#but that’s literally like telling me not to get top surgery if I’m immunocompromised n might have recovery complications

[binders-and-beanies]

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[iampikachuhearmeroar]

on top of this, if you are on welfare, most specifically the job seeking payment (job seeker- ie what i’m on) and also some forms of youth allowance, they’re forcing you to go into mandatory job provider “mutual obligations” appointments N PERSON- when god knows who the fuck is infected with omicron or whatever other fucking variant of covid.

when 4 years ago in 2018 (before the pandemic), when i was on the same payment my literal 5 minute (although scheduled to be 15 minutes) appointments that were literally like “are you meeting your requirements?” “yes!” “are you applying for 20 jobs a month as part of your job plan? yes.” “thanks we’ll call next month to ask the same thing!” were eventually ALL done on the phone with the exact example convo i just made up there. all because my job provider people KNEW that i had the resources at home, so why on earth was i wasting my goddamned time and money travelling to the office to get hounded by them and to use their computers??? back then they KNEW how useless and pointless me attending these meetings was. but oh no! says the government. it’s not pointless and useless not during a pandemic!! GO into the office and possibly get sick instead! because you jobless heathens, you MUST be punished for struggling to get hired or not being able to work at all (if immunocompromised or injured etc).

for example, last year there was a story of a former pilot with brain cancer (although the article is more about him being denied the disability support pension when he very obviously should be on it) being forced apply for jobs and being forced onto the job seeking payment that requires these bullshit meetings- when it went against every one of his various doctors requests for him to be off of work for 6 months or more. this is also why i didn’t apply for the job seeker payment until literally november last year. i had no fucking mental space after my stomach tumour removal surgery and me healing from it- to deal with the bullshit that the government and centrelink (social services) push onto the unemployed and sick people. obvs i’m luckier thanks the guy in the article, but you get my point.

however, now in the middle of a fucking pandemic, scumo and his liberal (right wing) mates are punishing low income/unemployed/under-employed people (let alone people who may be immunocompromised or suffering from other health conditions) by forcing them to attend fucking worthless job provider meetings physically all so they can say “oh yeah i’m applying for 20 jobs a month” or get their payments cut…. but just in person instead of over the phone- ie the safer option.

don’t get me wrong, they did stop these bullshit physical meetings in 2020; but they eventually brought them back and probably won’t get rid of them again…. when literally all of mine should be done over the goddamned phone like they were in 2018. for example: the week before last (because you have to go every fortnight now instead of once a month… or maybe it was twice a month in 2018 but i can’t remember now) all i fucking did was fill out a PHYSICAL job application form for a call centre that i had already applied for myself for my said 20 jobs a month for my payments in december…. and that was only bc the manager of my job provider is friends with the manager for the call centre that i’d applied for myself. so my point still stands: what the fuck was the point of me even attending this bs meeting when all my job placement guy did was re-write my resume in front of me (for me- since it was an example resume for another position that i ACTUALLY wanted but didn’t get bc of not having my own car) to send it off AGAIN??? and for me to fill out the physical form again. remind me why the fuck this would be better done over the phone or not done at all???? i’ll wait. tell me how the fuck this wasn’t meant to make me feel like it’s all pointless and stupid and time-wasting pencil pushing??? i’ll wait.

but anyway. the whole point is that the government is purposely putting low-income jobseekers/the unemployed/underemployed etc etc into a dangerous position all bc “WE NEED GOOD JOB NUMBERS! DO YOUR PART!” by forcing even immunocompromised and other sick people (and also the general above people) into physical job provider appointments- all under the guise (probs) that these people are less likely to lie about their job applying in person than they are over the phone….. and in doing so, are wasting literally EVERYONE’S fucking time, money, sanity and safety for in person appointments. just give people a fucking UBI and be fucking done with it and also cut the stringent requirements of in person meetings in a fucking major pandemic outbreak.

yep, "children driving forklifts" is definitely the radical, forward thinking kind of action that might just turn this whole thing around!