Your Rights at Work, Uni & Home – The Fight for Fair Income Support Begins Today

Today the National Union of Students Welfare Department has launched a campaign titled ‘Your Rights at Work, Uni & Home’ in response to the Centrelink debacle that has arisen this holiday season and new year.

The Centrelink Twitter account has tweeted the contact details for Lifeline Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention in response to a student struggling to find work and at risk of being hit with an debt notice from Centrelink’s failed automated debt recovery system.

“Students have previously waited weeks for their payments to start and are now being threatened with fake debt. And the only real response from Centrelink is that those impacted call Lifeline. This is morally repugnant” said National Welfare Officer Jill Molloy.

“The Liberals continuously attack the system designed to support students by cutting what is meant to help the most vulnerable in our society. Young people may feel the need to contact Lifeline, but the solution is not a tweet, it’s a well-funded social safety net.”

The first step in the ‘Your Rights at Work, Uni & Home’ campaign is to fight the cuts to Centrelink, call out the fake debts being issued to income support recipients, and demonstrate the real repercussions that the changes have on the lives of students and young people.

The Department of Human Services is understaffed, the call-waiting times and call charges recipients face are appalling. The inefficient automated system must be axed. The age of the independence of 22 is absurd and moreover, Centrelink payments are a pittance. There is a lot of work for NUS to do to reform the state of income support in Australia, but we are ready.

“Providing the contact details for Lifeline shows the real effect that the automated compliance system is having on people’s lives. It also shows the total disregard the Liberal Government has for ordinary people. At the National Union of Students, we will always fight for a better welfare system. It’s not fair that income support payments have not been increased in real terms since 1998 and continue to be reduced” reiterated Jill Molloy.

“Students are the future of this country and our Government is depriving them of the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to society” said National President Sophie Johnston.

“When access to income support is reduced for struggling students we shape a society that locks out those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

The National Union of Students is committed to building a fighting movement for better support for students, to ensure they are not forced to repay false debts and have the means to afford rent and food.

We will be letting the Liberal Government know the very real effects of cuts to Centrelink on March 22nd with national protests around the country. NUS encourages all university, TAFE and high school students to attend.
Sophie Johnston National President | National Union of Students