Antipoverty Centre

@antipovertycentre.org

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The experts on poverty are the people who live it. Break the poverty machine #BTPM 🍞🌹🏡

Excerpt from joblink plus financial statements showing the following revenue breakdown for FY25: $20.3 million from Workforce Australia; $1.2 million from Work for the Dole; $17.3 million from Transition to Work; $3.2 million from Disability Employment Services; $940k from NDIS; $390k from Parents NEXT; $1.5 million from sales; $480k from driving; and $4.5 million from training
Excerpt from JOBLINK plus financial statements. There was $50 million in revenue in the most recent financial year and $2.4 million was spent on "community donations and initiatives".
Initially, taking the matter to court was to do with my own personal situation, however through the process I have learned it’s not just about me anymore, it’s about all of the other Australians affected with unfair debts, especially those who aren't in a position to fight as far as I have for reasonable justice.
Rick Morton will join Cheyanne – who contributed to the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s investigation into the Targeted Compliance Framework and features in the documentary alongside Jesse – to discuss the background to the investigation, what welfare recipients need from policies that affect us and how both the media and government are failing to grapple with the unfair and unlawful use of penalties affecting millions of people. We will share information about: how people subjected to compulsory activities can assert their rights in the current system; what actions we are taking, and what other welfare recipients can do, to reveal more evidence of harmful and unlawful penalties; and employment minister Amanda Rishworth’s recent (un)employment services announcement, what it means for welfare recipients, and the “consultation” process. Time: 7pm AEST
When the minimum wage rises by $1 for someone working full time, they get an extra 70 cents an hour in their pocket after income tax. When the minimum wage rises by $1 for someone on JobSeeker who only has 1 day of work a week, they get an extra 25 cents an hour in their pocket after Centrelink reduces their payment and income tax is taken out. If you have paid work, you can only earn $75 a week before your Centrelink payment reduces. After that, your payment is cut by 50–60 cents for each dollar you earn plus any income tax you pay. This is called the effective marginal tax rate.
Advocate says mutual obligations system shows ‘punishment is being prioritised over accountability and the law’ Earlier, we reported from Senate estimates that the Targeted Compliance Framework, the IT system that runs Australia’s controversial mutual obligations regime, will be offline until 2027. The automated IT system was illegally cancelling people’s payments. Welfare advocate at the Antipoverty Centre Jeremy Poxon has responded, saying it “was madness” to announce the return of the TCF and payment cancellations, when the department “can’t even answer basic questions about the legality of the scheme”: At every turn, the Department has failed to demonstrate to stakeholders or the general public how the TCF can be brought into lawful operation. In fact, the department doesn’t even know how many people have been impacted by unlawful TCF decisions, as evidenced by the latest budget papers listing compensation for TCF victims as “unquantifiable”. Speed-running cancellations back into operation once again shows that punishment is being prioritised over accountability and the law. Despite the Ombudsman’s ongoing concerns about high numbers of incorrect payment suspensions, these punishments from job providers have continued. To date, the Department is yet to provide any evidence that they’re lawful.
Screencap of the Kmart EBA showing that the supported wage rates they use pay people as little as 10 per cent of the minimum wage.
As part of my “obligation” to the state, I had to visit an employment service and watch videos on how to get a job. I had to travel to attend these meetings which, for someone who was recently very ill, and without a car, was an issue in of itself, and involved two different types of public transport and a 20-minute walk. Still, it was all that stood between me and rent. So I attended my meetings, showed what jobs I had applied for, and smiled and nodded as I was told to “just try harder”. The jobs I was sent to included what seemed to me to be a telemarketing scam convincing elderly people to sign up for holiday packages they neither needed nor could afford. I spent my limited shifts there dialling the talking clock and pretending to read out the script. I eventually got a callback for a local restaurant. I was called in for a two-hour (unpaid) trial and would miss one of my scheduled job-provider appointments. I called, explained why I would miss my meeting, did the two-hour free trial and got the job myself. Which, cool beans – job done, right? Except no. Turns out the job-service provider reported that I had not been attending my obligatory appointments and Centrelink cancelled my payment. I wasn’t going to get paid from my new job for 10 days until I started and rent (and life) was due before then. By the time I had it all sorted, I had been forced to borrow money from friends that neither I nor they had. I had overdrawn fees from my bank, at a time when $20 was the difference between eating or not. I had to delay a return to university as I couldn’t afford the fees. The two weeks it took to sort it all out cost time, money and stress, and held me back financially for months. Because what we don’t see in our “mutual” obligation system, is all the hidden costs associated in keeping people jumping through hoops for a payment that already has them living below the poverty line.
Simon Duggan (Chair), Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Robert Fitzgerald AM, Age Discrimination Commissioner, Debra Cerasa, Amplify Alliance, Dr Jodie Trembath, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, John Stainsby, Australian Council of Social Service, Tiarne Crowther, Australian Services Union, Dr Travers McLeod, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Dr Jenny Crosbie, Centre for Inclusive Employment, Tori McGregor, Community and Public Sector Union, Kate Allingham, Economic Justice Australia, Helen McCabe Future Women (FW), Megan Lilly, Jobs and Skills Australia, Tristram Gray, Kmart Group, Kathryn Mandla, National Employment Services Association, Kylie Penehoe, National Indigenous Employment and Training Alliance, Jessica Graham-Franklin, Paul Ramsay Foundation, Huy Truong, Thrive Refugee Enterprise, Prof Jeff Borland AO, University of Melbourne
For Jinghua Qian, no amount of economic benefit migrants provide will ever be sufficient for politicians determined to divide the population by race. The 39-year-old told SBS News they didn't much think about the loss of Chinese citizenship when they arrived in Australia as a child in 1996. "I am Australian, that's just reality, it's not an aspiration," they said. "At the same time, I know that in the eyes of Angus Taylor and his ilk, I'll always be a migrant no matter how long I've been here. I'll only ever be conditionally Australian. "Because this is not really about citizenship — it's about race. There's nothing I can give up — not my nationality, not my language or culture — that will make me an Australian without caveat, without an asterisk." They note that the renouncing of citizenship in exchange for security in Australia is not simply about identity but has many practical implications too. "When my granddad died, I couldn't just book the first affordable flight to go to his funeral, I had to go to the visa office with a copy of his death certificate," they said.
Between FY25 and FY28 the federal government spending on private schools increases from 19.3 billion dollars to 21.5 billion dollars
The prime minister earns $670,000 a year
Screencap of article from the AFR: "The Greens argue that if the government ramps up the measures, it will have sufficient revenue to provide a more substantial tax cut than the $250-a-year Working Australians Tax Offset, and build support for what has been a friendless budget."
NEWS: Bondi residents strike pay dirt as combined site sells for $200 million. A developer’s 25-year quest to assemble Bondi’s biggest development site has culminated in a record $200 million sale that promises 120 luxury apartments.
Post budget briefing – The most important broken promises
Panel from First Dog’s cartoon. The caption says “The police have arrested the boards of Coles and Woolworths and tied them in a shipping container with no roof. Impoverished Australians are encouraged to climb a ladder up the side and throw rotting fruits and vegetables at them.”
Crikey reader Robert Moore writes: Once again Bernard Keane (although not alone among commentators) blames inequality on some strange war of generations. If the woes of young people have been caused by the greed of those older, then Keane is proposing there are no poor boomers, only fat cat boomers. Commentators can’t bring themselves to use the word “class”. Economic inequality, rather than generational inequality, is our biggest problem. Many commentators ask, “Why should gen X have to wait for an inheritance to buy a house?” Many boomers have had to do just that. It is billionaire boomers and younger fat cats who now horde wealth in their endeavours to squeeze the maximum blood out of the poorer stones. Let’s be brave and risk being labelled Marxists by the extreme right. Let’s call the malady for what it is — class warfare.
Antipoverty Centre: Budget 2026 remembered as ‘the cruellest act of the Albanese government’ The Antipoverty Centre has responded to the budget – as you can imagine, they are bitterly disappointed on behalf of those they advocate for, who will lose NDIS support, as well as receiving no assistance through this latest inflationary period: The 2026 federal budget will be remembered as the cruellest act of the Albanese government and will cause incalculable harm to disabled people, their carers and communities thanks to $36 billion in NDIS cuts that will harm those who are living in poverty the most. At the same time, this government has offered nothing that will improve the lives of people who rely on Centrelink payments or others on a low income as we continue to drown in high and rapidly increasing living costs. As the RBA relentlessly pushes for higher unemployment and fewer job prospects, welfare recipients face continued punishment under the unlawfully operated welfare compliance regime
Currently, Employment Fund expenditure is expected to be less than the value of the available credits, creating an accumulating surplus of credits that present a contingent liability. As at 31 January 2026, there was $684.4 million in unspent Employment Fund Credits in the Workforce Australia Employment Fund notional bank (this includes Workforce Australia Online Employment Fund, Workforce Australia Services Employment Fund, Broome Employment Services Employment Fund and Yarrabah Employment Services Employment Fund).
Since 2020, some decisions to cancel social security payments under the Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) have been found to be invalid. Individuals affected by these decisions may have experienced financial or other forms of detriment. Affected individuals may be eligible for compensation through an application based process administered under the Scheme for Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration (CDDA). The CDDA scheme would support individuals to receive compensation owing to defective administration of the TCF. The total fiscal impact of these payments is currently unquantifiable, as it will depend on the number of applications received and the outcome of individual assessments.
"The Government will provide $59.4 million over four years from 2026–27 to provide states and territories with funding for community housing providers to supplement rental income for social housing for over 4,000 eligible young people, aged 16‑24, who are in receipt of the Away from Home rate of Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY and who are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness."
"The Government will provide $316.1 million over five years from 2025–26 (and $36.7 million per year ongoing) to continue supporting Australians into employment and improve participant experience. Funding includes: • $285.6 million over five years from 2025–26 (and $35.9 million per year ongoing) for improvements to the employment services system and to support future reform • $26.5 million over three years from 2026–27 to increase resourcing for the National Customer Service Line to support job seekers and employers • $3.2 million over four years from 2026–27 (and $0.8 million per year ongoing) to extend the Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative to assist employers to develop and adopt practices which support employees with caring responsibilities to enter and remain in the workforce $0.8 million in 2026–27 to extend the National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline and the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service. The Department of Social Services and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will partially meet the cost of this measure from within existing resources. The cost of this measure will be partially met from a reprioritisation of funding from the 2026–27 Budget measure titled Employment and Workplace Relations and Skills – reprioritisation. This measure extends the 2024–25 Budget measures titled Employment Services Reform and Disability Employment Services Reform and the 2024–25 MYEFO measure titled Carer Support.
"The Government will provide $202.7 million over five years from 2025–26 (and $49.5 million per year ongoing) to maintain existing Income Management arrangements and reinvest funding for support services for participants while the Government determines future Income Management arrangements. This measure builds on the 2024–25 MYEFO measure titled Income Management – maintenance."
Oxford dictionary definition: income support. payment made by the state in particular circumstances to people who are on a low income.
A screenshot from the ABC Liveblog that says, "Tim Wilson says Albanese is trying to start 'intergenerational war'" The shadow treasurer says the government is trying to start an "intergenerational war" amid reports that Labor could make changes to the capital gains tax discount at the next budget. Speaking to Sky News, Tim Wilson says Labor is "stoking conflict" to make their political case for change. He says Australia can't become a nation of "dependence" where young Australians look to the government to redistribute wealth. "Anthony Albanese is pouring fire onto the idea of intergenerational conflict because he thinks it's the best way for him to get ahead. The reality is it's the worst way for young Australians to get ahead," Wilson says. Wilson says the government needs to focus on tackling inflation and ensuring young Australians are able to buy their first home."
A headline from the Australian Financial Review that says, "Vic Labor’s long list of handouts that is worrying business, experts."
A screenshot from an article in the Australian that says, “We’re going to take a functional capacity approach, it really won’t matter what condition or disability you have. You will be assessed through a program or through an assessment process that applies equally across the scheme,” Mr Butler told Sky News on Sunday. “But obviously, given that people with autism are such a big part of the scheme’s population, you’d expect them to be a reasonably substantial part of that 160,000. But there will be representation, probably pretty proportional.”
Image tile that says, "When the Commonwealth Ombudsman found that the employment department was administering compulsory activities unlawfully and without proper oversight Minister Rishworth chose to keep operating the system. We have seen the same patterns of harm continue. Privatised welfare compliance should not have the power or discretion to force people to travel. Minister Rishworth must step in and stop all penalties to ensure the abuse is not compounded by fuel costs that are increasingly unbearable for people in poverty."
Image tile that says, "Fuel crisis means Rishworth must urgently stop penalties for welfare recipients."
Today people relying on poverty-level Centrelink payments will receive an insulting “increase” due to legislated indexation, a mechanism used to calculate new payment rates based on past CPI changes. As the government celebrates its generosity for delivering on legislated requirements, the cold reality is that the maximum that will land in our bank accounts is a pittance that leaves us further behind: the JobSeeker payment will change by $7.55 to $408.75 a week Parenting Payment will change by $9.80 to $533.15 a week the Disability Support Pension will change by $11.10 to $600.45 a week Commonwealth Rent Assistance will change by $2 to $109.70 a week for people who live alone. CRA for people in share houses will change by $1.34 to $73.14 a week.
If you're eligible and your local council has funding available, they will arrange a home survey to see how your home could be made more energy efficient. They might suggest improvements like installing: • wall, loft and underfloor insulation • air source heat pumps • smart controls • solar panels Your local council will then organise and pay for any improvement work they've agreed with you. You will not need to pay for it. If you have a landlord, they may need to pay for some of the improvements.
Workforce Australia website showing there is no “mutual” obligations pause in Victoria.
The Mandarin: Another senior shake-up in Canberra, with Natalie James to depart DEWR in January and Tania Rishniw stepping in as acting secretary. Natalie James' time as secretary of DEWR is up, following a brief announcement from the minister that her final days as head of the department will fall in mid-January. James will be the second department head to leave before her full tenure is complete during Labor's second term in office.
Twitter post from Ray Sutherland: "The store manager at vinnies was disappointed when I told him that the government usually pauses "mutual" obligations this time of year. He said, 'That's no good'. The poor bugger might have to pay someone to do the work he wanted me to do."
Document contents: Commonwealth Ombudsman investigation, External review by Deloitte, Ongoing Centrelink payment suspension problems and rejection of stakeholder concerns, Unreliable complaints and accountability processes, Key statistics, Public comment from advocates, Media reporting, Ombudsman report exceprts.
Now, Tanya Plibersek, the minister for social services and ever the peacemaker, told morning television this week that there would need to be strong evidence and that cutting off benefits wouldn't be quite as cut and dried as all that. "After considering any dependents, making sure that we look after the dependents, that person can have their social security benefit cancelled the same way they would if they were waiting on remand to be tried for a serious crime." But guess who this amendment is going to impact the most? No guesses needed. Hannah McGlade, a member of the UN permanent forum on Indigenous issues and an Aboriginal human rights law expert, is blunt: "It's going to have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people who are already overpoliced and are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system," she says. There is systemic discrimination against Aboriginal people in Australia - and that's never really been addressed by this government. A bit of tinkering here and there. But we know dispossession leads to poverty and as McGlade puts it: "We mustn't underestimate the impact of poverty and its relationship to crime."
Australian Autism Alliance Children and Young People with Disability Community Mental Health Australia Down Syndrome Australia Inclusion Australia National Ethnic Disability Alliance Physical Disability Australia Women with Disabilities Australia
Groups supporting the call for the government to abandon the amendment: Anglicare Australia | Antipoverty Centre | Anti-Poverty Network SA  | Australian Council of Social Services | Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union | Community Restorative Centre | Consumers of Mental Health WA | Council of Single Mothers and their Children | Disability Advocacy Network Australia | Economic Justice Australia | Everybody’s Home | Justice and Equity Centre | Mental Health Lived Experience Peak Qld | National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) | NSW Council for Civil Liberties | Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion | Single Mother Families Australia | Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre To add your organisation to this list contact media at antipovertycentre.org
The amendment that would give police powers over welfare is still floating around - the unrelated bill it has been tacked on to seems a bit of a mess, so there might be some further action in addressing the whole thing today, but maybe don't hold your breathe. There seems to be a lot of people worried about 'perceptions' rather than what is actually at stake. These slides into further authoritarian powers are usually because all of these incremental fights were seen as too difficult or not worth the discomfort. So it is always a death of a thousand cuts, rather than one big swoop, but you only need look at the protest laws to see how these things creep up over you. It doesn't stop.
Canberra Times article by Zoe Wundenberg, “Punishment is hurting families”. Link to article in next post.
Secretary may arrange for use of computer programs to make decisions (1) The Secretary may arrange for the use, under the Secretary’s control, of computer programs for any purposes for which an officer may make a decision that is the doing of a thing under section 43D (waiver of small debt) or section 44 (non-recovery of certain amounts). (2) A decision made by the operation of a computer program under an arrangement made under subsection (1) is taken to be a decision made by the Secretary.
ABC headline from February 2024: Australian Federal Police says it would repeat undercover terror operation on autistic teenager.
Plibersek defends move to strip welfare payments from serious crime suspects. Lidia Thorpe will push to amend the bill to remove the payment cancellation clause. She claimed it was “a clear breach of the presumption of innocence and the separation of powers”: No Minister should have power to punish someone just suspected of an offence without due process. A spokesperson for the social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, said: “If someone is charged with a serious offence like murder, terrorism or child sexual abuse and is on the run, they should not continue receiving a payment from the government.” Continuing to provide support in these circumstances is not appropriate, but there is currently no legal authority to cancel a payment. These powers will only be used based on expert advice from law enforcement agencies and the advice to the Minister for Home Affairs. Advice from Services Australia about any impact on dependents must also be considered. It is a serious power, for the most serious of circumstances.
Potential law allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped criticised as ‘shocking overreach’ Proposed laws allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped from those evading arrest while accused of serious crimes would be a “shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system”, welfare advocates warn. The amendment to the income apportionment bill, added by Labor this week during parliamentary debate, would mean police officers would have the power to request the cancellation of Centrelink payments to those accused of a “serious violent or sexual offence” when an arrest warrant had been issued. Some advocates and social security legal experts, including the Antipoverty Centre, the Council of Single Mothers and their Children, the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia, the Australian Unemployed Workers Union and Everybody’s Home have said the amendment represents punishment without conviction and blurs the separation of powers. The Anglicare Australia executive director, Kasy Chambers, said the proposal was “completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice” and called on the government to scrap the amendment. Chambers said: This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system. We’ve seen too many times what happens when governments rush through changes without thinking through the consequences. Robodebt should have been warning enough.
Block new powers to stop welfare payments.
Everybody’s Home National Spokesperson Maiy Azize said: “This is a shocking and dangerous proposal. Cutting off someone’s Centrelink payment means cutting off their rent, their groceries, and their lifeline. It will push people into homelessness before they’ve even had a chance to defend themselves in court. These changes mean that someone could lose their home because of an accusation that later turns out to be wrong. Once you’ve lost your home, there’s no easy way back. No one should be made destitute or homeless before they’ve been found guilty of anything. Using the threat of homelessness as a form of punishment is unconscionable. The government should withdraw this amendment immediately.”
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers said: “This proposal is completely at odds with the principles of fairness and justice. Cutting off someone’s income before they have been found guilty of any crime is punishment without conviction. We should not have to explain why this has no place in a fair society. This is a shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system. We’ve seen too many times what happens when governments rush through changes without thinking through the consequences. Robodebt should have been warning enough. We’re calling on the government to withdraw these amendments and commit to a system that upholds people’s rights and dignity, not one that tears them away.”
Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union President and JobSeeker recipient Avery Howard said: “Labor will continue to punish people on payments in any way possible. We need to do more to protect people who are victims of serious violent and sexual offences, but further demonising welfare recipients and using the social security system as a form of punishment is not the way. If Labor wants to tinker with the social security system, they should increase payments above the poverty line, which will serve to help victims of these crimes a whole lot more than convoluted and potentially unlawful ways to cancel people’s payments.”
Anti-Poverty Network South Australia Campaign Co-coordinator and Carers payment recipient Samantha Skinner said: “This amendment is another shocking example of the government weaponising the welfare system against the very people it is meant to support. Giving police the power to cut off someone’s Centrelink payment without due process is not only cruel, it’s unlawful and undemocratic. Once again, people on low incomes are being treated as second-class citizens whose rights can be ignored for political convenience. Instead of expanding punitive powers, the government should be focused on repairing the enormous harm already done to people through years of unlawful debt recovery and inadequate payments. We need a welfare system built on care and justice, not control and punishment.”
“Council of Single Mothers and their Children are perturbed by this proposed amendment which has the potential to cause further harm to women and children who have already been subject to family violence. We have plenty of evidence that perpetrators of such violence are often skilled at using government systems to weaponise their violence. We see this in relation to taxation, child support, and family payments where recalcitrance in not meeting their obligations can impose debt burdens on their victim. Indeed, these issues are before the Ombudsman now. Why therefore, would we risk providing additional ways for them to cause harm? False reports of child abuse and of violence already see too many single mothers and their children, many of them Aboriginal, misrepresented as perpetrators of violence or taken into child protection. We call on the government to withdraw the proposed amendments withholding social security payments or concession cards, family assistance payments, or paid parental leave payments on the grounds of an arrest for any reason, until any unintended consequences for children and their primary carers can be fully and openly assessed.”
Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and JobSeeker recipient Jay Coonan said: “Labor can only get away with creating this terrifying expansion of powers because it’s easy to punch down on welfare recipients and use us as a political football. It is purely performative, and will only open the door to further demonise welfare recipients and justify more punishment outside the judicial system. When a warrant has been issued for a serious offence, removing a person’s Centrelink payment will not undo whatever act may have occurred.”
Welfare rights advocate Tom Studans said: "Serious violent crimes require a serious response. Convictions must be sound. Using the welfare system this way will not prove lawful, just, or otherwise effective. The welfare system is often used as a powerful surveillance tool for the police and security agencies that comprise Home Affairs. In Australia, punishing criminal offenders is the job of the courts.Social security law already provides for those in prison to lose their benefits—no argument has been made for broad discretionary powers to pre-empt the judicial process, as this cannot be done lawfully in Australia. Government efforts to improve women’s safety in the welfare system must focus on improving their financial position and agency in the system, and eliminating the ways offenders can use it to perpetrate their abuses—but it’s clear safety has nothing to do with these amendments.”
1) Who told you this report was commissioned in response to robodebt? 2) Are you aware that DEWR was forced to respond to revelations of unlawful decisions discovered by a welfare rights activist through FOI? 3) What gave you the impression this report about "policy", when it is explicitly a review into whether or not DEWR has operated the welfare punishment system unlawfully, and how doing so led them to unlawfully cut people off Centrelink payments, which the report confirms? 4) Did you actually even read the report you just covered on the public broadcaster’s flagship news program?