Jez Heywood ‘angry and annoyed at atrocious JobSeeker dole rate’

Unemployed Melburnian Jez Heywood has hit back at the critics in a radio exchange with Ben Fordham, saying he can’t even land work at his cousin’s supermarket.

‘The government commissioned a study that said significant increases were needed and they’ve ignored it.’ says graphic designer Jez Heywood. Picture: Aaron Francis

Unemployed Melburnian Jez Heywood has doubled down on his criticism of the government’s $20 a week increase to JobSeeker, labelling the taxpayer-funded assistance a “poverty payment”.

Mr Heywood, whose story has drawn ire after he spoke to The Australian in the wake of the federal budget, hit back during a radio exchange with 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Wednesday, insisting he couldn’t even get a job in a supermarket owned by a relative.

See the full transcript below

The 47-year-old graphic designer, who has been unemployed since 2017, took issue with Fordham “calling me a dole bludger on national radio”, a claim Fordham denies.

Last week, Mr Heywood told The Australian he was not only unimpressed with the increase to JobSeeker, he was angry.

Mr Heywood, who said he would be homeless if not for the ability to live rent-free in a granny flat on his parent’s property, claimed the welfare increase was so small as to make no noticeable difference to his struggles to survive on the allowance.

“I’m angry, annoyed – this is nothing, absolutely nothing,” Mr Heywood said.

“The government commissioned a study that said significant increases were needed and they’ve ignored it.”

The current JobSeeker payment of $693.10 a fortnight – $49.50 a day – for a single person without children was “absolutely atrocious”, and an extra $2.85 a day would not help appreciably, Mr Heywood said.

“I have to go without pretty much any form of entertainment – in a previous life, I was a music journalist and bought a lot of music – I can’t do that anymore, I can’t buy books anymore,” he said.

Jobseeker Jez Heywood is president of the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union. Picture: Aaron Francis / The Australian

“You have to weigh up every financial decision you make. There is no room for error. There’s no room for unexpected bills. If I were to get a speeding ticket, it would ruin me.”

He said the payment needed to be at least $88 a day to keep recipients above the poverty line.

The Morrison government, through a Covid supplement to JobSeeker, had shown what could be done, only to snatch it away. It had alleviated worries over every bill and let him finally make repairs to his ageing car, he said, “Then they just said ‘All right, you’ve had a taste of what it’s like to not be in poverty, now it’s back to poverty for you’. It was heartless and cruel.”

While the budget extends an extra payment available to those aged over 60 to those aged over 55, Mr Heywood said many in their mid to late 40s suffered similar discrimination.

Unemployed since 2017, he said his job options were limited by health conditions,

On radio on Wednesday, Fordham offered to help Mr Heywood find work:

Fordham: Are you looking for a job at the moment, how’s the search going?

Heywood: I am looking for a job. I have mental health issues so my ability to work is greatly reduced, so it’s hard to find things that, you know, my brain can handle. The last job that I got an email back from Seek from said there were over 100 applicants, so there’s a lot of people out there looking for jobs and it’s a really tough market.

Fordham: Those mental health issues have been brought on by not working, right?

Heywood: Yeah, the poverty payments that the government gives us. There’s only so long that you can apply for 20 jobs a fortnight and get absolutely nothing back in return because there are so many people applying for jobs before it breaks you.

Fordham: You’re based in Melbourne, we see online that there are 54,000 jobs available right now in Melbourne, that’s on the Workforce Australia website. So none of those 54,000 jobs are suitable to you or you’ve applied for them and they’re just not giving you the nod?

Heywood: I’m applying for jobs that I am suitable for and I’m hearing nothing back

Fordham: I reckon we can help your mental health if we get you into a job.

Heywood: Look I’m sure that would help but at the moment, you know, I can’t consistently commit to something. Having a mental breakdown is exhausting, my brain just gets so incredibly exhausted. I couldn’t reliably turn up to a full-time job.

Fordham: But it’s the chicken or the egg isn’t it, because you’ve acknowledged those problems were brought on by your unemployment?

Heywood: Yeah but also at the same time the best thing that has happened to me in the past three years was the six months in which the Morrison government doubled Jobseeker and removed all mutual obligations.

Fordham: What’s your objection to the mutual obligations?

Heywood: Well there’s not much mutual about it. There’s no wiggle room. I was speaking to a HR person the other day. They’re annoyed by it. They get all these applications because people have to [apply] for jobs or risk losing their benefits.

Fordham: Can we help you find a job right now? What kind of job do you want, Jez?

Heywood: I want to get back into graphic design.

Fordham: OK, so part-time graphic design in Melbourne?

Heywood: Yeah.

Fordham: Would you be willing to do some heavy lifting if there was a manual labour job out there, out in the sunshine, good for your health, good for your mental health, would you do something like that?

Heywood: I don’t have the physical capability to do that.

Fordham: OK, what about something in the service industry as far as, you know, clearing plates or being a glassy in a pub or something like that?

Heywood: The problem with those kind of situations — I have a cousin who runs a supermarket and once I asked him if he would employ me and he said he wouldn’t.

Fordham: He wouldn’t?

Heywood: He wouldn’t because I have a postgraduate degree in graphic design and 20 years experience and he would see me as not a full-time employee, he would see me as not a permanent employee. If he had a resume from me and a resume from someone else who had only ever worked in supermarkets, he would take the supermarket guy straight up.

Fordham: But that’s where you say to the person who’s got the job, hey listen, I want this job, as opposed to looking for reasons why you can’t do it.

Heywood: I’m not looking for reasons why I can’t do it, I’m telling you about a conversation that I had with someone about their hiring practices.

Fordham: Couldn’t you say hey cuz, come on, I need a job here?

Heywood: I did.

Fordham: And he brushed you?

Heywood: Yeah. He’s running a business.

Fordham: What would you say to anyone out there in the graphic design industry who’s thinking alright I desperately need someone and I’m happy to give Jez a go?

Heywood: Get in contact.

Fordham: And you’d be able to work part-time, eight hours a week?

Heywood: Yep.

Fordham: That’s it?

Heywood: Yep.

Fordham: Jez I appreciate you coming on the line and I wish you the best of luck with your job search.

– With staff writers