Coasties who routinely refuse to show up for interviews, or accept reasonable job offers, will have to work a little harder to keep receiving government payments.
While recent figures don’t include the Central Coast as one of the nation’s top spots for “dole bludgers”, local welfare recipients need to be aware of changes to the payment system that were announced in the 2017-18 Federal Budget.
A driver’s licence style demerit system is about to be introduced to crack down on those who fail to show for job interviews and work-for-the-dole appointments.
According to the most recent report, almost 100,000 people across the country “consistently and repeatedly” neglect to fulfil their job-seeking obligations in order to receive welfare payments – around half claimed to have a reasonable excuse.
ABS figures from 2016 listed just over 11,000 Coasties receiving Newstart payments, with 75% of those receiving the Allowance for a year or more. Over 4000 Coasties were receiving Youth Allowance, more than 14,000 on Disability Support Pensions (DSP), and over 50,000 on Age Pension across the Coast.
DSP recipients can claim up to $782.20 each fortnight, with up to $561.80 a fortnight for singles with children receiving Newstart.
Nationwide, taxpayers cover costs for around 240 million welfare recipients each year- and the figures are climbing as more Aussies apply for welfare support. A new computer system had to be created in 2015 to handle the demand…expected to hit $190 billion in benefits annually.
Nearly 50,000 people in Australia that are capable of working did not attend job interviews in the past year, but 90% of those who consistently missed interviews were not penalised…until now.
The list of places was topped by Caboolture, north of Brisbane, while Blacktown in Sydney’s west came in at number 2 in the federal government report, with half on the top 10 list located in Victoria. Dubbo and Auburn were other NSW locations taking the handouts without having any job interviews working out.
TOP TEN LIST
1. Caboolture, Queensland
2. Blacktown, New South Wales
3. Mildura, Victoria
4. Frankston, Victoria
5. Deception Bay, Queensland
6. Werribee, Victoria
7. St Albans, Victoria
8. Dubbo, New South Wales
9. Auburn, New South Wales
10. Dandenong, Victoria
Last month’s federal budget announced the government’s plans to introduce new laws to crack down on dole bludgers by cutting payments to people who miss job interviews.
The move will enforce a driver’s license-style demerit system to punish welfare recipients who fail to attend job interviews and work for the dole appointments.
The demerit point system would see job seekers required to attend a meeting after missing the 1st job interview, the 2nd offence will cost them a week’s worth of dole, the 3rd time would double that to losing a fortnight’s worth of welfare and a 4th offence a full month. Once they hit seven missed job opportunities their payments will be cut off for 8 weeks.
Refusing to take a reasonable job offer would result in welfare payments being stopped altogether.
The demerit system would save taxpayers $632 million over the next 5 years.
The government is also being pushed to crack down on payments to foreign citizens – with $15 billion a year being paid to non-citizens.
