The vice-chairman of the Unemployed Workers’ Union has launched a furious rant against the government, claiming the Budget will put welfare recipients “below the poverty line”.
Catherine Caine began her five-minute video on Tuesday with a ‘fuck you’ to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party.
It was published amid growing calls for the government to increase the payment to jobseekers in the budget, which ultimately fell on deaf ears.
Catherine Caine (pictured) slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a “cowardly moron” in response to a lack of changes to welfare payments.
“Regarding 95 percent of the issues you articulated so beautifully before the election,” a furious Mrs. Caine began.
‘All this great stuff about First Nations, justice, environmental action and completely inadequate rates of income support.
What have you done about it? Nothing.’
He went on to describe Mr Albanese as a “cowardly idiot” who has left Australians “floating in shit and desperately trying to stay afloat”.
Caine, who relies on a disability pension due to his chronic fatigue condition, defended his tirade on Thursday.
“Opposition Labor gained a lot of political capital by saying welfare payments were inadequate,” he said. The Daily Telegraph.
“Now that they have the power to do something about it, their political will seems to have disappeared.”
Caine believes the government should increase the payment from the current rate of $381 per week to “at least $650 per week” to keep welfare recipients “above the poverty line.”
Ms Caine was also asked why hundreds of thousands of Australians had been unemployed for more than two years.
“They can apply for a thousand jobs and they won’t get anything,” he said.
“They’re right at the end of the line.”
Caine is one of several members of the Unemployed Workers’ Union who have been advocating for an increase in the JobSeeker payment to keep up with the rising cost of living.
He wants the government to increase the payment. from the current rate of $381 per week to “at least $650 per week” to keep welfare recipients “above the poverty line.”
One of those beneficiaries told the outlet that he has been struggling to make ends meet since he lost his government job six months ago.
The single mother qualifies to receive $716 per week in government welfare support, the equivalent of working nearly 31 hours per week at a minimum wage job and earning $23.23 per hour.
Caine’s rant followed the publication of Labour’s third federal budget on Tuesday night (pictured Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese).
However, the mother claims that she and her 14-year-old daughter are at risk of falling into poverty, especially since the landlord increased the rent by $45 a week.
‘When winter comes, I’m nervous. Because I can keep the heat off, but I can’t do it for my son,” he said.
The mother added that the job application criteria to qualify for social assistance make her “feel like a circus animal, jumping through hoops.”
When asked if she would be willing to go back to work full-time, the mom said, “It would be a harder transition… but I definitely wouldn’t say no.”