Thread by @AusUnemployment

"When you're living in a remote community ... it can take up to 8 weeks to reverse penalties [applied in the welfare system]" – @Utopiana #BTPM

https://twitter.com/jezheywood/status/1372718824710053891

"During COVID, CDP was suspended, and suddenly people who were exploited found themselves not only not being exploited, but with a reasonable amount of money to survive on for the first time ever." – @Utopiana #BTPM

"We need to support a living wage. We need to support a safety net that supports the most vulnerable." – @Utopiana #BTPM

Now @JayCoonan is up.

"The social security system is a product and weapon of colonialism." #BTPM

"When we know our rights, we’re powerful, and that’s why they’re scared when we stand up for ourselves and support each other to fight back." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"[They system] rewards the worst (un)employment providers, who suck up public money by hurting unwaged workers ... The workers in these companies are themselves subjected to awful workplace cultures, are overworked and face high burnout rates." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"This is a system that was never designed to help a person – it’s a tool used to oppress the working class." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"Unemployment is not a moral failure, but a structural failure. Asking for a hand up should not be treated with punishment and pain." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"The $550 a fn COVID supplement was a response to a crisis; unemployment and economic insecurity are crises that deserve the same response. It brought most social security payments up to the Henderson Poverty Line of #80aDay for the first time in decades." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"This week I spent 4 days in Canberra... lobbying our so-called representatives, asking them to have a heart + fight for a raise. I learned how little the legislators who make the rules that oppress us actually know about the poverty industry they’ve created." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"Poor people in this country are tired, we're tired of being kicked by our own govt. We're tired + angry about being used as a political football + economic tool designed to hurt waged workers, rather than as human beings who deserve care and support." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"The rights of waged and unwaged workers are intrinsically linked. I stand here in solidarity with those in waged work because I know my experiences in the welfare system are designed to undermine the wages and conditions of those who have a job." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"An attack on unwaged workers’ rights is an attack on waged workers rights. The choice they made this week to force millions of people to live on half the poverty line tells us what we already know." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"We can't rely on heartless, calculating politicians to create the change we desperately need just because it's the right thing to do. We have to stand together and fight to force their hand to break the poverty machine." – @JayCoonan #BTPM

"In the NT you can now "volunteer" for the card ... as if you're going to volunteer for this kind of oppression." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"Landlords don't want to rent to people on the Indue cashless debit card." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"Community events in the regions are all cash. Three weeks ago in Ceduna after the sports day all the kids on cashless welfare had to go home before the bbq because they didn't have the money to pay for it." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"For people escaping domestic violence cashless welfare means more abuse, more financial control, for people who are already traumatised." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"Over the course of the next couple of years they're chasing the big banks to take over your payment." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"We need to fight this, and keep fighting it. How much are the banks going to make off the poverty people are being put into?" – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"The second hand economy is vital to people living in poverty. People are locked out of it, but Harvey Norman is approved for spending on the card." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM

"Stand up. Read up." – @notowelfarecard #BTPM