17-07-2022, 02:44 PM
Luke Henriques-Gomes Social affairs and inequality reporter
Sat 16 Jul 2022 21.00 BST
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Michelle*, who lives in Yorketown, on the Yorke Peninsula, has been referred to a job agency in Kadina, about one-and-a-half-hours’ drive or 125km from her home.
Under the mutual obligations system, jobseekers who are connected with a job agency must attend appointments with case workers at an employment services provider to keep their payments. However, these appointments do not count towards the new points-based activation system which requires jobseekers to complete various tasks to get enough points to keep their welfare payments.
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jobseekers who do not attend their appointments have their benefits temporarily suspended for failing to meet their mutual obligations.
Michelle said there had been a job agency in Yorketown but it closed after the Jobactive program was replaced by Workforce Australia this month.
“When the Workforce thing came, they initially gave me an appointment in Adelaide, which is even further away,” Michelle said. “So I rang the helpline and they said the closest one is Kadina.”
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“They were not sympathetic, they just said this is how it is,” she said. “I don’t know how other people get on, people who haven’t got a car.”
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Michelle said she had not been offered any fuel vouchers to help cover the cost of the trip. Providers can use a flexible taxpayer-funded pool of money – known as the employment fund – to cover public transport, fuel or taxi vouchers to assist jobseekers.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...e-benefits
Sat 16 Jul 2022 21.00 BST
......
Michelle*, who lives in Yorketown, on the Yorke Peninsula, has been referred to a job agency in Kadina, about one-and-a-half-hours’ drive or 125km from her home.
Under the mutual obligations system, jobseekers who are connected with a job agency must attend appointments with case workers at an employment services provider to keep their payments. However, these appointments do not count towards the new points-based activation system which requires jobseekers to complete various tasks to get enough points to keep their welfare payments.
......
jobseekers who do not attend their appointments have their benefits temporarily suspended for failing to meet their mutual obligations.
Michelle said there had been a job agency in Yorketown but it closed after the Jobactive program was replaced by Workforce Australia this month.
“When the Workforce thing came, they initially gave me an appointment in Adelaide, which is even further away,” Michelle said. “So I rang the helpline and they said the closest one is Kadina.”
......
“They were not sympathetic, they just said this is how it is,” she said. “I don’t know how other people get on, people who haven’t got a car.”
......
Michelle said she had not been offered any fuel vouchers to help cover the cost of the trip. Providers can use a flexible taxpayer-funded pool of money – known as the employment fund – to cover public transport, fuel or taxi vouchers to assist jobseekers.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...e-benefits