Category Archives: Welfare

No way to ‘budget’ out of cost-of-living crisis for low-income earners, report finds

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Many participants struggled to afford basics, cutting back on food or rationing medication, survey suggests

People experiencing poverty and job insecurity are increasingly unable to budget their way out of financial crisis, a new report from the Brotherhood of St Laurence has found.

The research, which asked 40 low to middle-income Victorians to detail their finances over 10 weeks, found inadequate income support, insecure work and the cost-of-living crisis are driving inequality across Australia.

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Pocock wants to boost Centrelink payments using savings from stage-three tax cuts overhaul

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Key senator calls for broader tax reform, while arguing changes to stage-three plan could fund increases to jobseeker and other payments

The independent senator David Pocock has called on the Albanese government to use $28bn of savings from its new tax-cuts package to increase welfare payments and urged Labor to trim other tax concessions.

With the Greens signalling that they will press Labor to recoup even more from high-income earners, Pocock has suggested the revamp of stage three should be a springboard to other tax reforms in the too-hard basket including capital gains tax.

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Jobseeker endured 11 weeks without Centrelink payments but was still forced to attend job agency appointments

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Advocates say government failing to meet ‘basic obligation’ to process claims quickly after Tim McCabe spent weeks with ‘no income’

A New South Wales jobseeker says he was forced to complete welfare mutual obligations – including a 50km round trip for job agency appointments and enrolling in training courses – despite receiving no welfare payments for 11 weeks.

Tim McCabe, 60, said he had applied for the jobseeker payment on 1 November after moving off a carer’s payment when his mother died.

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Data shows ‘collapse’ in full-time roles – as it happened

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Pat Conroy says Ukraine-requested helicopters are not cleared for flight

The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, is speaking to ABC RN about a request from Ukraine to receive Australia’s retired fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters. The helicopters were retired earlier than planned after a crash in Queensland killed four Defence personnel during a training exercise last year:

Anyone who suggests that these aircraft have been cleared is wrong and they are making, quite frankly, really offensive suggestions at a time when people are really grieving.

I think it’s really important that those investigations keep working to establish the cause of that accident. These aircraft are [not in] flying condition, and we still do not know whether they’re safe to fly.

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Centrelink staff claim toilet breaks are being timed by management in ‘intrusive’ crackdown

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Call centre workers say systems are monitoring their performance minute-by-minute in bid to improve wait times

Centrelink call centre staff claim they are being monitored minute-by-minute, including the length of their bathroom breaks, as part of a management-led crackdown to improve average call wait times that have blown out to nearly double in the last year.

Staff spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity, for fear of losing their jobs, claiming management systems, which assist team leaders in capturing call time figures and monitoring staff activities, acted more like a surveillance system, describing them as “intrusive and stressful”.

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More than half of those applying for domestic violence payment are rejected, data shows

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The escaping violence payment is not getting to people when they need it, say advocates who want the eligibility criteria broadened

More than half of people trying to access emergency financial support for domestic and family violence are having their claims rejected, new data has revealed.

Between July and September last year 57,041 applications were made for the escaping violence payment (EVP) but only 29,437 were found eligible, according to data released in response to a question on notice during Senate estimates.

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Sunak says he wants to reduce workers’ taxes this year and may cut benefits

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PM sets up possibility of income tax coming down in March and says control of welfare is a priority

Rishi Sunak has said he wants to cut taxes for working people further this year, possibly cutting welfare payments to fund it.

The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.

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Labor could raise welfare payments for cost-of-living relief without stoking inflation, economists say

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Albanese government would need to couple any increases in unemployment benefits and pensions with savings, experts say

Addressing competition issues and increasing unemployment benefits and pensions are ways the Albanese government could tackle cost-of-living pressures but they would have to be coupled with savings to avoid reigniting inflation, economists say.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Wednesday said he had asked Treasury and the finance department to develop “further propositions” for providing cost-of-living relief by the May budget.

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Jobseekers say Australia’s employment system forcing them into jobs with ‘terrible hours, conditions and pay’

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Workers claim they have been forced to clean up human faeces, had payments cut off after a death in the family and have had to cancel work to attend provider appointments

Jobseekers say their employment providers have put them in positions where they have been given just one shift a fortnight, had to clean up large amounts of human faeces, and have been cut off payments after a close family member died.

In one case, Rebecca, who did not want her last name used, said her disability provider, Multiple Solutions, had registered her as a sole contractor and placed her into a role cleaning an aged care home in Gawler, South Australia, without telling her she was technically self-employed.

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Australia’s veterans department ‘apologises for any distress’ in chasing alleged pension overpayments

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Exclusive: The apparent error has been occurring for at least three years and has been blamed on a transition to new computer systems

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has apologised for chasing elderly Australians for alleged pension overpayments and has blamed a systems error for wrongly targeting those aged over 90.

After a Guardian Australia report on the issue, a departmental spokesperson said a number of veterans were incorrectly subjected to compliance reviews, resulting in debt notices.

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‘You are deceased’: Services Australia bungle results in woman losing bank accounts and pension – twice

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A 74-year-old carer was mistakenly declared dead by Centrelink two times in a case advocates describe as illustrating the ‘devastating consequences of automation’

The Centrelink officer on the end of the phone to Eve* was telling her she was dead. Eve, 74, who receives a carer payment, had called after she noticed an extra $3,000 from Centrelink in her 81-year-old husband’s account in May this year, and she was concerned they had been overpaid.

After calling multiple times, she reached someone from Services Australia who looked up her account history.

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Tax ombudsman criticises ATO’s robotax for not considering ‘financial vulnerability’ of recipients

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Karen Payne says the debt notices had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require the government implementing a legislative fix

Australia’s tax ombudsman says the government should consider putting time limits on debt collection and ensure that people are not put into hardship after an ATO campaign to resurrect thousands of historical debts caused widespread distress and confusion.

Karen Payne, the country’s top tax bureaucrat in charge of the complaints management service, said the ATO campaign to extract the debts from tax refunds had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require a legislative fix.

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Labor accused of being more concerned with NDIS costs than people with disabilities

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Former ACT minister Emma Davidson voices unease after states and territories given just one month to review landmark report into scheme

A former ACT disability minister has accused the federal government of being more concerned with costs than people with disabilities after giving states and territories just one month to review a landmark report into the NDIS.

The ACT Greens MLA Emma Davidson, who was the territory’s disability minister until a cabinet reshuffle on Monday, said she agreed with decisions made by national cabinet this month but said they weren’t for the “right reasons” in a lengthy letter published on Friday.

Leaders met for a national cabinet meeting in early December where the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, agreed to extend the GST “no worse off” guarantee for a further three years, estimated to cost $10.5bn, in exchange for a joint funding agreement for additional disability services to complement the NDIS.

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Tropical Cyclone Jasper live update tracker: category 2 storm hits North Qld, more than 14,000 homes lose power, BoM radar track map – latest

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BoM tracker map shows forecast path of category 2 cyclone will hit north of Cairns and Port Douglas on the Queensland coast at about 1pm with heavy rain, 140km/h winds and storm surge predicted. Follow the latest Australia news and weather updates today

Ceasefire ‘can’t be one-sided’

Emergency management minister Murray Watt is also speaking to ABC RN this morning, and was asked about the PM’s joint letter with his New Zealand and Canadian counterparts urging a ceasefire.

[It] shows that we want to work with like-minded countries towards what would be a just and enduring peace. I think the whole world has been pleased to see the release of hostages and the pause in hostilities that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, but what we need to do is move towards a sustainable ceasefire …

I think everyone who watches this conflict unfolds on their television screens, is really disturbed about the loss of life that we’re seeing go on at the moment.

I think that’s the value that a country like Australia can play here by really taking that even-handed approach that does call out the abhorrent behaviour by Hamas, but also as a friend of Israel, calls on them to respect international humanitarian law.

We are alarmed at the diminishing safe space for civilians in Gaza. The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continuous suffering of all Palestinian civilians.

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Australian government spent $52m more on welfare calculator after finding a more effective alternative

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Services Australia paid Infosys almost $200m over four years before technology was written off as a failure

The federal government spent $52m on a failing welfare calculator even after being told there was a more accurate, simple and reliable option available.

In all, Services Australia paid $191m over four years to the multinational company Infosys for a calculator that processed only 784 aged care claims before being written off as a failure in late July.

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There are 26 jobseekers for every entry-level position in Australia, report finds

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Anglicare chief says its survey shows more than half a million people are being ‘left behind’, with demand for starter jobs outstripping supply across country

A lack of suitable jobs and a trend towards insecure work is locking hundreds of thousands of people in poverty, according to a new report that finds there are 26 jobseekers for every entry-level position in Australia.

Anglicare’s annual Jobs Snapshot found that of the 26 people out of work for each entry-level position, 18 are technically “long-term” unemployed, meaning they have been out of the workforce for more than 12 months.

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Two people remain in jail for welfare debts that Centrelink may have been calculated unlawfully

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The cases are probably wrongful convictions and prosecutors should facilitate appeals, a legal expert says

Two people are in jail after Centrelink used unlawful calculations to accuse them of overclaiming welfare benefits, a watchdog has revealed.

On Monday the ombudsman released its second report on the income apportionment method, calling on Services Australia to waive 100,000 debts that may have been incorrectly calculated and revealing the “traumatic” impact on those convicted of offences related to welfare debt.

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Stage set for national cabinet clash over GST – as it happened

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The NSW Australian Paramedics Association will take part in a 12-hour strike today, from 7am to 7pm, despite the threat of legal action.

Members will still attend emergency “lights and sirens” jobs as part of an ongoing pay dispute.

We want to assure the public that emergencies will still be attended to, with our focus intensifying on life-threatening cases.

Our decision to limit responses to non-emergency jobs enhances our capacity to manage critical cases.

Facing potential legal repercussions and a substantial fine of up to $20,000 per day, our commitment remains firm.

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Autumn statement: Jeremy Hunt looks to cut UK taxes and ‘turbo-charge growth’

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Amid less gloomy OBR forecasts the chancellor is expected to take first steps towards cutting personal taxes

Jeremy Hunt will announce 110 measures to boost Britain’s stagnant economy and bow to demands from anxious Tory MPs for tax cuts when he delivers his second autumn statement on Wednesday.

In one of the last set-piece economic events before the general election, the chancellor will pledge to “turbo charge” growth while taking the first steps to cut personal taxes after recent sharp increases.

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Sunak says he will cut taxes ‘over time’ as he reveals new economic priorities

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PM signals that business tax cuts more likely than personal ones as he sets out ‘next phase’ of government’s economic plan

Rishi Sunak has hinted at business tax cuts to boost economic growth as he promised to reduce the tax burden “carefully and sustainably” and “over time”.

In a speech on Monday the prime minister declined to give any specifics before the autumn statement, but stressed the focus was “very much the supply side” of the economy in a signal that business tax cuts are more likely than personal ones.

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