When Parliament resumes, the Coalition will move amendments in the Senate to increase the JobSeeker payment and related working age payments income free thresholds by $150 per fortnight, removing the Government’s announced $40 increase announced in the May budget.
The Coalition believes the best way to ensure Australians get ahead in life is through employment, as jobs change lives, families and communities for the better.
At a time when we have historically low unemployment rates and 431,600 formal job vacancies, Australian businesses are crying out for workers and Labor’s solution to getting people back into paid employment is to increase payments for not working.
In the wake of the Prime Minister’s vanity Jobs and Skills Summit and the establishment of an Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, Labor’s budget failed to reduce barriers to work and see Australians fill the hundreds of thousands of job vacancies.
There are 808,000 JobSeeker recipients across the nation of which more than 75 per cent have zero reported earnings, with no part-time work.
Increasing the income free area before benefits are reduced incentivises those on working age payments to take up employment opportunities.
This Coalition initiative supports the many small and medium-sized small businesses who cannot fill shifts and allows those on the JobSeeker payment to take home $300 a fortnight while still retaining the full rate. The income free threshold for other payments will be also increased by $150.
Overall, the Coalition’s policy to reverse the $40 per fortnight increase to the base rate and increase the income free thresholds by $150 reflects a saving to the Budget of around $2.9 billion over the forward estimates. Separately reversing the $40 per fortnight saves the Budget around $4.4 billion, while increasing the income free thresholds by $150 costs around $1.4 billion over the forward estimates.
The Coalition calls on the Government and the Senate crossbench to support this policy to get people back into paid employment.
