TONIGHT: COVID supplement 5 year anniversary event (online)
People in poverty are getting organised ahead of the 2025 federal election.
The Antipoverty Centre is co-hosting a series of events with the Anti-Poverty Network Queensland, the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia, the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union and Nobody Deserves Poverty throughout 2025, with the next scheduled for 7:30pm AEDT tonight (Monday 24 March) to mark 5 years since Scott Morrison doubled JobSeeker, bringing it to the poverty line, alongside other Centrelink payments – though not all – that were also increased by $275 a week.
All community members are encouraged to attend, and media are welcome to join the event until the formal part of the agenda concludes. This event is free for all. Registration is required.
If you missed last week’s event, Talking About Poverty with Rick Morton and Fiona Moore, you can catch up here: youtube.com/live/Jjs0h1Ht9Zs
Event information
Panellists will reflect on the political context that compelled Morrison to temporarily make some welfare payments more adequate and stop compulsory “mutual” obligations activities, as well as the politics of welfare that have enabled the Albanese government to get away with doing close to nothing after promising to leave no one behind. People who received the supplement will share their perspective on the impact that higher welfare payments and freedom from “mutual” obligations had both in their own lives and in their communities.
When
Monday 24 March, 7:30pm AEDT / 7pm ACDT / 6:30pm AEST / 4:30pm AWST
Speakers
Thomas Studans (he/him), welfare rights activist
Cin Webb (they/them), Blak mutual aid organiser and welfare recipient
Cheyanne (she/her), student and welfare recipient
Avery Howard (they/them), welfare recipient and Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union vice president
Associate Professor Elise Klein (she/her), Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU
Jay Coonan (he/him), welfare recipient and Antipoverty Centre co-coordinator
Agenda
7:30 Welcome and introduction
7:35 Why did the Morrison government increase Centrelink payments in response to COVID?
7:40 Reflections from people who received the COVID supplement and those who were excluded
7:50 Questions from event attendees
8:00 Short break
8:05 The “natural experiment”: What did the COVID supplement and suspension of “mutual” obligations mean for policymaking?
8:10 The politics of welfare in the 2025 federal election
8:15 Questions from event attendees
8:25 Breakout rooms for discussion
8:40 Final reflections
8:45 Event closes
Media contact: 0413 261 362 / media at antipovertycentre.org
