Lmst

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #homeless #houseless #Criminology #CriminalJustice

A post from @psalmicwitch:

To put it bluntly, the only way to end homelessness is to house people or kill them.

That's it. Those are your options. Homelessness doesn't go away based on "crime crackdowns." You will imprison the unhoused, and when they are free, they will be unhoused again. Or they will die in prison.

When you burn encampments or force people out without their stuff, they remain unhoused or freeze to death.

After working with the unhoused, it's become abundantly clear that those who don't want to support them instead want them dead.

There is blood on the hands of every government and organization that controls the homeless population with force instead of compassion.

Potential law allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped criticised as ‘shocking overreach’

Proposed laws allowing Centrelink payments to be stripped from those evading arrest while accused of serious crimes would be a “shocking overreach of police powers into the social security system”, welfare advocates warn.

The amendment to the income apportionment bill, added by Labor this week during parliamentary debate, would mean police officers would have the power to request the cancellation of Centrelink payments to those accused of a “serious violent or sexual offence” where an arrest warrant had been issued.

#AusPol #Australia #policing #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #Criminology #CriminalJustice

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/oct/31/australia-news-live-politics-parliament-coalition-labor-net-zero-anthony-albanese-sussan-ley-epbc-nature-laws-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-6903ebca8f084e5a6d198e27#block-6903ebca8f084e5a6d198e27

~UNEMPLOYMENT GOTHIC~
~~continued~~

OCTEC refuse to transfer me, saying that they can't do it. I explain that they can, and they insist that only DEWR can. I explain that centrelink told me that they can transfer me and that calling DEWR will mean hours on hold. The OCTEC guy explains that then transferring me means them filling out a form, giving it to me for Verto to also sign, then bringing it back for them, and then his manager signing it as well, and then the transfer will take place, and "I don't have time to do all that" ('all that' is literally his job).

I told him that centrelink said they wouldn't want to transfer me because it's losing money, and I just needed to demand it happens. I explain again that I was listed with them without discussion and that contravenes my rights. He says he doesn't have time for RIGHTS. I tell him I want the forms done, and he does them. It takes him less time to do that than he took explaining that he couldn't do them. I have no intention of getting them signed by Verto, I just wanted to make him do something.

So I go to Verto. They can't do anything, but suggest I call DEWR. It's 11.14am and I'm still on hold with DEWR at this point. They also explain that recently OCTEC lost their government contract for doing disability support services so I wouldn't be able to stay with them anyway, they'd just have to transfer me to Verto.

I get home. It's 12.07pm. I'm still on the phone with DEWR. The voice over tells me "Did you know, if you want to change your employment provider you can do so online through Workforce Australia". So I get online and change my employment provider. It's at a "pending" status, so I don't know if it actually worked.

I don't trust it, so I'm still going to talk to DEWR.

It's 13.12pm.

I'm still on hold.

#Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #Australia #AusPol #disability

~UNEMPLOYMENT GOTHIC~

Last night at 6.43pm I got a phone call from someone saying they were from centrelink. They asked me to verify my details by giving them my full name, date of birth, and address... which I refused to do.

I asked why they hadn't sent a letter to my my.gov email, and they said that it was a matter that's best dealt with via a phone call and that they couldn't go into it further unless I verified my details. I told them I'd go into centrelink today and talk to them.

So, today I go to centrelink. The issue is that I was exited from my disability support provider (who does nothing, btw) for having been with them for 12 months. So I had to be recommenced with a disability support provider.. fine, I was expecting this for a couple of months now, and I'd like to be put back with Verto.

Oh, the person who called me already put me on with OCTEC, without discussing it with me, and centrelink can't change it.

So, I get sent down to OCTEC to ask them to transfer me to Verto.. and while I'm waiting to see someone I phone the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) because I know that OCTEC is going to refuse to transfer me because every person they have on their books is money they get. It's 10.52am when the call connects.

(continued in comments)

#Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #Australia #AusPol #disability

Even with indexing, Jobseeker is 60% below the Henderson Poverty Line.

The Henderson Poverty Line is the minimum disposable income required for a household to maintain an "austere" standard of living.

If a household's income falls below the Henderson Poverty Line, they are considered to be in poverty.

Poverty is created by governments.

The Australian government continues to deliberately push unemployed people into severe poverty.
_____
"For singles over 22, jobseeker payments will increase by [$6.25 a week] , to a total of [$396.80 a week]."

" But anti-poverty advocates argue the small rise in benefits will do little to help elevate the financial struggle millions of Australians are facing, calling for payments to be lifted in line with the Henderson poverty line of $660.72 a week for a single person."

#AusPol #Australia #JobSeeker #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/17/centrelink-pension-welfare-payments-increase-slightly-jobseeker-youth-allowance-cpi-indexation

Wow. The MyGov spam/phishing emails are much higher this financial year than I have seen before. A 0 and not an O seems so obvious to me. I have already deleted so many! Careful my Australian friends. #phishing #spam #MyGov #ATO #Centerlink

Screenshot of a junk mail box.
6 emails, 5 of them are fake emails pretending to be an Australian agency for tax and refunds. One is from Nintendo.

We had our rental inspection this morning, I think it was fine but I won't know for certain until they get back to us and we resign the lease.

Did you know that renters in other countries don't have to jump through these hoops? That long term renting is normalised in other countries because renting isn't just seen as a step in the ladder to house ownership?

Australia has to do something, because fewer people are able to buy houses so will be renting their entire lives. Having a 6-monthly reminder (and often more frequently!) that you can be homeless at almost no notice because someone just feels like it is a leading cause of stress and has poor effects on both mental and physical health.

This is becoming worse now that home ownership is also seen as just a step in the property investment ladder, and that the goal is shifting from owning your own home to owning investment properties.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

Excellent job from the RBA.

I'll be expecting my rent to come down shortly seeing as my landlord ha... wait, what?

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

Next time you see the govt talking about the Australian road toll and "preventable deaths", consider they deliberately choose to do nothing to address poverty and houselessness.
_____

Almost 1500 homeless Australians die prematurely each year. This family hopes the death of their loved one won’t be in vain

Advocates say they are struggling to place people experiencing homelessness in secure housing, resulting in preventable deaths.

#Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #houselessness #homelessness #Australia #AusPol

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/19/almost-1500-homeless-australians-die-prematurely-each-year-this-family-hopes-the-death-of-their-loved-one-wont-be-in-vain?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I just got into an argument with a shopping centre security guard because he was trying to kick a houseless person out of the shopping centre. This person seemed semi-conscious and wasn't responding to his demands to leave, so the security guard kept saying he was going to call the cops.

I asked if he'd thought of calling an ambulance, because it seemed like a medical emergency to me (me, who was a nurse for a long fucking time..), and the security guard just said that it was "obviously drugs".

Turns out when the paramedics got there the guy had a blood sugar of 1.4mmol/L (which is like 25mg/dl for the US folks).

The security guard was all like "well how was I supposed to know??"

I mean, someone who is houseless having a medical crisis from a chronic condition that needs access to specialist management and regular food?? I'm fucking shocked. Who would ever have guessed?! 🙄

#RegionalAustralia #Bathurst #BathurstNSW #Australia #houselessness #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #housing #MutualAid #CommunityNotCops #FuckThePolice #AllCops #EvenSecurityGuards #CommunityCare

Far out. I can't find out how to tell #Centerlink I got a job, so I'm going to have to sit on hold for over half an hour (on my half hour lunch break), to tell a human.

I can't report I have a job through the normal place, because apparently I don't have to report "points" yet, so the option is blocked.

I think the really depressing thing about being poor is that every time you seem to be going ok, it takes Just. One. Thing to topple everything over again.

Like, I did a market research thing yesterday and it will pay me $120.

This week the dogs need stuff that will cost.. you guessed it! $120.

Like, I'm so SO fucking happy that I made that money, because it would be worse if they needed it and I DIDN'T have it, but also.. it would have been nice to just have $120 for a little while.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter

Rental inspection day.

Everything is cleaned, all the illegal animals are hidden, and now we wait.

#rent #renter #realestate #poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis

We just had the guy here who does our lawn, because we have a rental inspection on Tuesday.

His mower threw up a stone that's smashed our laundry door.

I just can't get a fucking break.

..unless it's a broken door.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate

Email from the ATO:
If you earn $54,435 or more during the 2024-25 financial year, you will be required t

LOLOLOLOLnope

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #uni #Academia #university #InThisEconomy

We have a rental inspection next week.

I hate this bullshit.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate

A post from @JustSomeAntifas:
if you're saying eating healthy is cheap and your starting assumption is that everyone has a kitchen you've already fundamentally misunderstood the reality of poverty

I just read the words "well why not save up your dole and buy a house then" and I got so angry that I think I actually part of my soul die.

It's a weird, almost tiggly feeling.

Anyways, on a completely unrelated note - does anyone who lives in Melbourne feel like stabbing a middle aged man to death with a corn cob?

Asking for a friend.

#poor #Poverty #Unemployment #Centerlink #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #rent #renter #realestate #housing

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

— James Baldwin

#poor #Poverty #CostOfLivingCrisis #RecordProfitsCrisis #Unemployment #disability #disabled #JobSeeker #Centerlink

I've stopped offering solutions when people don't know how to do their jobs, and it's made dealing with certain organisations easier.

Today I had an appointment with my employment service provider, and I had emailed them a pdf copy of my uni enrolment details. They feel like I should be eligible for an exemption from the mutual obligations with centerlink.

My disability worker in the employment service provider couldn't find my email, so I suggested that it might have gone to her spam folder because I have a gmail address, and a lot of organisations have added gmail addresses to their spam filter. When she retrieved it from the spam folder she was saying that she needed to email it to herself to get it out of the spam. That's when I decided to stop helping, because she should know how to do this - it's literally part of her job.

So, when she couldn't work out how to view the pdf I just sat quietly and waited instead of trying to fix it for her... again, this is literally her job. She should be able to do this.

She sorted it out eventually by contacting her manager and getting help. And I left the appointment with more energy left than I otherwise would have if I'd have tried to teach her how to do her job (and had to regulate her hurt feelings at having someone she believes is beneath her know something she doesn't).

#EmploymentServices #Centerlink #audhd #autism #adhd #disabled #disability #neurodiverse #MentalHealth #Anxiety #MentalIllness #ocd #PTSD #agoraphobia #cptsd #fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #Unemployment #Poverty #poor

#Centerlink

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