$5.6 billion in cuts to welfare funding have moved one step closer to implementation, as the Omnibus Welfare Bill has been successfully passed through the House of Representatives by the Turnbull government.
The National Union of Students are outraged by this news that will have detrimental outcomes for the most vulnerable in the Australian community.
The bill particularly targets students, with an imposed five week wait for Newstart allowance. Students and other young job-seekers who apply for this payment will be forced to survive on no income for more than a month.
“This government will happily have students live below the poverty line for a month” says Welfare Officer Jill Molloy. “How can students and young jobseekers be expected to find work in this waiting period when they will be living off nothing?”. Molloy notes that “welfare recipients in need of support are not criminals and should not be punished by waiting five weeks.”
“The Turnbull government is obsessed with attacking students and struggling families,” Said NUS President, Sophie Johnston “Students are already struggling to stay afloat with the already underfunded social support system and now the Liberals expect Newstart recipients to wait an additional five weeks to receive payments.”
The measures contained in the bill include a $1 billion cut to the Energy Supplement currently received by many low-income recipients of Centrelink payments, a sharp reduction in funding to Family Tax Benefits, and cuts to paid parental leave which will affect 70,000 new mothers to the tune of thousands of dollars each.
“The passage of the Omnibus Bill shows the Liberal government’s complete resentment of students and young people, alongside ordinary working people of all ages.” said Anneke Demanuele, National Education Officer with the National Union of Students.
“In three weeks’ time students around the country will be demonstrating against these cuts, alongside the range of other attacks the government is making on us, in a coordinated National Days of Action from the 22nd to the 29th of March.” Said Demanuele.
NUS President Sophie Johnston and Welfare Officer Jill Molloy will be making a submission into the senate inquiry surrounding the Omnibus bill.
The National Union of Students encourages the Nick Xenophon Team and Senator Lambie to continue their promise made a couple of weeks ago and not support the bill in the Senate. If Senator Hanson and her team claims to support the interests of regional students, we hope they won’t support the bill either.
Sophie Johnston National President | National Union of Students
