22nd Nov 2022, 6:46 PM – Senate Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Workforce Incentive) Bill 2022 - in Committee - Extend work bonus to other income support recipients

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

What did this amendment do?

Senator Rice explained that:

The amendment will extend the work bonus to other income support recipients. This bill, as we know, creates a work bonus so that age pensioners are able to earn significantly more before their pension gets reduced, which is a good thing; we're supporting this bill. But it really points attention to the fact that you have got people on other income support benefits who aren't getting the same benefit. In fact, they're even more deserving of being able to earn more because their income support is considerably less. Age pensioners get $73 a day, but people on JobSeeker only get $48. This bill will allow age pensioners to earn up to an extra $11,800 in work bonus over a year, but JobSeeker can only earn a work credit of $1,000 before their benefits get slashed. In fact, they face an effective marginal tax rate of somewhere between $60 and $80 for every extra dollar that they earn when they take a few extra available shifts, when they take the opportunity to do the work that's there so they can pay a few bills, so they can get the lawnmower fixed or so they can pay off a loan that somebody has very generously given them.