Prospective welfare recipients will no longer need to attend a Centrelink office to complete their claim, and the application process will be streamlined. The government also announced it would provide a second $750 stimulus payment from 13 July, which would go to about five million welfare recipients, veterans and eligible concession cardholders. Welfare groups, unemployed activist organisations and their political allies have campaigned for years for an increase in benefits for jobseekers. “This will come as a huge relief to so many right now,” said the Australian Council of Social Service’s Cassandra Goldie. The Australian Unemployed Workers Union also backed the increase, but was also disappointed that some welfare recipients, including students on Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy, and those on disability support pensions, were excluded.

Source: The Guardian March 22, 2020 04:50 UTC