Greg Jericho
Chief Economist

Journalist: You are here to announce funding for a vulnerable cohort. Another vulnerable cohort are those on the JobSeeker payment. Your government has been provided with respect after report that shows the rate is inadequate and leading to poor health outcomes among other things. What will it take for your government, if you are re-elected, to increase the rate to the level that advocates have been calling for…

Albanese: We did increase…

Journalist: To the level they have been calling for?

Albanese: We did increase the rate. One of the things we have done is to provide opportunities for career paths into jobs. Free TAFE is making an enormous difference in opening up those opportunities. We have created over one million jobs in our first term, more than any government in history. We have, in addition to that, had the lowest unemployment rate of any government in 50 years.

Journalists: Is the message to those on JobSeeker just get a job?

Albanese: No. That, frankly, that deserves a bit better than that. I deserve better in treating you with respect without being verballed. Very clearly, I have concern about people but I do want people to get into employment, yes, I do. I don’t want people to have a life time of unemployment but I understand as well that people need to be looked after. My government is a compassionate government, that has provided support. We do so within the fiscal parameters as well of budgetary policy. I reject the characterisation that you put forward. I don’t think that is fair and I don’t think it relates to the answer that I gave.

Amazing how fiscal parameters comes up with relation to Jobseeker in the way it never does for defence and other issues.

Nor do we get told that we can’t afford the $22bn in superannuation tax breaks that go to the richest 10%, or the $11bn on fuel tax credits, or the $7.5bn that goes to the richest 10% through the capital gains tax discount on properties and negative gearing.

By contrast,  raising Jobseeker to 90% of the Age Pension – an increase of $173 a fortnight – would cost $3.6bn.

When political parties talk about “fiscal parameters” in regards to help for those living in poverty, they are not being up front about all the costs to the budget that go to the richest and the most profitable.