Five years since the Covid supplement – ‘member?

My notes for today:

We’re here today to remember the absolute relief people felt when the Covid supplement was announced.
The coronavirus supplement in 2020 showed that governments can choose to lift people out of poverty overnight. With the supplement, people were happier and healthier – able to buy fresh fruit and vegetables and the medications they needed. Many were able to actually find work in this time without the added survival pressures of poverty. Keeping people in poverty is unnecessary, and subsidies are no substitute to giving people cash to support themselves.
It shouldn’t take a crisis for governments to support their people to thrive. Current rates for all welfare payments are currently under the poverty line leaving millions struggling to feed and house themselves, let alone have the health, money and energy to participate in their community.
As we approach a budget and an election, we implore the current and prospective governments to commit to raising the rate of all welfare payments above the poverty line immediately. If Labor wanted to they could pass it next week.
To a likely crossbench with the balance of power – what can you ask for for your communities that will lift standards of living across the board? Welfare above the poverty line for all – jobseekers, students, youth, parents, seniors, disabled people. None of them deserve poverty. Nobody Deserves Poverty.

The fabulous artwork commissioned from Judy Kuo to march 5 years since the Covid supplement. If you’d like to contribute to the fee for the commission this is the link. If you donate $25+ you’ll get a free poster of the piece.
Today I’m in Canberra for a press conference marking five years since the introduction of the “Covid Supplement” – $550 a fortnight added to welfare payments for some months in 2020 while the initial lockdowns were in effect. 99% of the reason for doing it had to be Morrison and co seeing the lines snaking out of Centrelink offices as casual and other workers were set aside. Personally, I was on a 20 hr/week contract, but usually working full time hours, but when disability respites and day programs shut down – the places where all my work was – I was cut back to 20 max, and took hours from others working above their contracted hours in group homes.
I went back onto JobSeeker at that time, able to receive the supplement only some weeks, other weeks topped up by the base payment depending on my hours and how many were at penalty rates for weekends and the like. It kept me ticking along, knowing that bills were covered. And when I did lose my job, JobSeeker was still higher than it is now, and easier to survive on (oh and rent was way less).

I was able to keep seeing my private psych occupational therapist who got me started on dialectical behavioural therapy while I was on the waitlist, again, for the centre for psychotherapy. She’s the one who got me over the line for my dsp application in the end so money well spent. I was helped by family to keep seeing her after the supplement went and before I got back into public psych. Many don’t have that though and would have just bounced around trying to make do.

Not everyone got the supplement though – for example those on DSP didn’t get the supplement and there were some seriously considering transferring to JobSeeker at that time to be able to actually have more money coming in (a terrible option for them which I hope very few took up and were able to get back onto DSP if they did). International students are other non-citizen workers were also left without any support while being limited in their options to work or leave the country.
Unlike JobKeeper which was giving to business under the pretense they’d keep workers on when in reality many just boosted their bottom lines with it – the supplement and also the cash stimulus payments went directly to the people, who were then able to spend it how they chose to survive and make their lives better in that time. Yes, this wound up back in the shop tils. But that’s win-win. People get things they need and want and businesses get to tick along.
Raising welfare permanently above the poverty line would do that too – people would be able to spend their money on the things they need to survive and thrive. That could be groceries or healthcare, but it can also be things to bring joy and peace, like art supplies, or seeing friends occasionally for a coffee (we all know the importance of coffee shops in the economy and media and therefor our lives) or whatever little things spark joy. People deserve joy.

Join us (a group of people from antipoverty organisations) on Monday night to reminisce about what having welfare payments above the poverty line actually did for people. It’s the day before Jim’s Election Budget, so have a think about what you would want him to put in it to make life livable for people on welfare payments.