The Morrison Government’s scheduled return of the JobSeeker payment to its old base rate will rip out the $7.16 million from the Macarthur economy, the equivalent of 2 850 jobs*.

The Morrison Government is scheduled to snapback JobSeeker in a matter of months with the end of the Coronavirus supplement.

Millions of out-of-work Australians are anxious about what level of support will be available to them at the end of September.

It defies reality that the Prime Minister believes that he can snapback JobSeeker, when there are nowhere near enough jobs for the people who need them.

There are 476 700 Australians on unemployment payments in New South Wales, but only 39 800 job vacancies, as at May. This means, there are 11 Australians out of work for every one job vacancy in NSW.

This will be compounded by the scheduled snapback of JobKeeper, which will see more Australians in need of JobSeeker.

Scott Morrison’s snapback of JobSeeker is not a plan for jobs and will place our nation’s economic recovery at risk.

A snapback of JobSeeker will place further pression on Macarthur small businesses and local families, who are already facing unprecedented pressures.

I am very concerned about the large number of Macarthur families who are suffering from severe mortgage stress, and I call on both the state and federal governments to deal with this crisis in a more holistic manner.

*based on the average total earnings reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for November 2019