Our welfare system kills people.

Politicians have designed a poverty machine that punishes us financially, physically + psychologically, whilst using public funds to line the pockets of private organisations.

It is not a mistake, it is a choice. #BTPM
Our social safety net is not safe for unemployed workers #NSFUW

We must make payments above the Henderson Poverty Line #HPL

We must #AbolishMutualObligations + get rid of unemployment cops #UCAB

We must #StopTheCDC + #EndCashlessWelfare

We must break the poverty machine #BTPM
When JobSeeker payments were lifted to the Henderson Poverty Line during the pandemic unwaged, underemployed and insecure workers were able to eat regularly, look after their health, pay the bills on time and have a safe place to live. #HPL
When unemployment cops were taken off the beat and pointless ‘mutual’ obligations were suspended, hundreds of people told us they finally felt equipped to look for a job they had a real chance of getting. #AbolishMutualObligations #UCAB
The Morrison gov chose to force us into poverty + it can choose to lift us out again. The Labor Party refuses to #NameTheRate + tell us just how deep in poverty they think we should be.

We won't accept callousness + leadership failures. We will campaign harder than ever to #BTPM

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More from @AusUnemployment

29 Mar
Senate Community Affairs Reference committee beginning today's hearing into #Robodebt. @SenatorSiewert chairing. Representatives of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal up first.

Monique Adofaci of the AAT reading a brief statement on the function and mechanisms of the Tribunal. The AAT are a key check on administrative power in our democracy, and produced several decisions challenging #Robodebt (for which the members were usually laid off by Government)
Nearly half of all decisions made by AAT in the years since #Robodebt began involving social security referred to a debt.
Read 54 tweets
19 Mar
The Adelaide #80aDay rally at Parliament is live now! facebook.com/antipovertynet…
“Yesterday, the JobSeeker cut was rushed through parliament without debate — almost like they were reminding us how much disrespect & contempt they have for us” — @PasForg #80aDay #BTPM
Next up, Rita speaks about the paltry $3.75/day increase that some have labelled “better than nothing.”

“‘Better than nothing’ will not buy my insulin. ‘Better than nothing’ is still poverty.”

Rita recently appeared in this guardian piece: #80aDay theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Read 4 tweets
19 Mar
"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
"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
Read 22 tweets
19 Feb
Our govts have pursued budget surpluses on the backs of poor ppl for decades, wrongly criminalising + harassing us.

And long before #robodebt they knew it wasn’t legal.

ty to @SquigglyRick for the reporting
Two court cases showed @JuliaGillard’s gov was unlawfully pursuing criminal prosecutions for welfare overpayments.

Ppl went to jail because of this. And the ALP ruthlessly sought to protect these unlawful convictions.

Full article here: thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/…
15,000 people.

15,000 people who were criminalised long before #robodebt who have never received justice.

If you were prosecuted for an overpayment before 2013 this could be you.
Read 20 tweets
19 Feb
There are 400,000 people on unemployment payments – that’s 1 in 4 people – who can’t work full time for health reasons, bc they have caring responsibilities, are experiencing domestic violence or are in similarly difficult circumstances. #80aDay
If you want to use the beautiful #80aDay graphics designed by @jezheywood you can download them all here, in both Facebook and Twitter sizes: 1drv.ms/f/s!Ao2X7nRblA…
The average length of time people are stuck on unemployment payments has increased from just over 2yrs in 2014 to 3.5 yrs in 2020.

The govt fails to provide a job for everyone who wants one but insists on forcing us to try and survive in deep poverty. #80aDay
Read 7 tweets
17 Feb
More gleeful mockery from @SHamiltonian in response to our distress at his @BlueprintInsti1 proposal to spend $9 billion creating two classes of unemployed people instead of lifting us out of poverty. #80aDay

A thread for Steven + anyone who thinks this scheme is a good idea 👇 Image
Income protection insurance already exists. It's available to anyone who's taken on debt, private school fees or made other financial commitments that people living in poverty can't even dream of.

Placing a regressive tax on workers to fund this w public money instead is a sham.
Our welfare system must support everyone equally.

Right now w unemployment payments set at 40% below the poverty line, it barely supports us at all – we still can't afford the basics. This is the same amount as @SHamiltonian's proposal for longer term unemployed ppl. #80aDay
Read 14 tweets

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