For many Australians, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic hit home when pictures of long lines of newly-unemployed people waiting to access Centrelink flashed onto the nation’s television screens.
The government hastily announced JobKeeper – a $1,500 per fortnight payment to employers intended to keep employees in their jobs – and JobSeeker – the revamped unemployment benefit – as a result.
It paid double the previous unemployment rate, up to $1,115 per fortnight, and was welcomed by campaigners who had been pushing for an increase to a welfare rate that had not budged in real terms for 26 years. But while […]
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