2026-03-24
The Greens have called on Labor to immediately pause mutual obligations and raise the rate of all Centrelink payments above the poverty line in the May budget, as the global energy shock deepens and fuel costs soar.
In a letter to Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth, Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne said the current crisis demanded a similar response to the Covid pandemic, when the Morrison Government suspended mutual obligations and doubled welfare payments, lifting millions of people out of poverty and changing lives overnight.
Comments attributable to Greens Social Services spokesperson, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“Albanese and Labor have thrown their full support behind Trump and Netanyahu’s war of aggression on Iran, which has plunged West Asia into turmoil and upended the global economy.
“While all of us are now having to live with the predictable consequences of that, it’s people on low incomes and income support payments who will suffer the most from surging oil prices and the downstream impacts on groceries and other prices.
“With fuel going through the roof, many people trapped in the Targeted Compliance Framework will simply be unable to afford to drive to appointments or travel to Work for the Dole sites. Under Labor’s harmful regime, failure to complete these activities places their payments at risk.
“Labor can’t endorse and provide material support for an unjust and illegal war, and then simply wash their hands of its inevitable consequences. This is an emergency, and it deserves an emergency response.
“Labor must immediately pause mutual obligation requirements for people on income support, and they must raise the rate of all Centrelink payments above the poverty line in the May budget.”