Cait Kelly post: "Hi everyone - Do you have to use your car because there is no public transport in your area? Do you have to do mutual obligations right now? Would you feel comfortable chatting for a story? Please message me here or email: cait.kelly@theguardian.com"
If you're being forced to burn through fuel to meet mutual obligations, the guardian would like to chat 👇
"The assumption underpinning employment services – that unemployed people need to be monitored, impoverished and coerced – is in direct contradiction to an interest rate policy framework that requires a certain level of unemployment to control inflation"
theconversation.com/the-rbas-pol...
ugh - you can't get forced into it if you're in online servicing, but 6 weeks is shocking - i've been hearing that the email backlog for the digital contact centre has blown out to a month. Glad you've contacted the ombudsman - they absolutely should have eyes on ppl not being able to contact
If you've been currently (or recently) put into Work for Dole, plz get in touch
Post from December 23 "Had a meeting with Julian Hill. I asked why he recommended keeping work for the dole. He says it's because he doesn't want to have a "culture war" with the Liberals over it. In case you need more insight into how welfare policy works in this country
Told the ALP, repeatedly, to abolish Work for the Dole, and this is how that went
This week, advocates in Melb are marking the anniversary of Josh Park-Fing's death at a Work for the Dole site.
Labor continues to operate this program, despite continued injuries and harms
events.humanitix.com/justice-for-...
God that's awful. I'm glad the provider was able to advocate for you
Record peacetime spend set for Australia's military
we can't afford to raise the rate 🫡
From welfare academic Verity Archer: "The Labor Party, for the most part, stopped talking about welfare rights and started talking about dole bludgers in 1974. Following the 1973 oil crisis, unemployment and inflation rose sharply. Both major parties searched for solutions to the crisis and adopted neoliberal economics. With the new economics came new ideas about rights. Central was the idea that taxpayers had rights and that these rights were contravened most violently by the act of income redistribution. The term dole bludger was used for the first time and the Labor Party took a hard line against so-called bludgers in order to prove their commitment to the new economics and to the taxpayer. Welfare rights were on the out and taxpayers were king."
The 1970s oil shocks gave us the term "bludger". Will the new fuel crisis give us a new term, or are we sticking with old faithful
Great reminder for anyone in the welfare system: you don't have to endure mutual obligations punishments alone.
Always here to help anyone complain to the Department, talk to your local MP, or blow the whistle to the media
So glad you were able to get a good outcome, Karen. It really is so ridiculous that even after the inquiry, and subsequent unlawful TCF scandal, they've still kept these punishments going
Unplanned Outage There is an unplanned outage. You may not be able to use some of our services at this time. Find out how it affects you. Support for work-related travel Flexible servicing and support for work-related travel activities is available. Talk to your provider or visit support for work-related travel.
Workforce Australia IT system has crashed again. Mutual Obligation participants saying they can't log in and report points to keep their payments
Pauline's gonna bring a prosthetic leg into parliament and drink out of it in protest
"Job providers are still refusing phone appts, forcing welfare recipients to travel. How bad does the fuel crisis need to get before g'ment considers suspending obligations?"
Government says they take action against providers who do the wrong thing. Everyone, even the Ombudsman, knows this a lie
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will deliver an address to the nation tonight, outlining the government's response to the Middle East conflict and encouraging Australians to "play their part". He is expected to urge Australians to save fuel for areas and industries that "most need it". The address will be simulcast on television and radio across Australia at 7pm AEDT.
people simply love it when you storm out of the gates to support an illegal war, then lecture them about personal responsibility after it makes their lives worse
“That decision to stop compulsory activities, taken almost 6 years ago to the day, was coupled with a payment that doubled JobSeeker, lifting it to the poverty line. These were decisions that met the moment we were in.“
Furious Aussie battlers slam billionaire Sarina Russo over 'out of touch' jobs advice
"The controversy....has exposed a deep rift in the 'privatised welfare' industry, with critics questioning why a mogul living off government coin is lecturing the working poor on self-reliance."
archive.is/JiMw5
Privatised jobless support making people less employable: MP
The gall of this when even the government-led inquiry into job agencies found that they are failing to get people into work, & actually making them LESS employable
Yet we've given Sarina over $1 billion in public money to torture unemployed people and say vile, stupid shit
But do read it for free, behind the paywall, as a treat: archive.is/nNTye
Dr Nick Rose, who specialises in sustainable food systems, said the food relief sector was initially created as a temporary measure but had become the dominant policy response by governments. "They have become very large operations and organisations with complex logistics and supply chains, throwing more money at it, more food at it, but the problem is not getting any better," he said. "More Australians are experiencing food insecurity. So what we're doing now is clearly not working."
yes, relying on foodbanks is deranged and ineffective policy
You have to raise the rate of welfare payments if you want to actually tackle hunger. But ofc, the ALP never want to do that www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
So, @pennyallmanpayne.com & @antipovertycentre.org wrote to the government, urging them to stop forcing welfare recipients into these stupid activities during a fuel crisis.
Government response? "Just contact your job provider"
Story here: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
no harm in emailing the digital contact centre and shooting your shot
ugh, and your JSP is refusing to cough up any of the employment fund?
(I'm happy to write them an email request for funding for you if that's at all helpful)
Here's another one Jeremy - I have to do compulsory 'Activities' but the volunteer position I found requires steel-cap boots, so I have to find maybe $100~150 just to get started. Nothing says 'slave labour' more than having to buy your own tools ...
The Minister is being asked to stop forcing people into Mutual Obligations during this fuel crisis bsky.app/profile/anti...
Image tile that says, "When the Commonwealth Ombudsman found that the employment department was administering compulsory activities unlawfully and without proper oversight Minister Rishworth chose to keep operating the system. We have seen the same patterns of harm continue. Privatised welfare compliance should not have the power or discretion to force people to travel. Minister Rishworth must step in and stop all penalties to ensure the abuse is not compounded by fuel costs that are increasingly unbearable for people in poverty."
If you are being forced to go to a provider, request to have appointments online or over the phone and ask for your points target to be reduced. Contact your MP and the Minister's office to asks they suspend all compulsory obligations.
#auspol
Image tile that says, "Fuel crisis means Rishworth must urgently stop penalties for welfare recipients."
Image tile that says, "Employment minister Amanda Rishworth must immediately stop compulsory activities for people on Centrelink payments following a 27% increase in fuel prices and more than 200 petrol stations already running dry. The system of penalties, called “mutual” obligations by the government, has continued to operate despite a December 2025 Commonwealth Ombudsman report raising concerns about unfair and unlawful penalties being applied to welfare recipients."
Image tile that says, "Making people in poverty spend even more of the little money they have on fuel or taxis to get to a 5 minute appointment with a welfare compliance officer or do forced unpaid labour at a Work for the Dole site is unacceptable. It is absurd to continue forcing people to drive for such pointless reasons. It is even more senseless when the RBA is pushing for more unemployment and AI is leading to job losses – while the public are being told to work from home to help avoid fuel rationing. The right thing for minister Rishworth to do is to stop all compulsory activities immediately. People in poverty must be free to make decisions on how to allocate their limited fuel money between the things they need and the things they find useful."
Image tile that says, "Last week the Antipoverty Centre wrote to Minister Rishworth and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations urging them to stop compulsory activities for welfare recipients due to rising fuel costs resulting from war in West Asia. There is no benefit to forcing people to do in-person appointments or other activities that they do not find useful. Appointments can easily be done over the phone or online. We know the system of privatised welfare cops in charge of forcing poor people to do activities and stopping their Centrelink payments is full of abuse. We know these so-called job agencies routinely use their discretion to pressure people into inappropriate activities."
We're calling on @AmandaRishworth to stop all payment penalties during the fuel crisis. We shouldn't be expected to pay high prices for pointless activities. Poverty payments are nowhere near adequate and the RBA governor is hellbent on making more people unemployed.
#auspol
