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The Senate has this evening shot down the government’s attempts to make jobseekers under the age of 25 wait an additional four weeks before accessing unemployment payments. Labor and the Greens were against the bill, meaning that the government needed the support of six of the eight crossbenchers to pass it. The majority of the crossbenchers opposed the four-week waiting period and blocked it in the Senate.

Social Services minister Scott Morrison leaves question time in the house of representatives this afternoon. Wednesday 9th September 2015. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The social services minister, Scott Morrison, on Wednesday pledged to stick by the bill. “We remain absolutely committed to the measures we’ve brought to the Parliament on this issue,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “We do not believe that we should be sending a message to young people that it should be ok to go from the school gate to the Centrelink front door, and that’s why we’re bringing these measures. Labor and others may choose to oppose that, and that is their democratic right,” the minister continued. “The Coalition remains absolutely committed to this policy.”