Labor and Greens combine to defeat attempt to limit ‘reasonable excuses’ for missed interviews to prevent payments being cut

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The government’s attempts to limit “reasonable excuses” for failing to meet requirements of social security has been squashed in the Senate.



It sought to limit reasonable excuses for not attending a job interview to events such as a bushfire, serious illness or the death of a family member.

Being a victim of assault was also a possible reason for not making it to a job interview but only if it was very recent, such as one day prior, it was reported earlier this month.

In a letter to employment services from the employment department, it was suggested that a jobseeker who was assaulted a week before an interview “would not have a reasonable excuse” because it wouldn’t “directly prevent them from meeting their requirement (unless they were still incapacitated as a consequence of the assault),” the Australian reported.

The proposed regulation changes affect payments including the Newstart allowance and parenting payments, as well as some youth allowance and special benefit recipients.

On Thursday Labor and the Greens called the regulations an assault on the most vulnerable, and Labor senator Doug Cameron moved a disallowance motion for the regulations in the Senate, which passed 33-29 with the support of the Australian Greens.

“This is an ideological attack on the poorest people in this country,” he told the Senate.

Assistant minister for employment Luke Hartsuyker told Guardian Australia it was “disappointing” that the changes were blocked and accused Labor and the Greens of “deliberately confusing the facts in order to scaremonger.”

“The changes to the regulation would have brought greater clarity to what is meant by a reasonable excuse and resulted in more consistent decision-making,” he said.

“Safeguards for vulnerable job seekers would still apply. Labor and the Greens prefer to create loopholes for those job seekers who are intent on doing the wrong thing rather than look after the vast majority of those who do the right thing.”

The government described the proposed changes as a strong incentive to gain work.

“It is vital that our welfare system be retained as a fair and sustainable system,” government Senate leader Eric Abetz said.

Abetz said anyone suffering from mental illness, disability or injury, or who had to care for a family member or child, would still be protected under the rules.