A surprise Senate defeat will allow young Australians to continue to claim unemployment within days of losing work, after the Greens, Labor and most crossbenchers united to block a bill that would have lifted the waiting period to five weeks.

The government proposed six months in its first budget, wanting the waiting period to apply to all job seekers under the age of 30. After failing to get the change through the Senate it tried again in May, proposing a four-week waiting period on top of the one week already provided for, for job seekers under the age of 25.

Labor, the Greens and the independents will use their combined majority to prevent an early Senate recall. Credit:Andrew Meares

The bill was brought to a vote quickly and defeated in a division, with Jacqui Lambie, Nick Xenophon, John Madigan, Ricky Muir and Glenn Lazarus voting with Labor and the Greens. The bill was supported by the Coalition and senators David Leyonhjelm and Bob Day.

"The change would have entrenched poverty", said Greens senator Rachel Siewert. "The Senate inquiry uncovered no international evidence that holding people off income support helped them gain employment."

"Five weeks is long enough for a young person to get into a thousand dollars' worth of debt, as they try to pay their rent, feed themselves and look for jobs."

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