Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Jeremy Poxon @jeremypoxon.bsky.social · 7h

Great run-down of the mutual obligations system — both it's current unlawful administration, and it's rotten ideological underpinnings that destroys lives — by @amyremeikis.bsky.social here: www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...

2 28 46

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 6h

If he responds, ask for a meeting!

1 2

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

💜 phonakins 🍉 @phonakins.com · 7h

Email sent to big Dan to ask if he is and if so how can I help him speak out publicly, he's one of the people that signed on the raise the rate when he first started but was put in his place pretty quickly.

1 1 3

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 7h

*ask 🤦

1 6

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 7h

“Privately, Labor MPs acknowledge there is a need to scrap the entire system.“

As your MP if they’re one of them. And if yes, what are they doing about it?

💜 phonakins 🍉 @phonakins.com · 8h

Yay was kinda quoted in this article by @amyremeikis.bsky.social !
"“Single JobSeeker [payment] just hit $400 a week. Let me know how you’d go if you were getting that little and were randomly not paid.”

www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...

Shame and harm at every JobSeeker turn – and now added AI slop

The system is so convoluted and stacked against people that even if it worked as intended, it would still be not just harmful, but useless.

www.thenewdaily.com.au

3 20 26

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

💜 phonakins 🍉 @phonakins.com · 8h

Yay was kinda quoted in this article by @amyremeikis.bsky.social !
"“Single JobSeeker [payment] just hit $400 a week. Let me know how you’d go if you were getting that little and were randomly not paid.”

www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...

Shame and harm at every JobSeeker turn – and now added AI slop

The system is so convoluted and stacked against people that even if it worked as intended, it would still be not just harmful, but useless.

www.thenewdaily.com.au

1 10 18

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

genuinely wild ombudsman report into the NDIS participant service guarantee, including disagreeing with the agency about whether they have delivered on it, and that rules haven't been finalised since 2022! [very good plain English report too btw]

www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/asset...

www.ombudsman.gov.au

3 11 22

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

💜 phonakins 🍉 @phonakins.com · 1d

Since it's #AntiPovertyWeek next week, I'm getting emails about fund- and "awareness"-raisers
Such as this Pantry Box Challenge where you attempt to live off the contents off this common charity food parcel for the week...

Carb city here we come!

Shopping List
For the purpose of this challenge you can purchase the items yourself or for a $50 donation (cost of providing these items) you can nominate to get the whole experience and collect from our Community Food Centre located at 370 Pinjarra Road, Greenfields WA.

Pantry - Shelf Stable Items

Pasta 500g

Rice 1kg

1 Can Tomato Paste 170g

1 Can Lentils 420g

2 Min Noodles | Beef or Chicken 85g (5 packet)

Quick Oats 750g

Chicken Noodle Packet Soup 50g

Soup Mix 500g

Long Life Milk 1L

1 Can of Tuna 185g

1 Can Butter Beans or Four Bean Mix 420g

1 Can Baked Beans or Spaghetti 420g

Vegetable Oil 750g ***

Sugar 1kg ***

Tea (100 pack) ***

Coffee 200g ***

*** Please note these item quantities are normally given out monthly not weekly

Fruit & Vegetals

Carrots x 4

Onions x 2

Potatos x 6

Tomatos x 3

Apples x 2

Mandarin or Oranges x 2

Bananas x 3

Bakery

Bread x 2 loafs

4 4 9

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Chele @chelecajeleca.bsky.social · 2d

The best form of welfare (for the capitalist class) is coerced labour exploitation (for you)

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

Payman: Why are you maintaining a system that "The Labor *party* platform notes can be punitive, cause stress and anxiety, and can be a barrier to employment?"

Senator Jess Walsh responds by explaining that the Labor *government* believes the best form of welfare is a job 👍

11 13

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Meg Penvose Clark @megpenvose.bsky.social · 2d

It breaks my brain thinking about how, after all the pain, outrage and disgust over robodebt, unlawful processes targeting the most vulnerable could happen all over again

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

A small sample of what is in the report: bsky.app/profile/penn...

Penny Allman-Payne @pennyallmanpayne.com · 2d

DEWR sought an assurance report on the Targeted Compliance Framework. They got it. It told them clearly that the TCF could NOT be assured. And yet the government continues to administer this unlawful system so it can suspend income support payments for bullshit reasons.

5 14

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Nobody Deserves Poverty @nobodyinpoverty.bsky.social · 2d

The @antipovertycentre.org watched #estimates yesterday so we didn't have to - 🧵of some of the questions and non-answers (some which sound very LNP era) about welfare and the TCF...

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

"If they don't deliver, they don't get paid,"

The first flagrant lie from the employment department in today's senate estimates hearing about the welfare cops who profit from poverty. No doubt there will be much more bullshit to come!

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

If you want to watch the employment department defend their unlawful operation of compulsory activities (so-called mutual obligations), you can tune in to the senate estimates hearing here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WId...

4 12

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

He wrote them, Labor voted for them when in opposition, and have kept the same policies since coming to government.

1 2 1

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

Sorry to hear that 💔

1

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Jeremy the Goose @jeremythegoose.bsky.social · 2d

Doing my part for the economy by involuntarily updating my status from “employed at the same place for over 20 years” to unemployed.

0 stars, do not recommend. Fuck you very much, governments of all stripes at all levels.

1 4 11

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

A small sample of what is in the report: bsky.app/profile/penn...

Penny Allman-Payne @pennyallmanpayne.com · 2d

DEWR sought an assurance report on the Targeted Compliance Framework. They got it. It told them clearly that the TCF could NOT be assured. And yet the government continues to administer this unlawful system so it can suspend income support payments for bullshit reasons.

8 12

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Mentally Grill @sadsam0451.bsky.social · 2d

The cruelty is the point.

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

"If they don't deliver, they don't get paid,"

The first flagrant lie from the employment department in today's senate estimates hearing about the welfare cops who profit from poverty. No doubt there will be much more bullshit to come!

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

If you want to watch the employment department defend their unlawful operation of compulsory activities (so-called mutual obligations), you can tune in to the senate estimates hearing here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WId...

6 12

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

Our questions for ABC 730 following the airing of this
shoddy story:

1) Who told you this report was commissioned in response to robodebt?

2) Are you aware that DEWR was forced to respond to revelations of unlawful decisions discovered by a welfare rights activist through FOI?

3) What gave you the impression this report about "policy", when it is explicitly a review into whether or not DEWR has operated the welfare punishment system unlawfully, and how doing so led them to unlawfully cut people off Centrelink payments, which the report confirms?

4) Did you actually even read the report you just covered on the public broadcaster’s flagship news program?

1 14 30

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

Mx Maddison Stoff @thedescenters.bsky.social · 2d

The frustrating part about this lie is that mutual obligations and the low rate of payment have actually been proven several times to create material barriers to this, even if 100% employment was actually possible, and under capitalism it is simply not.

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

Payman: Why are you maintaining a system that "The Labor *party* platform notes can be punitive, cause stress and anxiety, and can be a barrier to employment?"

Senator Jess Walsh responds by explaining that the Labor *government* believes the best form of welfare is a job 👍

2 29 70

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

MJ O’Neill 🏳️‍⚧️ @mjoneillchw.bsky.social · 2d

“Because we do not like unemployed people” is the subtext. And, it’s barely subtext.

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

Payman: Why are you maintaining a system that "The Labor *party* platform notes can be punitive, cause stress and anxiety, and can be a barrier to employment?"

Senator Jess Walsh responds by explaining that the Labor *government* believes the best form of welfare is a job 👍

2 17 42

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

It is government policy for at least 4% of people to be unemployed at all times.

When there are not enough unemployed people, they punish mortgage holders with interest rate increases until the economy gets bad enough that people start losing their jobs again.

Jeremy Poxon @jeremypoxon.bsky.social · 2d

Labor's employment minister rep admits that payment suspensions "cause harm", but they're "an important part" of the (unlawful) mutual obligations system, because

"At the end of the day we want ppl to get off payments and find a job"

gross 'best form of welfare is a job' stuff from the ALP here

3 26 38

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

It is in fact the very same report.

1 1

Reposted by Antipoverty Centre

JB_AU @jbau.bsky.social · 2d

$10m of fraud recovered from the Australian “job provider” system in the last 3 years and not one provider removed from the system.

So welfare recipients lose their ability to pay for shelter or food due to other people’s errors, but job providers face no consequences for fraud.

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3d

Lmao the employment department has recovered 10.6 MILLION from providers due to fraud tip-offs over 3 years, and not shut down a single provider.

Reminder: They spend 4 BILLION A YEAR on this system, which is about 25% of how much they spend on JobSeeker payments each year.

2 22 47

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

And we know that the $10 million doesn't even scratch the surface.

1 1 5

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

Ok that's all for now.

Thanks for following along folks, and thanks to the Senators who attempted to bring some form of accountability to the bureaucrats who are wreaking havoc in 1000s of poor people's lives on a daily basis without a care in the world.

4 23

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 2d

They sure do! Just got a bunch of new contracts in the rebranded disability employment service 🥰

Contract notice from 17 September 2025 showing a $376 million contract for Wise Employment.

1 1