Communist Party of Australia

Corporate Australia is sacking workers by the thousands and government predictions are that in just over 12 months another 300,000 will lose their jobs. Many of these workers face great difficulties in finding new jobs in an economic environment that is declining rapidly.

Following the announcement last week by Pacific Brand that it would be sacking 1850 workers, Greens NSW MP Lee Rhiannon said that sacked workers should not face roadblocks when they seek assistance. Ms Rhiannon said the Greens were calling for urgent changes to be made to qualification standards for unemployment benefits:

• The Greens are calling on the federal government to revise the Newstart qualification conditions unemployed people face when they apply for benefits.

• The current Newstart system requires people to rundown their savings before they receive their first payment.

• Most of the sacked Pacific Brand workers will not qualify for benefits as they will receive redundancy payments. This is a heartless policy that must change.

• Single people can have no more than $2,500 in savings and a married couple $5,000. In April this amount will increase to $5,000 and $10,000 respectively.

• People on leave or who qualify for redundancy have to wait until those benefits run their course before they can receive government assistance.

• There is no justification for why people should be discriminated against because they have built up some savings.

• The Greens support the call by the Australian Council of Social Services for the federal government to increase the unemployment allowance by $30 a week.

• Every effort needs to be made by government to keep workers in jobs and to assist the long term unemployed and those who have recently lost their jobs.

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