Australian Labor Party Wants to See JobSeeker Modelling

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is calling on the Morrison government to release modeling of the economic impact of reducing the JobSeeker payment back to $40 (US $26) per day.

The JobSeeker payment鈥攆ormally called Newstart鈥攚as doubled to $1,100 per fortnight in response to an anticipated spike in the unemployment rate in reaction to the CCP virus pandemic.

However, the government has flagged this increase will only be for six months.

ALP minister for families and social services Linda Burney wants to see the modeling for the impact of reducing this CCP virus supplement.

She said last week the Department of Social Services estimated some 1.7 million Australians will require unemployment support by Sept.

“Yet the prime minister has been insistent that he will ‘snapback’ the JobSeeker payment back to $40 per day for millions of Australians on September 24,” Burney said in a statement on May 10.

She said this聽is the equivalent of ripping almost $1 billion a fortnight from household budgets.

“This sudden stop will have a significant impact on the Australian economy,” she said.

“The government needs to be honest about whether the nation is now edging closer to another economic cliff in the form of the prime minister’s promised JobSeeker snapback.”

The government had been adamant in not increasing the dole payment before the pandemic set in, despite widespread calls for an increase including Labor, the Greens, business, economists, and the Reserve Bank.

Newstart, as it was, had not been increased in some 25 years, aside from twice yearly indexation against inflation.