Category: blahblahblah

But WHO matters, Jim?

Treasury released their Measuring What Matters framework Friday morning with press release and interviews, buzzwords and smiling photos. I admit to having bad feelings towards the word wellbeing. It’s so often used along with things like self-care to put personal responsibility front and centre of your ills, and that your own failings and failure to address them in an acceptable way are why you continue to suffer. The wellness industry is designed to make healthy people that little bit healthier, and the neoliberal economy of hours to for people to make more (money usually) with what they already have.

Stats are great, I love a good statistic that shows whether there’s any measurable change over time in something. The government already has many statistics at its fingers. from job numbers, to how many children are living in poverty, to food waste, to koalas numbers and more.

(not that they care to include poverty or child poverty as wellbeing measures)

They have committees and qualitative research. They the Closing the Gap reports for Indigenous people that are announced and seem to change very little. They have ignored stark recommendations from royal commissions, from committees they commissioned themselves with their preferred contributors. They have us writing letters and sharing our stories every day. But the people on the ground are disappointed and don’t really feel like another way of looking at things will offer any change on the ground.

How’s the wellbeing is going in relation to the “five key wellbeing themes”?

  • Healthy: A society in which people feel well and are in good physical and mental health, can access services when they need, and have the information they require to take action to improve their health.

“Feel Well” gotta love the nerfing of it already. Not be well, don’t be sick, don’t have longterm chronic pain that they can’t get medication for. But then, if you could get the medications best suited to your pain you may actually get to feel well. Let’s do that! Drugs for the masses! At least then it’s a bearable existence, masking the existential dread and foreboding planetary death from climate change. What? The planet will still be here but humans will get wiped out? even better, We suck. Let the orcas take over.

Good physical and mental health: My friends over on JobSeeker are eating one meal a day, getting scurvy, diabetes has spiked after repeated Covid infections. Nobody can get in to see a psych, and if they can there’s only 10 subsidised Medicare sessions now so you can only deal with things for an hour, once a month, ignoring school holidays. And don’t waste those sessions trying to get someone who fits and offers the sort of therapy that works for you. In and out. A dabble of CBT to dull the mild anxiety. Anything more, well that’s too complax, maybe you should access community or NDIS? lol nah. Not likely, and not without a costly diagnosis. I was saying the other day I just need a cool $10k so I can get the adults in my life long overdue ADHD/Autism assessments, because we all have some sort of spicy brain divergency, it’d just be nice to know what type and mix and whether there’s a chance very expensive stimulant medications might make us more productive members of society.

Have the information they need to improve their health: back once more on the individual to use their own choices to improve their health while government deliberately holds back the resources to do that in the name of austerity and continue to approve coal mines. But sure I can fix myself if I make the right choices. Personal responsibility….

  • Secure: A society where people live peacefully, feel safe, have financial security and access to housing.

Apparently “live peacefully” means no peaceful protesting of the destruction of the planet. Be polite, don’t kick up a fuss, accept what Master says what is best for you. While Europe floods and burns simultaneously, we’re locking up people for disrupting traffic. While governments talk climate, they approve more coal mines and still don’t find a good way to tax them to high heaven so if they’re going to raise the temperature another 2 degrees they could at lease pay for us to put in air conditioning.

Who has financial security? The go got their 19 Billion dollar buffer, so maybe it’s theirs that matters. There’s no guarantee of stable housing at the rental level, and even home owners – double incomes, kids or no kids, are stretching and stretching to make their mortgages, with the Great Australian Dream of home ownership passing many by. We have a central bank that states it want 1% more of the population to lose their jobs to stop inflation, but no word from the government from how those people are supposed to survive until they’re needed again, since the JobSeeker payment remains, by choice, below half the poverty line.

So the wanna be homeowners, the ones that in previous generations would be in their houses establishing life, and feeling settled, are still in the rental market. Rental properties are being hoarded, it’s not the people with the second house for retirement security we’re talking about here, it’s the multi-generational property hoarders, where Billy gets 10  houses by the time he’s finished uni on the back of Mum and Dad’s equity and the rent paid by tennants. They’re the ones raising the rents and colluding with the property managers to keep the game running. They’re the ones, along with the investment funds, calling in towards the end of the auction to outbid the young professional couple with a baby on the way.

Public housing is an endangered commodity, being demolished around the country as we speak, being replaced to social and affordable housing, being privatised, but made into something for someone else to profit off. Housing waiting lists are a decade long, and emergency accommodation is capped. Again, people are left to fend for themselves, off the gerousity of others, from family and friends, leaving those who are disconnected and isolated already with nowhere to to and those others stressed about outstaying their welcome.

My grandparents were given a fishing shack across the creek from where I live now by family when they got married because they had nothing. But from there they were able to raise a family and live a stable life there. My mother was able to save a deposit for a house before she got married and she and Dad paid that off. But my generation is a generation of renters and the next generation is one of couch surfers.

  • Sustainable: A society that sustainably uses natural and financial resources, protects and repairs the environment and builds resilience to combat challenges.

“Sustainable” you say? This is again where the governments say they can’t raise welfare because they need to have money for the future. This is where climate policy gets muddled once more with the financial outlays of equipping people to deal with the now inevitable climate-related disasters. Where politicians can promise more fire trucks while approving more coal mines and say they have a balance. Where they can encourage and financially incentivise homeowners to switch from gas to electricity and solar, while leaving public housing uninsulated and reliant on grid power.

Sustainable for me is budgeting my spoons for the day the week or the month. Where I budget how I can with the money I get from the DSP, to make sure I pay my regular bills, to make sure while my balance may be zero on pension eve, it hopefully doesn’t get overdrawn, and I can start the next fortnight afresh. Resilience for me is getting my morning chores done so I can be free to help others with the rest of my day. Sustainable is what they want from the NDIS, and that gets sustained by them not approving or being difficult about plans, discouraging people from applying or asking for what they need, and having others pick up the gaps. Sustained by the labours of love others can provide, and if you don’t have those supports you go back to missing out.

  • Cohesive: A society that supports connections with family, friends and the community, values diversity, and promotes belonging and culture.

Cohesion. Getting along. Mateship? Inclusion, acceptance, tolerance. Throw some more words in there, but hopefully we’re honouring people’s cultures and individuality, but also not letting an obsessive minority run wild, endagering the safety of others. Extremisim in all its forms in a danger and the sensible centre needs to use caution about how much both-sidesing they allow, especially when one side merely believes the other side are less than human and need to be eliminated. TERFs and Nazis, Islamists and Christianist, Zionists and Nationalists have found their little niche of identify built on their own feelings of superiority and need to claim that right at all costs.

Media needs to be aware of their role in platforming hate speech or unscientific arguments that put feelings ahead of rights. Publications need to recall the sub editors and fact checkers from the cull and put them to work ensuring that what they are scaring the public this week is actually accurate and not just repeating rumours and hate. They need to check the backgrounds of who they’re getting quote from, and remember that having Dr or Professor as their title doesn’t mean any expertise in the field being discussed.

The party that promised that the lions will eat the faces of those you fear with not hesitate to et them on you when you outlive your usefulness – queer people aligning themselves with anti-trans hate groups shouldn’t be surprised when their hard fought rights are struck down next and they are not longer loved by the right.

  • Prosperous: A society that has a dynamic, strong economy, invests in people’s skills and education, and provides broad opportunities for employment and well-paid, secure jobs.

Prosperity gospel is something that was talked about a lot in the dying days of the Morrison government. While the Pentecostal types have their own ways of profiting from it, the notions that acquiring wealth and property as a moral good seems to permeate the landlord class of Australia. The rest of us are filthy renters, welfare cheats and ne’er do-wells. We may be worthy of the charity of welfare if we come on hard times, or we may not be if we’re Dole Bludgers or Welfare Queens. We are assumed to be cheating the system and bending or breaking the rules because politicians do it all the time so why wouldn’t we? Sure, break the rules to get your sub-poverty dole check, I’ve said it before I don’t care if Gina Reinhardt’s latest boy toy gets JobSeeker, so long as someone who is a payment away from starving or losing their kids and house doesn’t get cutoff because of a quirk in the system, Services Australia not answering the phone or a job Provider who is trigger happy on the suspension of payments. You can’t prosper when you can’t afford to survive. You can’t thrive when you’re looking over your shoulder.

You also can’t take advantage of any of the “opportunities” that come up to study at TAFE for free if your payment doesn’t cover your rent and food, and your job provider is pushing you to apply for work that isn’t compatible with your timetable. People drop out every day because they need to take on a shift and can’t attend enough uni to graduate. They still end up with unpayable HECS debts that go up by more than people can repay even when they do have a steady graduate job. There’s no rooms for special intests or diabilities, or learning that your own pace. You can’t participate in a way that works for you, that is sustainable for you, the computer will say no.

Prosperity Gospel, The The Prosperity Gospel (PG) is a fast-growing theologically conservative movement frequently associated with Pentecostalism, evangelicalism, and charismatic Christianity that emphasizes believers’ abilities to transcend poverty and/or illness through devotion and positive confession. The PG is popular among impoverished communities, where at best it is considered to offer the poor a means of imagining and reaching for better lives (at times accompanied by sound financial advice), and at worst is criticized as predatory and manipulative, particularly when churches or pastors require heavy tithing. Members of the socioeconomic elite may also be drawn to PG messages, which affirm the religious and spiritual legitimacy of wealth accumulation and reinforce a worldview in which financial success is an indicator of moral soundness.

Do I look like I’m despairing for the future? Well I am, but also for the present. It’s my birthday today, and while I’m getting too old for it to be a thing, it’s always a good time to reflect. I’m okay with my day to day life, I love helping my friends and my family, looking after myself and my partner, pottering around with my dog in the morning, I just wish and hope to help push for the government to do more to help everyone, and to not makes things worse.

You have all your numbers, your recommendations, your experts and your committees. They all point to investing more in your people directly, by Raising the Rate of welfare, but building more public housing, by letting people get on their days because you know what, most people know what they are good at and what works for them? We want government support because you have to money to help us, and the responsibility to ensure your citizens survive and thrive.

People want to feel like they matter. “No-one left behind” is YOUR slogan Jim. You all seemed so promising from opposition, well you at least you said the right things. People matter, no corporations. Voter, not donors. Please listen to us.

You have a new message in your MyGov inbox – Robdodebt and the culture of fear that governs welfare recipients in Australia.

I didn’t get a Robodebt. I’ve had Centrelink debts before – the main one was when my stepdaughter went back their mother after attempting to live with us for a year – $500 or so of Family Tax benefit that they’d paid to me after Phoebe had moved back out. Most of it was paid out of my meagre tax return that year. I’d just lost my job and was on JobSeeker with the Covid supplement (bless that), so that $500 was a lot to me. I’ve had advances from Centrelink too, where you get $x in advance and pay it back over a number of payments. It’s a tough decision to make to take that loan, the $20 less a fortnight while you’re repaying it stretches you a LOT.

So I can’t imagine having a message to check my inbox and there being a debt notice for thousands of dollars. For payments possibly from years ago. Money you were sure you’d reported correctly at the time, double and triple checking before you submit your reporting each fortnight so they can pay you the right amount less on JobSeeker or Youth Allowance because you earned something, not much, in your casual job that gives you minimum wages to be on call between school, caring and fulfilling mutual obligations.

I’ve had that SMS many times over the last few years, since losing my job, being unwell, applying for and being rejected for DSP and getting approved on appeal. Having my partner telling my I “won” Centrelink by getting DSP and him encouraging me to limit my interactions with JSPs and so on. He’s also a little wary of my time spent on Twitter and in political circles – concerned I’ll be targeted for auditing or a reassessment of my capacity to work. Don’t wanna be that guy being stalked by ACA being accused of faking your back injury. Or the Daily Mail with the cheers of Per Capita, as it is these days for Australian unemployed Workers Union members and office bearers.

So, I got DSP – Partner rate because I have a common law hubby with a low income job, who is expected to look after his neurodivergent missus when she’s not going so well. I get a grand total of $950 a fortnight form that, which include rent assistance. I regularly get people replying to my fortnightly pension day tweet surprised at how little it is.

Current DSP breakdown totalling $950 a fortnight

It’s little, so I live a little life. Bruce covers his expenses, I cover mine. My parents help with rent, and we help out his adult kids how we can. I take advantage of owning a car and shop around at Aldi and the local foodbanks, fulfilling my needs as a old school food blogger with whatever’s on offer there each week. I get extra bread for the kids and load them up on muesli bars and noodles every few weeks – nutrition for my soon to be grandbaby, We get by, but there’s nothing left at the end of the fortnight and there’s plenty we’d love to or used to do when there was more money around, but I limit myself to buying sims expansions with my recycling money and loving any gifts from the internet people. The inter people I’m so scared of losing with the downfall of Twitter.

Twitter was where I learned about Robodebt, its victims, like Phoebe, and the advocates working to bring it to light, like Asher and the NotMyDebt crew, and the few politicians who cared, Rachel Siewart we miss you! It’s where people came to share their debt notices and people rallied around to support them to attempt to get a resolution, so very often unsuccessfully in those days, but still now, when people are still posting recent debt letters that are in dispute, having to prove their innocence or agree to pay back from money they don’t have – JobSeeker is half the poverty line and Youth allowance is worse, and $20 a week in September will NOT make an impact on people’s lives.

Twitter was where we followed along the actual Royal Commission – it’s where I gained a visceral reaction to the phrase “I didn’t turn my mind to it” so much so, that an article talking about the use of that so obviously coached phrase had me flushed and ready to smack something.

'Didn't turn my mind to it' When questioned over their knowledge of Robodebt's lawfulness, one particular turn of phrase was heavily leaned on by politicians and public servants alike: "I did not turn my mind to the legality of the program." - Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull "I didn't turn my mind to it." - Former DHS and DSS secretary Kathryn Campbell "I'm not sure my mind turned to that." - Top government lawyer Paul Menzies-McVey "It had not crossed my mind until I read about it in the newspaper, I think, following the Federal Court case." - Former Human Services Minister Alan Tudge

Not the fear of the message in my MyGov Inbox though. That one deserves a special place in hell, as do the architects of Robodebt, from Tanya touting the data matching scheme in 2011, to Roberts and Campbell and Morrison, to whoever’s not advocating for the debt collection system to be CHANGED NOW, for welfare recipients to not have their meagre accidental payments garnished until they having more money coming in each week than the poverty line, for errors caused by the Service Australia systems to be forgiven, for the poorest not to be held financially responsible to such a broken system. For the poorest to given a fucking break every now and then.

Critics and Labor Stans were criticising the Greens and welfare advocates for responding to the finding being handed down with calls for welfare above the poverty line (as recommended by the commissioner). Because we’ve seen already this year Labor ignore the recommendations of their own Economic inclusion committee stacked with Laborites and people who live off the poverty machine. They recommended substatial increases to all welfare payments, and we saw how that went.

Ah, this Royal Commission is the result of a Labor government getting elected and following through with its commitment. The report has only been handed down a few hours ago. Why the rush to score political points? BTW the crimes committed by the Liberals under Robodebt are in no way related to the level of social security payments. Raising centrelink payments should certainly be on the agenda. Some patience to support a supposed political ally in this matter would be productive. Attacking Labor aggressively can only assist the Liberals in inching toward eventual regaining of government. What chance of getting a Green agenda if this happens? Reply1 dEdited Fiona Moore The level of welfare payments was a factor in how vulnerable people were to a threat of having their payments docked for supposed debt, and raising it for all was recommended alongside direct compensation in the report. Raising the rate was also recommended by Labor's committee set up after a deal by David Pocock to get something passed, but they ignored that recommendation. And Labor's done plenty of point scoring yesterday while still issuing unfounded debt notices to the vulnerable.

So, forgive us for being skeptical that much will happen for the reality, day-to-day, for welfare recipients. That we’ll still live in fear that we’ll have a message in our MyGov inbox that will ruin our lives, whether justified or not. That an app will be down and we won’t be able to report our income and won’t get paid, through no fault of our own. That we’ll be too sick to attend a mutual obligation – say work for the dole or a DES appointment, and can’t afford the doctor’s appointment to get an official medical certificate and end up getting breached and not be able to pay the rent.

Robodebt was one (horrific) chapter in Australian Welfare history, and it cost lives and caused a lot of pain, but the Centrelink system as it stands is continuing to cause pain and suffering, drive people to suicide and to attack Services Australia staff, and ruin people’s lives at the click of a button.

The welfare state isn’t fit for purpose. Please make the changes needed Labor, and prove me wrong.

 

Because Albo keeps lying and saying these budget measures are helping people already, here’s when they really come in

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I was cranky before I’d even finished my Jenny Craig porridge I’d gotten at the foodbank this morning because dear leader was going around saying that there was a while heap of “cost of living” measures that HAD ALREADY COME IN THIS WEEK that means it shouldn’t be as shit in the welfare class. But some haven’t come in yet, or partially so, so let’s revisit the May Budget (a lifetime ago) and review what we’re expecting and when.

Medicare Bulk Billing – Remember getting bulk billed at the GP? It’s been a few years since I’ve been, and I’ve had a concession card for all that time. My GP currently charges $89 upfront for a standard appointment, and $69 (nice) if you are a concession card holder. The rebate is about $40. In the budget, the bulk billing incentive – which is what the GP gets on top of the standard rebate if they choose to bulk bill you – was bring tripled, from $6.85 to $20.65 (more in remote areas). BUT, this doesn’t actually come in until November first and would mean my GP would be getting less in total than they charge me now still. I’ve seen a few comments around the place from people expecting to be bulk billed already because of it, and GPs and their staff copping flack for not doing it already, because people like Albanese are out there saying it’s already in place. I don’t know if my GP will go back to bulk billing :/ They haven’t said so yet.

On ABC News Breakfast, Anthony Albanese was asked about the upward revision of the surplus to $19bn – and whether the government could offer more cost of living relief. The prime minister didn’t rule it out, but hinted the surplus will be banked to reduce inflation. He said: Well, we’ll always examine what we can do. But just on Saturday, when July 1 kicked over, we saw cheaper childcare come in. We saw paid parental leave be extended. We saw a tripling of the Medicare bulk billing rate so that more Australians, 11 million Australians, can see a doctor for free. We saw the funding for Medicare urgent care clinics so that more people can get access to a doctor. We saw energy price relief, a $3 billion plan between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to take that pressure off energy price increases as well. We saw all of those measures come in just over a week ago. But we’ll continue to examine what we can do.

JobSeeker and Youth Allowance – Recipients of JobSeeker and Youth Allowance will be getting a HUGE (/sarcasm font) $20 a week or $2.85 increase to their paltry payments from September 20. It’s insulting and insignificant and obvious not enough, and no, it isn’t in yet, despite it being touted as a raise and people assuming it’s there because they saw it on the tele. It also comes in after the regular indexation on the same day for JobSeekers (Youth Allowance kids can still wait til Jan 1 for their next indexation since their is annual), so the go can save a few bucks there. Disability pensioners and carers and others will be getting their indexation September 20 too, let’s see it marketed as the biggest raise ever because inflation has still been flying along!

https://twitter.com/Lisaisalooseun1/status/1673555199879942144?s=20

Single Parent Payment Changes – Labor listened to the biggest noise in the room and agreed to reinstate Single Parent Payment eligibility to 14 years old (not 16 as it was when they helped the libs wreck millions of children’s lives by taking it down to 8 – why yes I’m personally bitter because I truly believe that my stepdaughter’s life would have been better if their mum wasn’t having to go to work when they turned eight. I won’t go into it but there’s a lot that could have been different simply having a parent in the house). This, of course, doesn’t come in til that magical September 20 date. And if your child turns eight before then, you and 9000 others are popped back onto Jobseeker for that time, lose hundreds of dollars a week and have to meet mutual obligations, while trying to somehow retain your housing and so on. Jess on Q+A said it like it was an only got there there’s from the treasurer….

Energy Bill Relief – Concession card holders and family tax benefit recipients have been promised “up to $500” in energy bill relief, dependent on your state of residence. I’m in NSW, so it may be different for you, but mine is promised “BY SEPTEMBER”. So it wasn’t just stuck on on July one, which would have been nice, hey? Some people will still need to apply since they don’t already get a concession. So check your eligibility in your state.

So, in the meantime, costs are going up for everyone, welfare isn’t increasing in a meaningful way, bulk billing may or may not become more common after November, and single parents were just told to suck it up for a few months if their kid’s over 8 before September 20.

Good luck out there people. I love you x

Let the Christmas Countdown Begin!

Apparently it’s 34 days til Xmas!! Don’t @ me for putting up my Xmas so early, it’s later than the last couple of years! I made a time with my sister and the two youngest nephews to come over and help with the tree and decorating. That was yesterday, and it was a fun long day.

The putting up of the Christmas tree means I also started wearing my Xmas clothes and earrings. Not shoes yet but tomorrow! I have skirts and tunic tops and dresses and two pairs of shoes from Rainbows and Fairies (we did the shoot for the new Xmas print Santa’s house on Tuesday and those photos have gone up!

My teeshirts are pretty much all from TeeTurtle and the earrings are from Indifferent Avocado, Burnbella and various other online places over the years.

I haven’t put my outdoor lights out yet – it was super windy yesterday and the inflatable tree and Santa tried to leave, but when that dies down I’ll string up fairy lights outside with them and the meerkats! i was very restrained on the weekend and didn’t buy two more from Woolies , but if you want to add to the #CultOfTheMeerkat, you can via my throne :p

Christmas also means summer and it looks like lotsa boat rides in Bruce new tinny!

How I spent my $20

oh, hai  there. I’m Fiona. You may now know me now as the woman on Q+A with $20 who looked pained at Jim Chalmer’s response to her question about how those on fixed incomes like the disability pension are supposed to make choices between food and medicine (seriously, I better pay that chemist bill as soon as I get this posted – my Webster paks are a lifesaver both literally and metaphorically)… Why are we the ones having to suffer now to keep inflation in check?

My questions and his non-answer:

So, it’s taken me a good couple of days to recover from the trip down to Sydney – got the shuttle bus the ABC organised from Broadmeadow station at 5pm with 20 others, we got there around 7:30, then went through screening, I got handed my question on a card and was told that I was the second question and that like I had spoken to the girl on the phone about, Stan would be asking me followups and she and her chatted about my situation and such a couple of times on the phone in the previous days.

It was a bumpy ride, but to my relief a fellow local Greens member and his mate were also on the bus, so I could chat to them and calm my nerves about the whole process. And we got a photo with our idols in the foyer.

Fiona and Wylie making peach signs with big ted, little ted, jemima and humpty at the abc ultimo studio

We went in around 8pm, I got a microphone attached to me. There was a warm up stand up comic. The questioners were all run through to make sure they got our names right etc, and I was SUPER excited to see that a teacher that I often had in primary school Mrs Turner was there!

I didn’t expect a real answer from Jim, just as I didn’t expect Labor to raise welfare since they walked back their promises and demands that they had in opposition in the lead up to the election they just won. Basically they promised us nothing and we should be grateful for that!

So, back to why you’re here? After my triumphant non-answer getting on Q+A i called home to Bruce to scream into the void and get his reaction and love. Which I got. And a request for burgers on the way home, to which I lol’d “Yeah I can spend my $20 on that!” he laughed and said, don’t worry about it  but then I wanted burgers, and given the rough trip back, chatting with the young liberals and eating lollies and pretzels at dinner, I totally needed those burgers by the time I was back in Tronno at 1am!

So, to all the Daily Mail commenters who commented on my food choices and my fatness, yeah, I had midnight Maccas with that $20 that PureProfile surveys had credited me during the trip down (another DM commenter had suggested them too, don’t worry, I’ve been doing them for 20 years). It was the best Big Mac I’d had in a long time, the chips were salty and fresh, like me, and I needed something in my belly because I needed to be up at 7am to get to my usual Friday appointments of pickup up FoodBank and Ozharvest to share with my sister (and much free bread because there was non in the budget for us) and then to my Antabuse rehab group where we discussed what we like about our sober selves. 20 months sober my friends!

Yeah, I’m fat. And yeah I could exercise more to lose weight, but I’m glad I’m not the bulimic, exercise obsessed skinny girl I once was, 2 hours at the gym a day, running 5kms to quiet her mine. My blood tests are always showing I’m in pretty good health considering, and while I’ve been on seroquel I’ve not been anywhere near skinny. I’m mentally pretty good at the moment, and working on my mental health and life goals, while being a good human being. Looking after myself and my family and friends and being sober and safe. Financially, I’m not making any headway, but I don’t have a credit card to go into debt on, and so long as I can pay my rent and smile, I’ll be okay. Also, so long as the politicians have a food allowance that is five times the daily JobSeeker payment, don’t police our food choices, mmkay?

So, it’s been a big few days. Glad to be home with my boys and love my family, friends and twitter crew to death. Sent Bruce off this morning to work in his little tinny, and I’ve been a good housewife, doing dishes and washing and earning my keep while rolling marbles on Twitch. I also played some Scotty Goes to Centrelink (The Albo Update) earlier, and will probably go another round soon!

The full episode can be seen on the ABC website or YouTube

Please, if you also feel that it’s ridiculous that in Australia people on welfare payments are deliberately kept below the poverty line, sign this petition to parliament to have the rate of all welfare payments raised to above the Henderson Poverty line which is currently $88 a day. The petition is an official parliamentary one so you’ll need to click the verification link in your email when it comes through to complete the process.

May be an image of text that says "signed the petition to #RaiseTheRate to #88aDay because... POOR PEOPLE DESERVE NICE THINGS UINCAPLOYEO AUWU NOINN NOINN Sign and share! auwu.org.au/petition"