Mutual Obligation and Living Under the Poverty Line – Interview with Professor Kay Cook

As the Morrison government prepares to lower the assistance for Australia’s unemployed to a meagre $44-a-day the mutual obligations test will return. During COVID the unemployment benefit doubled and its now about to be scaled back to below the poverty line.

Jobseekers will now be required to fulfil a litany of obligatory tasks to receive Centrelink payment. But do these bureaucratic requirements help people into work? Or do they create barriers to meaningful employment?

To discuss this – I’m joined by Professor Kay Cook from the Department of Social Sciences at Swinburne University. Kay is one of the authors of a new report: Social security and time use during COVD-19.

Kay is co-author of an article in the Conversation.