Submission to the Committee inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Pensioner and Veteran Workforce Participation) Bill | August 2022

The Antipoverty Centre is disappointed that proposed changes under the Social Services
Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Pensioner and Veteran Workforce Participation) Bill 2022 ignore the harsh financial penalties imposed on employed people who rely on unemployment payments to survive. All working age social security payments are below the Henderson poverty line.

The government should treat with urgency the need for changes that would allow people on these
payments to earn more before their income support is reduced and to lose less of each dollar we
earn after the threshold is reached. This is not a matter of addressing labour shortages, but a matter of survival for the one-in-five people on unemployment payments who are employed, and the many others on working age payments who have employment income.

The Antipoverty Centre does not object to people receiving other payments being able to keep
more of their income support if they are in paid work, but it is unacceptable to prioritise this ahead of the extreme inequity already affecting people on lower payments such as JobSeeker and Youth
Allowance, which are about half the poverty line. Many people on these payments lose them before they are even able to get out of poverty due to the highly restrictive income free area and taper rates.