This Friday, the 25th September, the Federal Government will start winding back its economic stimulus, including the coronavirus supplement.
In the Territory this means the loss of $10.1 million in payments each fortnight, in addition to the $8.5 million lost to the economy as Jobkeeper gets cut. This is money that has been going into local businesses, keeping people employed and keeping the NT economy ticking over.
Deborah Di Natale, CEO of NTCOSS spoke to ABC Darwin’s Adam Steer about how much the NT needs the coronavirus supplement maintained:
Adam Steer – ABC Darwin – Thousands of Territorians on JobKeeper or JobSeeker, if you are then you be aware that come the end of this week, big changes are afoot.
The welfare scheme announced back in March was initially scheduled to finish on Sunday but it’s been extended. Not everyone currently eligible though will be next week and the JobKeeper payment rate of $1500 per fortnight for eligible employees will be reduced to $1200 dollars per fortnight and businesses seeking to claim the payment will have to demonstrate they’ve suffered a 30 per cent decline in turnover, using actual GST turnover rather than a projected turnover.
And JobSeeker, well if you’re currently on that and a single with no dependents you’re receiving about $1115 a fortnight that’s made up by a $565 a fortnight base rate formerly known as Newstart or the dole plus a $550 top up payment called coronavirus supplement.
That’s the bit that changing from Friday – the fortnightly coronavirus supplement is being cut from $550 to $250. That’ll take fortnightly payments for singles to $815 each fortnight or about $58 dollars a day. Deborah Di Natale is the CEO of the Northern Territory Council of Social Services.
Let’s start on JobSeeker or the old dole because it’s easier to understand. $58 a day, is that enough to live on?
Deborah Di Natale – NTCOSS. Good morning Adam. I think your listeners would be aware that the COSS’s around the country including NTCOSS have been arguing for some time that that payment is not enough. The problem for us in the Territory is that there are 33,835 receiving this coronavirus supplement and that’s money that’s being spent locally and benefiting all regions across the Territory. And it really is what’s keeping our economy ticking over for all those people who live here.
We know that we need every bit of stimulus we can in the Territory to keep our economy strong.
Adam Steer – It’s long been argued that the old dole payments, the Newstart payments, they weren’t high enough if the government was to retain this extra supplement so it would be $815 each fortnight, is that a sustainable level? Is that a level you’d like to see?
Deborah Di Natale – We would absolutely like to see this level because what we have seen is people who weren’t able to afford fresh fruit and vegetables can now afford that. We’ve seen an incredible stimulus in our economy where jobs are being maintained and this Friday, when they do cut the JobSeeker we are going to see an immediate fortnightly reduction of $10.1 million dollars in terms of payments to the NT and our new Deloitte report has modelling that says that that will equate to $348 million dollars in the NT economy over the next two years.
So you and I and everybody who is listening knows that we can’t afford to lose that money in the Northern Territory.
Adam Steer – The JobSeeker payments are then potentially being cut to their old level in December. What are your fears there?
Deborah Di Natale – Well our fears remain the same as they always were, that once they are cut back in December we are going to send a whole lot of people back on the poverty line and that is going to mean that we’ve got our unemployment rate to an all time high and it’s going to – we already know that in the Territory if you are trying to find work it’s actually harder than anywhere else in Australia.
Adam Steer – Why do you say that?
Deborah Di Natale – Because we’ve got one job vacancy that every 57 job seekers. That’s what makes it hard to find work.
Adam Steer – Yeah but that’s it but that’s just reading stats isn’t it because many of those people will be living in remote communities where they’re where you are right, there is difficulty to find work.
Deborah Di Natale – That’s right, but increasing the rate of JobSeeker on a permanent basis will allow people to be able to afford the basics. And if we were to focus on the creation of jobs in remote and regional areas we would be able to support people in our communities and be get more people in jobs.
Adam Steer – We’ve just seen the government import workers from Vanuatu to help fruit pick. Surely that should be a job that people on JobSeeker should be considering doing.
Deborah Di Natale – I would say that people who are on JobSeeker are considering all jobs that are available including fruit picking. So I was unaware to be honest that they were flying in workers from Vanuatu for that.
Adam Steer – Well I mean because the question is if a JobSeeker, the payment rate, remains high is that a disincentive for people to go and look for work?
Deborah Di Natale – Look that’s a good question. I think that’s often said to me by a number of people that if you have a high amount of money in terms of JobSeeker that it becomes a disincentive.
But my view is not being able to afford food, rent or a phone that’s what makes it hard to find work. Having one job vacancy every 57 job seekers that’s what makes it hard to find work.
All of the obligations are back in place on the job seekers and they need to search for and accept available work and they’re doing that.
So no, being above the poverty line possibly for the first time in your life, if not even generations of your family, is not a disincentive to find work.
So I would say that you have to put people in the best possible position to be able to find and sustain employment and keeping the JobSeeker rate at what it is will be one way of us being able to do that.
Adam Steer – You’re on ABC Radio Darwin. Adam Steer with you Deborah Di Natale is the CEO of the Northern Territory Council of Social Services.
Let’s move to the other payment, the JobKeeper payment. Not all businesses currently qualifying for JobKeeper will qualify come next week, leading to more Territorians on JobSeeker. But can you really argue that the government hasn’t been generous when it comes to JobKeeper, it along with JobSeeker, was the biggest stimulus spent in the nation’s history.
Deborah Di Natale – I would say that the government has provided the right incentives in terms of being able to keep people in business and to keep people, to keep the economy ticking over. I would say it has been generous but now would not be the time to cut those.
We’re going into a recession and people will often ask well how can the Federal G,overnment afford this increased rate. The severity of our current recession is precisely why the Morrison government needs to maintain this fiscal stimulus.
And my view is that the Federal Government’s growing debt doesn’t come from spending on stimulus measures like the coronavirus or the JobSeeker or JobKeeper supplement, but from a weak economy and the resulting lack of spending and the lack of taxes.
What we know is that there are going to be a number of people who are going to lose their jobs. And when you talk about business I mean a perfect example is I was the recipient of one of those travel vouchers and I manage to go on one of those tours in Kakadu and the owner operator who’s been there for years said to me that they were at the point of closing their doors because they couldn’t keep the business afloat.
Now that’s pretty sad when you live in the Territory and you see people who have been doing the hard yards, to have a recession through no fault of their own, without a stimulus to keep their doors open