• Advocates for the unemployed have condemned an industry proposal which would prolong the JobSeeker Coronavirus Supplement, but only for the long-term jobless.
• The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union called the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry proposal “divisive”.
• Under the proposal, those who lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic would return to the standard JobSeeker rate of roughly $40 a day.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Advocates for the unemployed have slammed a peak Australian industry group for proposing a two-tier welfare system which would slash JobSeeker support payments for the newly jobless.

The Age reported on Monday that the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has filed a pre-budget submission calling for the JobSeeker Coronavirus Supplement to continue after its slated end-date of March 31 – but only for Australians who have been unemployed for more than a year.

The ACCI reportedly urged the federal government to consider reverting the JobSeeker payment down to pre-pandemic levels – $565.70 a fortnight, or about $40 a day – for those who lost their jobs during coronavirus shutdowns.

The group said it was “critical” to find an “appropriate rate that incentivises those who are able, to get a job.”

In response, The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (AUWU) said the “divisive” proposal showed a “total lack of humanity.”

“It’s cruel and offensive to suggest that people who have been unemployed for 3 months can somehow live more cheaply than those unemployed for 13 months,” the group said in a statement.

“$40 per day is half the poverty line and 8 out of 10 people living on this amount report regularly skipping meals.”

In response to the AUWU, Paul Zahra, ACCI member and chief executive of The Australian Retailers Association, said the submission was “news to me” and said he would “investigate.”

Social services groups have long called for a permanent increase to the base JobSeeker rate, which has effectively not increased in real terms since 1994.

But during Monday’s National Press Club address, Prime Minister Scott Morrison dampened hopes for continued funding boosts, saying, “We are not running a blank cheque budget.”

Australia’s unemployment rate dipped 0.2% to 6.6% in December 2020, signalling a slow emergence from the economic turmoil exacerbated by coronavirus lockdowns.

But the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) said the federal government should maintain the ‘temporary’ Coronavirus Supplement past its scheduled expiration date.

“While the Government did the right thing at the start of the crisis by increasing income support, it’s now undoing that good work with cuts,” said Acting CEO Edwina MacDonald.

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