‘Foreign workers and non-residents could soon be entitled to welfare packages from the Australian government’, a report by Katina Curtis of AAP (Australian Associated Press) suggests.
According to the report, Anne Ruston, Senator of South Australia and Federal Minister for Social Services is “examining all visa categories to see if there are foreign workers who should be given welfare”.
The assessment comes after students and apprentices were given an extra $550 a fortnight to help them deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus.
“Social Services Minister Anne Ruston has used her newly supercharged powers to give people on Youth Allowance access to a coronavirus supplement given to other unemployed people”, the report states.
“Many students, particularly those that support themselves, also have incomes from casual work to support their study,” Senator Ruston told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
It is also important to note that the government has already flagged people who were on the pathway to citizenship would have welfare waiting periods waived so they could access the same benefits as Australian jobseekers.
The impact of the coronavirus crisis has impacted all sectors of Australia. As businesses across Australia are shuttered, daily wage earners are the most impacted, especially casual and part time workers.
A decision to include foreign workers/non-citizens in the welfare system, or a separate stimulus package would ease burdening pressure of rent, daily supplies, and other essentials for foreign workers/non-citizens.
