Emily Chapman Laing
Federal Holt MP Cassandra Fernando has implored the government to increase JobSeeker funding.
JobSeeker payments currently sit at a fortnightly maximum of $693.10 for single citizens with no dependents, and $745.20 for single citizens with dependents.
This leaves unemployed people living on less than the minimum liveable wage.
According to research conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, the minimum liveable wage for a single individual with no dependents is $1194 per fortnight.
This is more than $500 more than the current maximum JobSeeker payments being offered.
Likewise, for a single individual with a child or children, the SPRC reported a minimum liveable wage of $2346 per fortnight, $1600 more than the current JobSeeker payment.
In a letter to the Albanese Government, Fernando describes her experience as a “young migrant woman”.
She reflected on the “devastation long periods of unemployment” had on individuals, families and communities.
“Quite often, people who find themselves unemployed lack the financial support needed to return to work,” she wrote.
“This leads to extended periods of unemployment and worsening financial stability.”
The past year has seen the Albanese Labor Government deliver cheaper childcare and medicine, increased paid parental leave and cost of living relief.
But our federal MP is far from satiated in her commitment to her community.
“As the representative of an electorate whose unemployment rate is constantly higher than the national average, I encourage the Albanese Labor Government to support an increase to JobSeeker,” she wrote.
“Supporting an immediate or gradual increase to JobSeeker will only strengthen this Government’s record of delivering a better future for every Australian.
“An increase to JobSeeker will mean Australians who are unemployed will not have to choose between paying their rent and feeding themselves and their families.”
Ms Fernando said that it is the “decade of mismanagement” from the Liberal Government that leaves the Labor Government facing “such difficult budget constraints” in the debt crisis.
In 2020, Independent Australian journalist Alan Austin reported the debt accumulated within nine months under the Coalition’s leadership was more than the Labor Government amassed in just short of six years.
Austin reported $213.4 billion of debt created by the Liberal Government in the nine-month period from 29 November 2019 and 31 August 2020.
