‘Heartbreaking’: 9,100 homeless suffer jobseeker payment suspensions amid recession

Abstract

Job agencies have suspended welfare payments 74,000 times since mutual obligations returned last month, with 9,100 people experiencing homelessness among those temporarily cut off from income support.

Department of Employment officials on Thursday night revealed plans to give jobseekers a new “48-hour window” before their payments were put on hold, as they conceded the latest figures under the current system were “large”.

With an influx of new jobseekers, including some dealing with the system for the first time, figures provided to Senate estimates showed a total of 74,434 payment suspensions recorded between 28 September and 18 October.