2nd Aug 2023, 10:39 AM – Senate Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Safety Net) Bill 2023 - in Committee - Income free areas

The majority voted against a request for amendment introduced by Victorian Senator Janet Rice (Greens), which means it failed.

What did the amendment request?

Senator Rice explained that:

There are a lot of people who receive JobSeeker, youth allowance and student allowance who are working and have income above the income-free area, which means that their earnings are slashed. The amount of JobSeeker or youth allowance or student allowance they get is slashed once they earn above the income-free area. Those people would all benefit. As I said, this is something that can be done to benefit those people, but it's not enough. About 40 per cent of people on JobSeeker have limited or reduced capacity to work. A lot of those people actually should be on other disability payments or the disability support pension, but they are left languishing on JobSeeker. But for the others who are on JobSeeker who are able to work, who—for a lot of them—are working now, increasing the income-free area so that their income from that work can be up to $300 a fortnight rather than $150 a fortnight would make a real, meaningful difference to their lives.