Yahoo Finance Major JobSeeker change for Sydneysiders
JobSeeker recipients living in seven Sydney areas will not be required to conduct job searches until 6 July, as large parts of the city enter lockdown.
People living in Sydney, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West, Woollahra and Bayside local government areas will not be required to carry out mutual obligations tasks, the Government announced on Saturday.
“Job seekers and participants in these areas will not face payment suspensions or financial penalties for failing to meet their mutual obligation requirements that are due, or are arranged to occur, during the suspension period of mutual obligation requirements,” Employment Minister Stuart Robert and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said in a statement.
“Job seekers and participants in these areas are still encouraged to remain connected to employment services to ensure they are supported to access the full range of assistance including mental health services if required, and to continue to check when their mutual obligation requirements are due.”
People receiving the JobSeeker support payment are ordinarily required to carry out 15 job searches per month, but this will increase to 20 jobs per month on 1 July 2021. That’s around one job search for each week day.
The Government has also announced it will be increasing its “auditing” of applications to find “non-genuine or deliberately poor-quality applications”.
The Sydney lockdown will continue until at least midnight on Friday 2 July as the state battles a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Residents in the Sydney City, Waverley, Randwick and Woollahra are only allowed to leave the house to shop for food, carry out exercise, care for someone or to carry out essential work.
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