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Major Centrelink change just days away to help struggling Aussies: One million every year

Aussies on the JobSeeker payment will have three more days to organise appointments if they miss one.

Stewart Perrie
·Senior Journalist
·5-min read
Centrelink sign next to person holding coins
Changes will soon be coming to JobSeeker that will give recipients a bit more breathing room. (Source: AAP/Getty)

Aussies on JobSeeker will soon have a bit more breathing room to avoid getting kicked off the Centrelink payment. The government is changing the rules around mutual obligations in October and it's set to provide peace of mind to some welfare recipients.

At the moment, people on JobSeeker only have two days to re-engage with their employment service provider if they miss an appointment or activity. From October, that will be expanded to five days and it's expected to save one million welfare payment suspensions every year.

When the changes were announced earlier this year, JobSeeker recipients told Yahoo Finance of their struggle.

"With Centrelink, our income is $900, our rent is $530, plus all other bills and then the ridiculous prices of food. We are not able to save or purchase any items for our baby," one mother revealed.

"Between the two of us, this is so extreme and I have given up hope of finding suitable work as the stress of money has impacted my mental health."

Another woman told Yahoo Finance: "I am currently shopping at food banks to get by, and admittedly when it works, it works.

Do you have a JobSeeker story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com

"But if something does comes up, like car rego or a small emergency, there is absolutely no money left for basic necessities. Let alone make any attempts to save. There is no money for luxuries. I cannot even afford to take an hour's drive to the beach, out of fear I won’t be able to get to the shops or be able to attend job search appointments for the fortnight."

A 59-year-old recipient said: "JobSeeker can be a nightmare... The workers at the job agencies have little wiggle room to help. It's like one week you're suspended for missing some activity then you have to attend the office for a re-engagement meeting."

The changes coming in next month are designed for a “more appropriate and consistent application of mutual obligation rules for certain recipients of income support payments" and come after a Workforce Australia Employment Services report called the current system of compliance and enforcement arrangements "excessive".

The investigation also said the system is "often very punitive" on job seekers and it had "little or no positive impact on their capacity for social and economic participation”.

The Guardian found more than 450,000 welfare payments were suspended between July and September last year, with the majority being due to mutual obligation issues.

If you're applying for JobSeeker or other Centrelink payments, you have to abide by certain ongoing obligations.

They include:

  • agreeing to a Job Plan

  • meeting the requirements of your plan

  • going to appointments with your employment services provider, if you have one

  • You may also need to complete and report your job searches

  • You may need to look for work as a requirement to keep getting your payment, which means you'll have to go to all job interviews, accept any offer of suitable paid work and not leave a job, training course or program unless you have a valid reason

The Centrelink payment has only recently just gone up as it was indexed on September 20.

The JobSeeker maximum rate has gone up by $15.30 a fortnight for a single person with no kids, bringing the total payment to $778 a fortnight.

The partnered rate increased by $14 a fortnight, taking the total to $712.30 each per fortnight or $1,424.60 combined.

The government revealed the measure to expand the rules around mutual obligations from two days to five days would cost $6.4 million, which will be spread over five years.

The budget changed the rules for jobseekers who apply for a medical exemption from their mutual obligations. It's currently capped at 13 weeks, but the changes will remove the time limit and the duration will be based on what a doctor says.

This will save 70,000 people needing to send in medical certificates to prove they can't attend interviews or appointments and apply for jobs.

Labor is also amending the eligibility criteria for JobSeeker to allow more Aussies to receive the payment. It has allocated $41.2 million over the next five years for the plan.

According to the government, this will provide a boost of at least $54.90 per fortnight to eligible recipients with a partial capacity to work zero to 14 hours per week.

Labor was under immense pressure to increase the base rate of JobSeeker amid reports many recipients were struggling to get by.

The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) was leading the calls for a major hike in the payment and said it should go up to $1,004.67 for singles, which would have been an increase of $121 per week or about $17 per day.

But Treasurer Jim Chalmers said his government wanted to help people in other ways.

"We increased JobSeeker by $40 a fortnight and that's about $120 higher a fortnight since we've come to office," he said on the ABC.

"There's more than one way to help people who are especially vulnerable, including the jobless, energy rebates, rent assistance in and other ways too."

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