had COVID or were caring for somebody with COVID would be maintained.
“In doing this [lifting the base rate], we have balanced their incentive to work and making sure we have a sustainable welfare system into the future ... not only today but into the future,” she said.
Part of these changes included tougher mutual-obligation requirements.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the requirement for job seekers to attend face-to-face appointments with providers would be reintroduced.
Employers, who have in the past raised concerns about being unable to get people to accept job offers, will be given the ability to complain directly to the government.
“What we will be doing for employers is introducing an employer reporting line. So that if someone does apply for a job, they’re offered the job and they’re qualified for the job but they say no, the employer will now be able to contact my department and report that person as failing to accept suitable employment,” Ms Cash said.
An “intensive training” program of short courses or work experience for those receiving welfare payments for more than six months will also be in place.
Last year, Senator Ruston said there were “thousands” of businesses unable to fill job vacancies despite a high unemployment rate, suggesting this may be due to the coronavirus supplement being too generous.
Welfare groups dismissed these claims and asked for hard evidence to prove there had been a disincentive effect, saying a return to the old rate would leave many in poverty.
Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the government needed to provide enough for people to cover the basics and there were already signs of distress under the lowered supplement.
“Anything below where the rate is now [including the $150 supplement] is a betrayal,” Ms Goldie said. “We have seen a significant increase in people coming for food parcels.”
The coronavirus supplement was worth $550-a-fortnight at the height of the pandemic when the unemployment rate spiked in July at 7.5 per cent, but was tapered down as the economy recovered.
The jobless rate in January was 6.4 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent at the same time in 2020.
Anglicare Victoria reported significantly fewer people seeking financial counselling when the supplement was introduced.
The Morrison government has been under pressure from welfare groups, unions and Labor to increase the base JobSeeker rate. An increase was supported by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe, who has described it as a matter of “fairness”, and major industry and business associations were also supportive of increasing the payment.
The ordinary waiting period to access JobSeeker was waived during the pandemic. This waiver will remain until June 30.
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