AUWU Policy Blog: Fighting back with a seat at the table

In July 2015, the Abbott government implemented the most punitive approach to unemployed Australians ever seen in this country. Under the three new contracts rolled out by Abbott (Jobactive, CDP and DES- DMS), the number of penalties skyrocketed to 2 million – double the previous year (and a 10 times increase in 2011 figure). Many Australian Unemployed Workers Union members report diminished capacity to effectively seek work combined with increased mental health pressures as a

The INDUE card is very different from a bankcard. It operates as a credit card in the sense that the funds are not the property of the recipient, so a recipient has no claim to interest accrued on funds over time. In the case of a person becoming ill and spending a period of time in hospital (for mental health patients this can amount to regular periods of many months) this becomes a significant revenue

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Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the tragic death of Josh Park-Fing at his Work for the Dole site in Toowoomba. The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union are holding rallies in Sydney and Melbourne tomorrow to demand Justice For Josh and that the dangerous Work for the Dole and Community Development Program be shut down. If you can’t come and show your support in person, please share the Justice For Josh campaign and petition throughout

  Labor has called for a Senate inquiry into the fraught Community Development Program, with the support of the Greens. Communities across the Northern Territory and Western Australia have consistently told us that this system leaves people in more debt, without food to feed their families, in rental arrears and feeling hopeless, struggling with an infuriating bureaucratic reporting process. In 2016 an ANU report labelled the CDP a policy disaster that widens gaps between Indigenous