2022-08-08
The Australian Greens are calling on Minister Amanda Rishworth to listen to disability stakeholders and scrap mutual obligations from the new disability employment service model.
Australian Greens spokesperson for community affairs and social services, Senator Janet Rice said:
“The mutual obligations system for people on income support has long been shown to be punitive, discriminatory, and one that prioritises profits over people.
“In the consultation report released today, stakeholders have clearly spelled out to the government that mutual obligations are “ineffective” and “excessive”.
“The Greens call for an end to all mutual obligations for everyone on income support.
“We saw in 2020 that when income support payments for jobseekers were raised to $550 on the covid supplement and mutual obligations were dumped, that this led to better outcomes, including employment outcomes.
“If Labor genuinely want to help people get a job, they should be providing people with a living wage, and including voluntary and supportive services in the new DES model, not the same punitive measures that keep people in poverty.”