Jobs are increasingly casual, and the lack of workplace protections for casuals is astounding. This creates enormous room for exploitation. That the tax office isn’t using JobSeeker reports of work income each fortnight to catch and discover cash paying employees is staggeringly shortsighted and to my thinking must be deliberate. The exploitative experience of our social security system for underemployed casuals is abusive. Centrelink staff and Apps created for logging employment income and hours literally REFUSE (they have done for years) to take a “net” amount in recorded income- they insist on people supplying a gross amount - which if there employer pays them cash they don’t have.

It’s okay says Centrelink and the Tax Office and many staff at Services Australia, just use the ATO online gross tax calculator, enter the cash amount received and this will calculate what the gross should be - and fabricate that lie for government departments. In this way the government is refusing to do all it can to catch tax evading, insurance skipping, health and safety and rights protecting moves that are legally enshrined as workplace rights for Australians - apparently when it comes to JobSeekers and casuals - all bets are off - these can be harmed without recourse, and sent to homelessness and hospital without anyone who SHOULD PROTECT THEM admitting liability and the system suggesting there’s nothing to see here.

How is it we don’t have enough money to raise the rate to the same as for DSP and Carers? And to give JobSeekers the higher income rate of Pensioners before cutting them off JobSeeker? How can we say we are helping people at all?

When the payment is so low it creates situations where people will exploit someone for their gain - their vulnerability and need making this more attractive than alternatives - and seriously, this type of abuse can be called coercive control and is not something any Social Security system should be encouraging - but this low rate of JobSeeker, this low rate of income cap for JobSeeker and this inability to see helping people avoid the loss of their licenses and registrations and homes and medications and food as destructive to lives and assisting of abuse and hardship is the problem.

Not anyone reading this should be unaware of these things. If this is new and you call yourselves experts - wake up - raise the rate - income and earnings caps for those seeking to live and contribute and benefit from this, our Australian Commonwealth.