Job keeper

THE other day I was sitting waiting to go into an appointment when I overheard a conversation between two staff members. They were wondering how they were going to manage with the uptake of customers since being able to open after being shutdown with COVID-19.

There were two staff members who were off work, being paid job keeper. They wouldn’t come back to work as they were being paid more money to stay at home. Surely this is not what the job keeper payment was meant to do. This is not fair to their employer at all.

There are people out there who through no fault of there own, have lost their jobs and are not entitled to any payment. Then there is the job seeker payment, $1115.70 per fortnight.

I know of households where there are at least six people living together, none of them have ever had a job, none are disabled and are all on a Centrelink payment.

It is scary adding up how much money is going into these households every fortnight. They are doing drugs and dealing drugs daily. They are no worse off since the coronavirus started but are being rewarded while others are forced to struggle with no help.

There are employers begging for workers but those on job seeker won’t work while they are being handed this amount of money to sit at home.

Surely I am not the only person outraged by this.

I was watching a British show on TV, and in the UK when drug dealers are caught, they are also charged with welfare fraud because they are earning money and not declaring it. What a great idea. Pity it didn’t happen here. LYN SPAIN, Toowoomba