$600 a week

Marmalade

I am just wondering if anyone else has noticed that $600 is laughable in Sydney. What were they thinking? That is just over most peoples rent. Most people who don’t rent can at least ride it out a bit. But if you rent what are you supposed to do? Curl up and die?

DYNAR

They should be ale to dip into savings marmalade! How out of touch are political class are that they think the people they have forced into shitty casual insecure jobs in a housing market that sees them kicked out and incurring moving costs at the whim of selfish landlords would have savings.

Marmalade

One of my Ds’s works in a vaguely construction industry. Immediately stood down as of last Friday. $600 will cover his rent and maybe the basics/bills/petrol/phone etc . I have organised a click and collect grocery delivery for him. I’m not sure what else to do , this is not a high earning industry. They often don’t have savings to fall back on, they have to be lucky and be like my son and have mum to fall back on. Somebody mentioned no evictions so I hope that is true. What a fiasco. A lot of people in construction are young , have no savings and earn shite money - but it is more than$ 600 a week. Who was the idiot who came up with that number?

Marmalade

To be clear, I will pay my sons rent, food and bills of course; but not everyone has a mum who is able to do that. What the heck are they supposed to do? $600 is a disgrace. Gladys banging on about how hard she fought for it makes me vomit a little.

ALittleBitter

I’m pretty sure that’s what the jobkeeper rate was. And around half that for jobseeker. I have no idea how anyone lives on $600 or less a week in a capital city 😔

Marmalade

It’s disgraceful. The worse thing is that it was suddenly announced. People had signed leases , expecting their normal pay and then its “nup $600” . If this lockdown continues then my son will have to move to live with me. I am regional now. I assume there is some kind of permit we apply for.

RichardParker

I don’t see why rental agreements (and bank loans) can’t invoke their force majeure clauses so that no-one has to pay if they lose their work due to a covid lockdown. Obviously it’s very complicated but if I was running the world that’s what I’d do.

IcyPole

$600 a week is generous. It’s twice as much as what Jobseeker is. When Jobseeker was doubled last year and early this year we were able to live with a bit of dignity and didn’t have to constantly dip into savings and withdrawn super to be able to pay bills like rent.

If you think $600/week for a few weeks sucks then think what it’s like to get half of that for a few years. It’s shit. The government needs to raise the rate to at least the level of poverty instead of way below the poverty line. Maybe people will stop voting in a Liberal government and we won’t have such shitheads in government anymore.

Marmalade

IcyPole

I don’t vote Liberal - don’t worry about that!

CallMeAl

Yeah mixed feelings - on the one hand it doesn’t go far in Sydney, on the other hand it’s amazing to see what can be pulled out of a hat when ‘valuable’ industries are the ones suffering, rather than say, the arts, which are also famously low paid but excluded from some payments due to the off and on nature of their work, or all the university staff who were inexplicably excluded from jobkeeper and all that rubbish.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying the $600 is high. I just have mixed feelings about it given how much less many people get.

Marmalade

CallMeAl

Completely agree. Our welfare system is a disgrace. I’ve thought that for a long time. Just saying that a sudden shift when you have signed a 6 month lease leaves you in a pretty impossible position. You can’t go out and work , you have to pay your lease . Obviously he wouldn’t have signed the lease if he knew his pay was going to suddenly drop - and it’s not that much more but a few hundred a week makes a big difference on a low income.

MizHops

I think it’s bullshit too. It would have been a big factor in people still turning up to work when they shouldn’t have been too.

I also think the disability and carer payments are bullshit too. Under $350/week for dsp is fucking ridiculous.

I wish the fact the government established job keeper and other supports last year would shut up the “help Australians first” bigots who madly shout that whenever foreign aid is mentioned. I’m not holding my breath though.

Edit: I hadn’t seen this thread but had been thinking on the school run this morning that there will be lots of parents having to somehow supplement their children, especially those with young families. Of course not everyone can manage that but I imagine it’s a stretch for most who can too.

MrsT

MizHops

The DSP is a joke. I really don’t understand how keeping people with disabilities unable to work in poverty is a good social policy.

Moo

And renters are disproportionately disadvantaged because of the asset tests around cash vs owning a home. So many people renting have been saving for years to try to get a foot in the market and then can’t apply for any type of payment because they are cash rich, asset poor.

Eta I think the entire welfare system needs an overhaul especially around DSP - don’t get me started.

RichardParker

Also, people should be able to exit a lease if they need to - lease terms shouldn’t be used as income insurance for the landlord - they should protect the tenant against instability. But you shouldn’t be held to a lease in times like this when your income has disappeared - you should be able to exit the property, leave it in good condition, and free it up for the LL to rent to someone else. I know that renters may not have many places left to go, but, if they do, it’s better for them to utilise that than to run up debts.

Short-term leases at reasonable prices (not Air B&B prices) should be easier to get, too. Every LL wants a 12 months lease signed. Who can commit to a 12 month lease now? Not many industries where you know, for sure, you’re not going to be shut down or have your income curbed.