A year to the day since Tasmania’s first case of COVID-19 was confirmed, Labor and the government focused on the economic impacts on the pandemic.Opposition leader Rebecca White said the state’s economy was being propped up by federal government stimulus such as JobKeeper.Ms White said it was concerning 12,840 Tasmanians were still on JobKeeper in January.“With most of that stimulus ending this month the Tasmanian economy will take a significant hit,” she said.Premier Peter Gutwein said the economy had made a strong recovery. Mr Gutwein said job vacancies in January were 36 per cent higher than 12 months ago.“There is light at the end of the tunnel … 3000 Tasmanians returned back to work in January alone.”Mr Gutwein said the state government was “ready to step up” to help struggling industries such as tourism and hospitality.Ms White said Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed large numbers of jobs had been lost in regional Tasmania and had not returned, including 1500 jobs in the southeast region.“Regional Tasmania continues to feel the impact of the pandemic,” she said.“There is only one job vacancy for every 17 people currently on JobSeeker.” Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Monday the number of individuals receiving JobKeeper in Tasmania had fallen 80 per cent since it was introduced at the height of the pandemic in April last year.Mercury digital subscription factbox‘Insulting’ payment increase for unemployedClaire BickersFebruary 23, 2021JOBSEEKER payments for unemployed Australians will permanently increase by $50 a fortnight – or $3.57 a day – from April 1.Employers will also be encouraged to dob in welfare recipients who turn down jobs or submit fake job applications on a new hotline which launches in April. New requirements to look for work or to do short training courses will also be launched from April for 1.24 million Australians and 30,322 Tasmanians receiving JobSeeker payments. The new rate will permanently boost the base rate of the dole to about $615.70 a fortnight or $44 a day.It’s $100 less per fortnight than welfare recipients currently receive with the temporary $150 coronavirus supplement, which ends on March 31. Welfare groups have slammed the new rate as “heartless” and a “cruel decision” after they had called for the Federal Government to permanently lift the old $40 rate to $65 a day or $910 a fortnight. TasCOSS chief executive Adrienne Picone said it was a “cruel and shortsighted decision”.“Tasmanians living on JobSeeker have told us they have relied on the higher rate of income support to buy fresh food, pay their rent, visit their GP and support them to be job-ready,” she said. “This pittance of an increase will do little to boost their confidence in a Tasmanian jobs market where more than 40,000 Tasmanians are looking for work or more hours and there are 17 job seekers for every advertised job.”Independent Member for Clark Andrew Wilkie said the “Scrooge-like” increase of $3.57 a day was “not even the price of a coffee or a salad roll”. Mercury digital subscription factboxState Labor workplace relations spokeswoman Sarah Lovell accused Premier Peter Gutwein of having “failed miserably to lobby his Canberra colleagues for a meaningful increase to JobSeeker”.“An increase of $50 a fortnight as Tasmania continues to struggle back from COVID is woefully inadequate and an insult to those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic,” Ms Lovell said.She said Tasmania would disproportionately feel the impact of the new rate and it would “rip millions out of our economy”.Scott Morrison said the government wanted to strike the right balance between providing support and an incentive to find work with the new rate, which will cost an extra $9bn. “Welfare is a safety net, not a wage supplement,” the Prime Minister said. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the system needed to be “fair and sustainable for the people who need it and the taxpayers who pay for it”. As part of the changes, welfare recipients will have to look for at least 15 jobs a month from early April, and at least 20 jobs a month from July, but will be able to earn up to $150 per fortnight without it impacting their payments.NED-1991 JobKeeper UpdateSome job seekers will be required to participate in work for the dole after six months, or to take approved short training courses. A hotline will also be launched in April for employers to report welfare recipients that turn down jobs they’re eligible for or who send in job applications that aren’t genuine.Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said most job seekers were doing the right thing but a small minority were “actively trying to game the system”. Those who don’t have a valid reason for turning down a job would lose their payments.



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