The JobSeekers shall inherit the what now?

RAISING AN ISSUE

The Morrison government is expected to announce a permanent boost to the $565-a-fortnight JobSeeker rate today, with news.com.au reporting the lift will come in at just under $50 a week, while Guardian Australia reports that the expenditure review committee last Friday agreed to an increase of just $50 a fortnight.

The potential rate, both options for which fall well below both the current $150 coronavirus supplement and poverty definitions of either $1100 (per the Henderson rate) or $816 (per ANU), will reportedly not include the previously-floated push to combine all additional subsidies and supplements.

The new sum will however include new mutual obligation requirements, although anyone convinced people will not look for work unless they live in poverty need only compare labour market flows from pre- and post-coronavirus supplement.

The news comes as the Greens and the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union campaign for an $80 a day rate, while Labor pushes for an undisclosed increase.

PS: Incidentally, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Scott Morrison has told colleagues to prepare a “two budget strategy” for economic recovery, suggesting an early election is off the table.

ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS MISHANDLED?

Note: this story discusses sexual assault.

Former Liberal staffer Chelsey Potter has written an op-ed at InDaily accusing federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham of not meeting with her either before or after she went public with allegations of sexual assault by a colleague.

InDaily further explains that Birmingham, who was not told of the allegations while Potter worked in his office, has confirmed he declined to meet up in 2019 and only sent messages referring her to the Women’s Information Service and 1800RESPECT — “Not even a suggestion of involving the police, which would later become the catchcry of senior Liberals weeks later”.

Similarly, former NSW Liberal Party staffer Dhanya Mani, who publicly aired allegations of indecent assault against a colleague in 2019, has told 7.30 she reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for help but did not receive any.

The comments comes after Four Corners revealed that a fourth woman has come forward to make a complaint about the former staffer who allegedly raped Brittany Higgins — specifically that the man allegedly stroked her thigh under the table at a Canberra bar — while Higgins has slammed Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’ claim of not wanting to answer questions in the Senate due to concern for her former staffer’s privacy as “patently false”.

Finally, Guardian Australia notes that Scott Morrison’s office has acknowledged that a second prime ministerial adviser knew about the termination of Higgins’ alleged rapist, because the current staffer had worked under Reynolds’ previously.

PS: Additionally, Higgins’ partner David Sharaz has resigned from his job at a media analytics company in Canberra due to fears of payback while dealing with federal government clients.

JOBS FOR THE BOYS

Finally, in keeping with the Morrison government’s proud tradition of stacking public sector roles with old mates, the AFR ($) reports that former Liberal minister Bruce Billson will replace Kate Carnell as Small Business Ombudsman.

This comes in spite of Billson receiving a rare bipartisan censure by Parliament in 2018 after a report by the privileges committee criticised his failure to list his external salary of $75,000 for the Franchise Council of Australia before leaving Parliament.