Mutual obligations are cruel, controlling, inconvenient and frankly, a waste of time for everyone involved.
They don’t even make sense.
The government shouldn’t make people, who are often struggling, jump through numerous hoops.
Just so they can access a payment they need to survive.
This system doesn’t care about genuinely supporting people who are doing it tough.
Instead it wants to make it as difficult and as unpleasant as humanly possible to receive the support you need to live.
‘You must contribute to society no matter what’, it decrees in exchange for receiving a meagre income support.
You need to get a certain amount of *points * each month to qualify for payments.
You can earn points by applying for jobs working for free, joining the army and other equally demeaning and prescriptive tasks.
If you’re a single parent raising children, on the parenting payment, for example.
You need to attend ALL meetings set by your job provider, go to ALL job interviews and accept ANY offer of paid work.
Even if this will disrupt your or your child’s life.
Or if they’ll let you pick your child up after school or stay home with them when they’re sick.
Even if you’ve just had a baby, you only get 6 weeks exemption from your ‘Job Plan’.
For employed people, from July this year, the government will fund 24 weeks of paid parental leave.
But I guess only people with jobs deserve to recuperate and spend time with their newborn after giving birth.
Everyone else better start earning money and jumping through the government’s hoops ASAP or else.
The Greens want to fix employment services by abolishing mutual obligations.
We will also abolish for-profit job providers.
And we will reduce Centrelink waiting times to under 5 minutes!
Because no one wants to spend all day listening to hold music.
There are thousands of reasons why someone might need to access welfare payments.
There shouldn’t be a one size fits all set of requirements people need to meet in order to receive this essential monetary support.
The process shouldn’t be difficult, slow or demeaning.
Lets make welfare, well, fair.
