On the 25th of June, the AUWU will launch its campaign to block the roll out of the government’s punitive Demerit Point System set to be introduced on 1 July 2018. As part of this campaign, the AUWU will distribute leaflets across the country providing unemployed workers with the tools they need to fight the harsh new compliance system.
Under this system, for the first time ever the government have given privately owned job agencies the authority to impose penalties without any government oversight and have stripped unemployed workers will have no right of appeal. Unemployed workers who are penalised four times by their job agencies within a six month period will face harsh new financial penalties, including 50% and 100% reduction of their Newstart entitlement. As these decisions will be made by Centrelink, unemployed workers can appeal these decisions.
Already the compliance system is broken. In 2015-16, there were 2 million penalties imposed on the unemployed for the first time. As noted by the National Welfare Rights Network, half of job agency penalties are imposed incorrectly. This harsh new system is designed to push unemployed workers off social security and into homelessness. We need to fight it. Help us Fight the Fine. Sign up to the Job Agency Action Group here and we will keep you updated on our activities: