Category Archives: Welfare

Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria hotel quarantine inquiry finds private security decision influenced by police preference

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Melbourne’s stage four restrictions ease as Victoria records three deaths and five new Covid cases and NSW reports zero. Follow live

A man who had been deported to New Zealand, and who was in isolation at a government-run quarantine hotel, is under investigation by the police after he tied bed sheets together to escape the facility from a fourth floor window.

All travellers returning to the country – only New Zealanders and their families, plus others with special exemptions are allowed to pass through its borders – must spend two weeks in mandatory isolation, during which they are tested twice for Covid-19.

I am going to leave you in the very capable hands of Naaman Zhou for the rest of the afternoon shift.

There have been quite a few messages today – I am slowly working my way through them – but if you have anything else to say, or I missed you, you can contact me here and here.

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Robodebt: fresh claims against federal minister Alan Tudge delay court trial

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Commonwealth needs to prepare for new argument former human services minister knew scheme was unlawful, court says

A federal court trial set to decide whether robodebt victims are entitled to compensation has been delayed after fresh claims were levelled against government minister Alan Tudge.

The court heard at a pre-trial hearing on Monday that Gordon Legal plans to argue Tudge, who was human services minister in 2016-17, either knew or was “recklessly indifferent” to the fact the botched program was unlawful.

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‘Fear of failure’ giving UK children lowest happiness levels in Europe

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More than a third of UK 15-year-olds scored low in the annual Good Childhood Report

Children in the UK have the lowest levels of life satisfaction across Europe, with “a particularly British fear of failure” partly to blame, according to a major report into childhood happiness.

More than a third of UK 15-year-olds scored low on life satisfaction, the annual Good Childhood Report from the Children’s Society found. They also fared badly across happiness measurements including satisfaction with schools, friends and sense of purpose compared to children in other European countries.

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Coronavirus live update Australia: Victoria records 116 new cases and 15 deaths as NSW reports three new cases

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Brisbane watches hotspots after youth detention centre outbreak, Victoria’s hotel inquiry continues and politicians gather in Canberra for the first time in 10 weeks. Follow today’s latest updates

Virtual parliament has so far gone off without a hitch.

Malcolm Roberts has been spotted on a screen - which means that no, he is not in Canberra. No sighting of Pauline Hanson either.

"I'm very proud to be the first senator to be using our remote facilities as the chamber finally enters the 21st century."

Greens Senator @larissawaters @SBSNews #auspol pic.twitter.com/XSV41x91WQ

The ACT has reported no new cases of Covid in the last 24 hours.

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Migrant children face hunger over free school meal restrictions

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Children’s groups call for meal provision to extend to families barred from UK state support

Thousands of children from migrant families are at risk of hunger when schools reopen in the UK unless the free meal provision is extended, according to a group of 60 organisations.

The Children’s Society, Action for Children, Project 17 and Unison are among the organisations that have written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, calling on him to extend free school meals to pupils from low-income migrant families classed as having “no recourse to public funds”.

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Coronavirus live update Australia: Victoria reports 11 deaths and 450 new Covid cases, with 11 in NSW – latest news

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Australian Defence Force personnel to doorknock close contacts of confirmed cases in Victoria as Western Australia delays easing of restrictions. Follow live

McGowan describes the WA border case as “our war” with Clive Palmer.

He says that WA is disappointed that the Commonwealth did not support their submission to have a fresh trial.

McGowan also announces that the national cabinet today agreed on “a code of practice for the regular testing of interstate freight drivers”.

He says that new arrangements will come into place next week which means “any truck driver entering WA will have to show evidence of having received a negative Covid-19 test result in the past seven days”.

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Coalition tweaks jobkeeper scheme again amid Covid second wave in Victoria

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Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, the expenditure review committee signs off on changes that will cost $15.6bn

The Morrison government has tweaked the eligibility requirements for the jobkeeper wage subsidy only three weeks after cutting the payment in an attempt to save businesses and jobs at risk because of the deteriorating outlook in Victoria.

Ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, and after new Treasury analysis underscored the hit to the national economy from the second wave of coronavirus infections in Victoria, the expenditure review committee of cabinet signed off on the jobkeeper overhaul late on Thursday.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records six deaths and 384 Covid-19 cases and NSW 14 new cases – latest news

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State suspends non-urgent elective surgery as Covid-19 cases in nursing homes rises, while NSW announces 14 new cases. Follow live updates

Migrants drove more than a quarter of regional Australia’s population growth before the coronavirus pandemic forced border closures, AAP reports.

Treasury’s Centre for Population officials on Tuesday told a parliamentary inquiry that overseas migration was behind 26 per cent of regional population growth nationally.

A staff member at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the organisation to close all of its sites today.

In a statement, the ASRC said it closed all its sites this morning for terminal cleans and that staff would get “appropriate leave and full pay” for those who need to get tested or self-isolate.

Given the unprecedented pandemic impacting all our lives, we have been planning for this scenario for months.

We have taken early and swift action to close down all ASRC sites to protect staff, people seeking asylum and the community.

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Australia’s childcare centres struggle to pay up to $9,000 for Covid-19 cleaning

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One-size-fits-all approach for sector puts not-for-profits in jeopardy, union warns

The not-for-profit early childcare education sector is struggling to pay up to $9,000 for deep cleaning each time a Covid-19 case is identified, while federal government transition payments may not be enough to keep the sector afloat as parents pull their children out of the system.

The United Workers Union’s director for early childhood education, Helen Gibbons, said the one-size-fits-all approach towards the early childcare sector needed a rethink or the community risked losing not-for-profit childcare centres, which comprise just under half of the sector.

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Australian retailers urge government to broaden employers’ power to cut workers’ hours

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The National Retail Association wants all businesses to have greater flexibility, not just those receiving jobkeeper

Australia’s retailers are calling on the Morrison government to broaden the power of employers to cut workers’ hours and change duties, as Labor signalled it will oppose the move to extend flexibility linked to the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

The National Retail Association chief executive, Dominique Lamb, told Guardian Australia the government should consider granting all businesses the flexibility to vary work hours – not just the firms in receipt of the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

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Coalition to overhaul jobkeeper and jobseeker Covid-19 subsidies by cutting support rates

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Reductions to the coronavirus supplements will start from 28 September and include tighter eligibility requirements

The Morrison government will reduce the level of income support paid out under the jobkeeper and jobseeker payments from 28 September, and create two payment tiers for the wage subsidy to ensure the rate aligns more closely with people’s pre-Covid income, rather than giving part-timers and casuals a pay rise.

The overhaul will be unveiled by Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday ahead of an economic statement the government will deliver on Thursday. As well as lowering the rate of both the jobkeeper wage subsidy and the $550 coronavirus supplement in jobseeker after September, the government will tighten the eligibility requirements for both payments – including retesting businesses in October.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: NSW records 14 new Covid-19 cases as Victoria reports 288 new cases

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Pop-up testing facility to be set up in Sydney hotel car park as Victorian premier says 37,588 tests were conducted in the state yesterday. Follow live news and updates

Victoria is preparing two-million reusable masks for people in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire by the end of July, and a million single-use masks, but in case you want to go and make your own now, you can find a CDC guide on how to make one here.

The Victorian government is going to prepare its own how-to guide for masks in the coming days.

Due to the heightened public health risk with the current outbreak in Victoria, we are asking ALL South Australians with symptoms (fever/chills, cough, sore throat, runny nose, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell) to get tested for COVID-19. https://t.co/daEpRqXyQV pic.twitter.com/lccT3Rvwef

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Coronavirus live news: US cases pass 2.5m as Australia considers new lockdown in Melbourne

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Cases approach 10m; new Covid-19 clusters across world spark fear of second wave; UK NHS will take four years to recover. Follow the latest updates

The UK needs to maintain “constant vigilance” as it eases out of lockdown, a former government chief scientific adviser has warned.

When outbreaks occur they typically occur in clusters and we’re seeing certain work environments, for example, food processing factories, as being fairly common places for those clusters to rise.

The common denominator is really being indoors, being crowded, being there for prolonged periods of time, noisy environments where people are coughing and shouting, and so there’s more droplet transmission.

The total number of people to die from Covid-19 in Russia has increased by 104 to 9,073, according to the country’s coronavirus response centre.

Russia on Sunday also reported 6,791 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 634,437.

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Coalition plays down reports of permanent $75 rise in jobseeker payment

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Social services minister says any talk of permanent change in unemployment payment will be for after coronavirus

The Australian government insists it is focused on the next phase of “short-term measures” to support people through the coronavirus pandemic amid reports it is considering a permanent $75 per week lift in unemployment benefits.

The government has been coming under increasing pressure over the drop-off in economic supports due in September, with the Qantas announcement last week of a further 6,000 job cuts adding to expectations of extended economic pain.

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Labor calls for royal commission into Coalition’s robodebt scheme

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Opposition says inquiry could investigate scheme’s human cost, including reports some victims took their own life

Labor has called for a royal commission into the robodebt program, heaping pressure on the Coalition to accept some form of independent inquiry into the unlawful scheme that some families claim led victims to take their own lives.

In a statement issued on Tuesday the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, and frontbenchers Bill Shorten and Mark Dreyfus argued a royal commission was needed to probe the creation and administration of the debt recovery scheme, which saw Centrelink send at least 470,000 unlawful demands for money over four years.

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Hunger, violence, cramped housing: lockdown life for the poorest children

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Many families are enduring terrible hardship, and campaigners fear long-term consequences for the most vulnerable in society

“Before Covid, my three children and I had structure. We would wake up in the morning, they would go to school and do their thing, and I would do mine. We had joy,” says Vicky (not her real name), a single parent living in one of the most disadvantaged boroughs in the country, in south London.

The capital has the highest rate of child poverty in any English region – more than 700,000 children, and 43% of children in inner London. Over the past five years, child poverty has risen in every London borough, in part because of the capital’s uniquely high housing, childcare and living costs, as well as low pay (72% of children in poverty are in working households) and the impact of £39bn cut nationally from the benefit system since 2010. Then, in March, came Covid-19 and lockdown, deepening and accelerating deprivation across the UK, increasing rates of child abuse, mental ill-health and domestic violence.

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Robodebt’s financial cost to soar as judge suggests government will have to pay interest

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Class action lawyers raise prospect of misfeasance claim against ministers

The robodebt debacle’s financial cost looks set to grow after a judge suggested it was likely the federal government would have to pay interest on unlawful debts issued to hundreds of thousands welfare recipients over nearly five years.

And in an escalation of the class action brought by Gordon Legal, lawyers for the firm raised the prospect of a misfeasance in public office claim that could force ministers to front court over the saga.

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: NSW, Victoria, Qld and WA provide update on Covid-19 cases – latest news

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Mathias Cormann to appear before Senate committee seeking answers on the government’s botched wage subsidy projections. Follow the latest live

Mutual obligations for welfare recipients return today.

There are now about 1.6m people receiving the unemployment benefit jobseeker.

Mutual obligations return today & will be gradually phased in.

We are in Phase 1 meaning there are no financial penalties for not meeting activity requirements.

We don't have a timeline of each "phase" but I will keep following up with the Minister for more clarity.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian was giving a press conference just now. She was pressed on comments from her police minister, David Elliott, who said yesterday that police would not approve future permit protests that did not comply for the health guidelines.

Does she agree with Elliott?

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Morrison government announces return to mutual obligation for jobseekers

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Michaelia Cash says there will be a three-phase restart of welfare requirements

The federal government has announced a “limited capacity” return to mutual obligation requirements for Australia’s welfare recipients from next week.

The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, announced mid-May that mutual obligations for jobseekers, which had been put on pause at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, would be further suspended until 1 June, after which a three-phase reintroduction would commence.

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Labor calls on Josh Frydenberg to front Covid-19 inquiry to explain jobkeeper ‘$60bn black hole’

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Penny Wong says treasurer should have ‘the courage’ to take responsibility for error as Coalition faces calls to expand wage subsidy

Labor will attempt to pressure the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to appear before the Senate’s Covid-19 inquiry to explain the “$60bn black hole” in the jobkeeper program.

The move comes as the Morrison government faces growing calls to expand the wage subsidy to cover a wider group of workers, after revelations on Friday that the six-month program is now expected to cost the budget $70bn rather than $130bn.

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