Covid-19 vaccine and assistance

Izzie

I think the COVID vaccination and welfare payments should be viewed quite separately, especially now that Australia is travelling well, with very few cases of COVID-19 and those mostly under control.
And as the vaccine is not compulsory we will not reach a stage when "everyone" is vaccinated. We have a small group of anti-vaxes, and pregnant women are advised I think not to take it. Also there are quite a few who have some concerns about the vaccine and that has probably increased now that several European countries have temporarily suspended use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
We are also behind schedule, for various reasons, and so I think we just have to let the vaccine roll-out progress as it does, without trying to link any other form of Govt support to it.
And I am not sure about the actual question. If you are talking about the dole (now I believe called Job Seeker) then all people who are out of work and looking for work are entitled to it. If you mean leave it at the higher rate, then I think it should remain that that rate, or only slightly lower permanently. People cannot live on the old amount, or even the new amount they have announced, and I really feel for them, especially those who do not have their own homes, and those for whatever reason, particularly older women, who are unlikely to find work again, and have to live on lower than the poverty rate. I think our government needs to put humanity above economics and then the benefits will flow to all. Governing should be about the 'people', not solely on the 'money', especially from those who have plenty of the latter, but more recently showing not much emphasis on the former!!

Angusgong

There's a lot of fruit that needs picking....

lcca

There's a lot of fruit that needs picking....

you are right there heaps of fruits needs picking, but who would like to pick fruits for $2 -5 an hour and there's nothing left when you have to pay your accommodation, bills and food? Sometimes you have to put yourself into others shoes so you will know the reality. you live in your own bubble. most of the fruit pickers are exploited.

Dena31948125

No, there is no such government around the world supported its people like Australia. Let’s not forget that money used as welfare payments are all bills should be paid back in the coming years. We don’t want more money deducted as a tax in the future to pay the welfare bills.

capfantastic

No. I think they should increase Newstart allowance to what they are currently paying and drop the Corona supplement.

kidwithsmurf

The government in Australia has paid people during the pandemic to survive. However, this is proposed to end in March 2021. They increased welfare for people who were looking for work, gave companies that lost x% of their profit money to pay their staff etc. However, this was abused.

Back to your question, I think the government shouldn't pay aid to people until everyone is vaccinated from Corona. This is because no-one knows when the vaccine will be fully completed and safe. Along with this it takes 2 doses of the vaccine and there are 7.8billlion people in the world. I doubt we have 14.6billion (2 doses per human) of safe vaccine to give out. Therefore, the government shouldn't just pay people until all humans are vaccinated.

Furthermore, the government doesn't have an endless cash supply and as Australia has seen throughout the pandemic that giving out all this money, in hindsight has been good... it has put the government in a worse position and has gone to the wrong people. For example, some people who lost their job have earned as much as when they were working if not more to sit around at home and apply for x jobs a month. But this gave them no incentive to secure a job. Those who didn't have a job before the pandemic and were on welfare looking for a job earned more money than they've ever seen. This is bad because people who never had money, all of a sudden had money and a lot didn't save it or spend it on essentials. Thus, when Australia's aid runs out in March everyone will be back to square one not knowing what to do since they've been living more lavish lives during covid with the boosted income. As for the aid to businesses to pay employees, it was abused and only went off your earnings over x period. So, say you earned a million dollars for a job one year, the next you earned 200k. You qualify for the government boost to help pay employees due to losing over x% of your business’s income. Then there was the factor that these businesses didn't pass the full aid onto the employees etc.

Hence, if the government is to pay aid to those in need, how do you determine who’s in need, how do you determine those businesses that genuinely need it? How do you regulate it so that those in need can only buy essential items to get them through coronavirus? You just can't and it will just become an endless cycle of people claiming aid when they don't really need it and people will abuse the system. Thus, the government will be in more debt than they already are as to vaccinate 7.6billion people will take an exceptionally long time and not everyone will be vaccinated (Anti-vacinationers etc).

Moreso, the government would be better off not paying those in need and increasing the amount of money put into creating jobs, increasing the amount of money put into hospital (So anyone who gets Corona can get the best care) and to put more money into homeless charities (The ones that give food, shelter, clothes etc to those in need). This way those who aren’t really in need or just waste the money they get won’t be able to easily abuse the system.

Overall, due to the number of people, the vaccine requiring 2 doses and the fact that Australia has tried paying those in need since Corona started but has failed to regulate it... goes to show we can't just pay everyone in need.

site77

The government in Australia has paid people during the pandemic to survive. However, this is proposed to end in March 2021. They increased welfare for people who were looking for work, gave...

yes you are right, it is better to have more jobs

site77

The government in Australia has paid people during the pandemic to survive. However, this is proposed to end in March 2021. They increased welfare for people who were looking for work, gave...

yes you are right, it is better to have more jobs

D_D

They should pay industries that are suffering. Eg pilots, performers, musicians.