Post by bear on Aug 10, 2021 19:19:01 GMT 7
AUWU Speaks #2: an open letter to Anthony Albanese
AUWU members under lockdown are calling on the leader of the Opposition to join our fight for more income support.
In response to Labor’s decision in the senate on August 5th to vote against extra pandemic support, AUWU members are expressing heartfelt anger, pleading with the Labor party to stand up for us in this time of crisis, and demand the government return the full COVID supplement of $550 per fortnight.
Dear Mr. Albanese,
I’m writing to you today to address the recent decision by the ALP to side with the LNP against the extension of the current COVID-19 disaster payments to everyone who receives a social security payment, along with the decision earlier this year to support the meagre [$3.50/day] increase to the Jobseeker Payment. To say I was dismayed by the actions of your party is a severe understatement.
I’m 37 years old and a resident of Wollongong, NSW, currently considered part of Greater Sydney. As a result I have been in lockdown for the last six weeks. I have been a recipient of either Newstart Allowance, Austudy or the Jobseeker Payment for the last thirteen years, since January 2008.
Like many of the hundreds of thousands of others who receive the Jobseeker Payment, I am disabled, so much so that I should probably be on the Disability Support Pension. I have major depressive disorder (also known as clinical depression) and social anxiety disorder, both considered to be serious psychiatric illnesses.
My anxiety disorder is the more disabling of the two – in essence, my brain is wired to consider people and situations that I’m not familiar with (and even sometimes ones that I am familiar with) as a threat to my safety. It also causes me to feel claustrophobic in confined spaces that I can’t easily escape from, and to have panic attacks whenever I experience one of my triggers.
When the Coronavirus Supplement was introduced in March 2020, and once I received my first extra payment, it was the first time since I’d moved out on my own. My mental health was the best it had ever been because my primary stressor – my low income – had vanished literally overnight.
I no longer had to add up the prices of everything I bought during my weekly grocery shop to make sure I stayed within my grocery budget. I could even afford brand-name food, rather than buying exclusively home-brand food. I was finally able to afford to replace my 30-year-old refrigerator and my 20-year-old mattress, the latter of which was literally falling apart and causing me severe back pain.
I was able to buy a new heater so that I didn’t freeze in my uninsulated flat. I bought new clothes, not just because I needed them but because I wanted them – new jeans, new winter pyjamas, new slippers, even a new hoodie from the university I’d just started doing a Master’s degree at. I was able to buy new glasses, normally unaffordable because the prescription I need makes my glasses almost prohibitively expensive. I was able to save money for an emergency for the first time in many, many years.
Now that the Supplement is gone, and especially in the wake of the Morrison government only increasing the base rate of Jobseeker by just $50 a fortnight earlier this year, my mental health has declined to the point that for the first time in a decade, I am suicidal.
In the immediate wake of the announcement of that meagre increase, I had thoughts of harming myself for the first time in many, many years. Right now I am only able to afford to eat because I am fortunate enough to live in public housing. Were I renting privately, I would starve because the whole of my Jobseeker (including Rent Assistance) would be spent on rent and bills.
I am back to strictly budgeting my groceries, making sure I don’t spend more than $100 each week. I badly need a new winter coat, but I can’t afford to buy one. My health is directly impacted by my low income – I buy the generic versions of the medications I take because I can’t afford the branded versions. I can’t afford to see a psychologist after I use up the free sessions I’m allowed under Medicare, seeing a dentist is out of the question, and if my next eye test indicates that I need new glasses then I won’t be able to afford them. I am only able to afford to study for my Master’s degree because the university I attend offers Commonwealth-supported places to postgraduate students.
Having the disaster payments extended to everyone in lockdown would make a difference to so many people. Because I haven’t lost more than eight hours of work during the current lockdown (or indeed any work), I’m ineligible to receive any of the disaster payments. As a result I’m left to barely survive on $635.80 a fortnight (the base Jobseeker rate of $620.80, plus an extra $15 of Energy Supplement and Pharmaceutical Allowance).
After my rent, power and electricity are paid I receive $404 – just over $200 a week. Lockdown is stressful enough without having to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you can even afford that next meal in the first place, or if you’ll be able to afford to pay the bills or the rent. In a country as wealthy as Australia, nobody should be living in poverty – and yet those of us on social security payments, especially those of us without work to supplement our meagre incomes, are condemned to do just that.
The Australian Labor Party used to be the party of workers, of standing up for those less fortunate – including those of us who are unemployed. During my very first Federal election in 2004, I voted Labor because I truly believed that the ALP cared about people like me, and like my family. It is truly saddening to see that, by not fighting to have the COVID-19 disaster payments extended to everyone on social security currently in lockdown, the ALP is no better than the LNP.
Governments are supposed to care for their people. But right now, neither the party you lead nor the Morrison government are showing that you care about our wellbeing. Your party’s continued support of the LNP’s cruelty toward the unemployed is evidence of that.
Please, for the sake of every unemployed person currently in poverty during lockdown, reconsider your stance on the COVID-19 disaster payments and your support of the decision earlier this year not to lift those of us on social security out of poverty once and for all. Show that you care for all Australians, not just those who are working.
I may not live in your electorate, Mr. Albanese, but I’m still an Australian citizen. And I would like to hope that you still care about people like me.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Aeryn Brown
Media contact: 0404 089 575 / media at auwu.org.au
auwu.substack.com/p/auwu-speaks-2-an-open-letter-to-anthony
AUWU members under lockdown are calling on the leader of the Opposition to join our fight for more income support.
In response to Labor’s decision in the senate on August 5th to vote against extra pandemic support, AUWU members are expressing heartfelt anger, pleading with the Labor party to stand up for us in this time of crisis, and demand the government return the full COVID supplement of $550 per fortnight.
Dear Mr. Albanese,
I’m writing to you today to address the recent decision by the ALP to side with the LNP against the extension of the current COVID-19 disaster payments to everyone who receives a social security payment, along with the decision earlier this year to support the meagre [$3.50/day] increase to the Jobseeker Payment. To say I was dismayed by the actions of your party is a severe understatement.
I’m 37 years old and a resident of Wollongong, NSW, currently considered part of Greater Sydney. As a result I have been in lockdown for the last six weeks. I have been a recipient of either Newstart Allowance, Austudy or the Jobseeker Payment for the last thirteen years, since January 2008.
Like many of the hundreds of thousands of others who receive the Jobseeker Payment, I am disabled, so much so that I should probably be on the Disability Support Pension. I have major depressive disorder (also known as clinical depression) and social anxiety disorder, both considered to be serious psychiatric illnesses.
My anxiety disorder is the more disabling of the two – in essence, my brain is wired to consider people and situations that I’m not familiar with (and even sometimes ones that I am familiar with) as a threat to my safety. It also causes me to feel claustrophobic in confined spaces that I can’t easily escape from, and to have panic attacks whenever I experience one of my triggers.
When the Coronavirus Supplement was introduced in March 2020, and once I received my first extra payment, it was the first time since I’d moved out on my own. My mental health was the best it had ever been because my primary stressor – my low income – had vanished literally overnight.
I no longer had to add up the prices of everything I bought during my weekly grocery shop to make sure I stayed within my grocery budget. I could even afford brand-name food, rather than buying exclusively home-brand food. I was finally able to afford to replace my 30-year-old refrigerator and my 20-year-old mattress, the latter of which was literally falling apart and causing me severe back pain.
I was able to buy a new heater so that I didn’t freeze in my uninsulated flat. I bought new clothes, not just because I needed them but because I wanted them – new jeans, new winter pyjamas, new slippers, even a new hoodie from the university I’d just started doing a Master’s degree at. I was able to buy new glasses, normally unaffordable because the prescription I need makes my glasses almost prohibitively expensive. I was able to save money for an emergency for the first time in many, many years.
Now that the Supplement is gone, and especially in the wake of the Morrison government only increasing the base rate of Jobseeker by just $50 a fortnight earlier this year, my mental health has declined to the point that for the first time in a decade, I am suicidal.
In the immediate wake of the announcement of that meagre increase, I had thoughts of harming myself for the first time in many, many years. Right now I am only able to afford to eat because I am fortunate enough to live in public housing. Were I renting privately, I would starve because the whole of my Jobseeker (including Rent Assistance) would be spent on rent and bills.
I am back to strictly budgeting my groceries, making sure I don’t spend more than $100 each week. I badly need a new winter coat, but I can’t afford to buy one. My health is directly impacted by my low income – I buy the generic versions of the medications I take because I can’t afford the branded versions. I can’t afford to see a psychologist after I use up the free sessions I’m allowed under Medicare, seeing a dentist is out of the question, and if my next eye test indicates that I need new glasses then I won’t be able to afford them. I am only able to afford to study for my Master’s degree because the university I attend offers Commonwealth-supported places to postgraduate students.
Having the disaster payments extended to everyone in lockdown would make a difference to so many people. Because I haven’t lost more than eight hours of work during the current lockdown (or indeed any work), I’m ineligible to receive any of the disaster payments. As a result I’m left to barely survive on $635.80 a fortnight (the base Jobseeker rate of $620.80, plus an extra $15 of Energy Supplement and Pharmaceutical Allowance).
After my rent, power and electricity are paid I receive $404 – just over $200 a week. Lockdown is stressful enough without having to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you can even afford that next meal in the first place, or if you’ll be able to afford to pay the bills or the rent. In a country as wealthy as Australia, nobody should be living in poverty – and yet those of us on social security payments, especially those of us without work to supplement our meagre incomes, are condemned to do just that.
The Australian Labor Party used to be the party of workers, of standing up for those less fortunate – including those of us who are unemployed. During my very first Federal election in 2004, I voted Labor because I truly believed that the ALP cared about people like me, and like my family. It is truly saddening to see that, by not fighting to have the COVID-19 disaster payments extended to everyone on social security currently in lockdown, the ALP is no better than the LNP.
Governments are supposed to care for their people. But right now, neither the party you lead nor the Morrison government are showing that you care about our wellbeing. Your party’s continued support of the LNP’s cruelty toward the unemployed is evidence of that.
Please, for the sake of every unemployed person currently in poverty during lockdown, reconsider your stance on the COVID-19 disaster payments and your support of the decision earlier this year not to lift those of us on social security out of poverty once and for all. Show that you care for all Australians, not just those who are working.
I may not live in your electorate, Mr. Albanese, but I’m still an Australian citizen. And I would like to hope that you still care about people like me.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Aeryn Brown
Media contact: 0404 089 575 / media at auwu.org.au
auwu.substack.com/p/auwu-speaks-2-an-open-letter-to-anthony