Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called on the centre-left Labor government to increase the working hours threshold for JobSeeker recipients before it affects their payments.
Dutton also refused to reveal whether he backed the move to increase the minimum wage to keep up with inflation but argued that the best thing the government can do for Australian families at the moment is reduce their mortgage payments.
In Australia, those unemployed, not in full-time work, sick or injured or can not do their usual work or study are eligible for JobSeeker.
The opposition leader said lifting the cap from five to 10 hours that people on JobSeeker can work would enable them to earn more while putting less strain on the budget’s bottom line.
The government last week announced it would increase the jobseeker payment by $40 (US$26.82) a fortnight as part of the scheme to boost social security payments for 1.1 million people. However, the centre-right Coalition has warned the $20.6 billion in new spending would make it harder for the Reserve Bank to tame inflation.
Dutton noted that the government’s jobseeker measures cost $4.6 billion (US$3.08 billion), and the opposition’s proposal is “about half of that figure.” He accused the budget of being inflationary.
“And the question at the moment is in an inflationary environment, do you want to be pumping $4.6 billion worth of money into the economy,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
“I think some of the economists have pointed out that this is an inflationary budget and that interest rates will stay higher for longer.”
Dutton added that the Opposition hasn’t formally considered whether it would back the increase to the JobSeeker payment but said the proposal to increase the working hours’ threshold had received cross-party support.
“We want a discussion with the government to properly consider what we’re putting forward because it’s put forward in a genuine spirit of bipartisanship,” he said.
Previously, Dutton has also remarked that “having particularly young people go on to JobSeeker for an extended period, it is much harder for them to get off it.”
“At the moment in our country, it doesn’t matter where you go—regional areas, capital cities—businesses can’t find staff. Restaurants aren’t opening for particular shifts because they just can’t get the staff in,” he told ABC Radio on Friday.
“So, I think there is an opportunity to offer between, say, five and 10 hours of work a fortnight.”
“We’re not talking a shift every day, but I think there’s an entree there into a job, into an environment, which might lead to a permanent arrangement, that might help people transition off even long-term JobSeeker, and so I think there’s a balance in it and it ends up providing people with more support than what the government’s proposing.”
The federal budget contained a $14.6 billion package for cost-of-living measures, which included the JobSeeker rises, a tripling of the bulk-billing rate and energy bill relief.
Dutton said measures to tackle the cost of living should focus on putting downward pressure on inflation.
“Inflation, as we know, is stubbornly high. It’s quick to go up but very slow to come down, and the best thing that we could do to help families at the moment is to reduce their mortgage payments,” he said.
On Monday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said energy bill relief in the budget was sexplicitly targetedat middle Australia.
“The budget is all about cost-of-living relief in middle Australia and investing in the future, and our $1.6 billion investment brings all of that together,” he told reporters on Monday.
