Commenting on the story: Centrelink explainer: your questions answered

It is all well and good that the JobSeeker benefit has been raised. And then what?

In September, the benefit will revert to $40/day to pay rent/mortgage, petrol, food, phone, utilities etc. And there are over half a million people out of work.

I am 64, soon to turn 65. It is unlikely that I will ever go back to work, especially now. I think it would be a good idea to move anyone who is turning 65 or has turned 65 onto the aged pension.

That way at least available resources could be directed to people who actually have  years of work ahead of them, instead of being spent on those of us who will be leaving the workforce in the very near future.

I don’t believe there is going to be a “snapback.” That rubber band has been stretched way beyond it’s normal limits.

It may not be broken, but its snapping days are over. – Shannon Kennedy

As a carer who receives a carer payment with no holiday benefits, no superannuation, and we are carers not unemployed so we are working on the lowest wage, I also think it is discriminatory to not pay carers an extra supplement at this time.

We provide an outlet for the government to have elderly people at home when there are no beds available in nursing homes, we are workers who are not being paid superannuation.

I’ve been a carer for 10 years. I have sacrificed thousands and thousands of dollars to stay and care for 7 days a week.

We are workers disguised as pensioners. Now we are being discriminated against being on a pension. – Michael Spence

I don’t qualify for Covid-19 supplement. I am a full time carer of my 11 year old and have a 17 month old. I receive carers payment and family tax benefit A & B as I’m a single mother.

I do not get paid parenting  payment as you can only claim one income, yet if I was on parenting payment i would get the Covid-19 supplement? 

I think this is wrong and discriminating. I am still looking after two children, just because one has a disability I don’t fit the criteria. 

I fully support and believe carers and disability pensioners should receive the supplement. – Jessica Heraty

Commenting on the story: Don’t return to $40 a day JobSeeker after pandemic: poll

As a father of four, remarried, I have found it near impossible to register for JobSeeker.

Being redundant since the end of January and having to access my super, we are in bad shape simply because we have to jump through so many hoops as my wife is self-employed. – Christian Muhlke

Commenting on the story: Deputy Lord Mayor calls for legal review of Hutt St Centre upgrade approval 

I believe fears of more crime in the area are unfounded, or rather founded in a certain privileged view of the homeless, who are are not so much criminal as luckless, or for any one of many reasons incapable of self management. As such they require society’s support, not its censure and exclusion.

I am saddened to hear that St Andrews Medical Centre and other services instructed lawyers to attempt to prevent the expansion of the Hutt Street service.

It will temper my decision to attend them in the future, as I have in the past.

Our society is made up of diverse elements. I would be as supportive of the centre for the homeless being in my street, if I lived in the city, as I am as merely a regular visitor to this wonderful precinct, one of the more interesting and diverse pockets of our city. – Anne A’Herran

Commenting on the story: “It’s beyond me”: SA Govt’s COVID-19 aged care response slammed as pathology feud escalates

Sorry, but this sounds like private sector sour grapes.

SA Pathology did a fantastic job. What does Sonic Health hope to gain from this? – Heather Petty

Commenting on the opinion piece: Calculating the cost of reopening pubs

All articles of this type ignore a few basic facts. In these situations where the Government money is being used substantially to support incomes there is always a return to the federal coffers in the form of GST and income tax.

Figures used to calculate the overall cost should be Outlay less Return (Taxes which could range from 20-40% of Outlay). Thus, the actual cost is not $12 billion per week, but as low as $7.2 billion.

There is also an assumption that all the Government money is spent. Given the disincentives to many businesses to use JobKeeper, this cost will be further reduced by lack of uptake.  

The Government has a track record of announcing large sums of money and then not spending it.

One only has to look at the NDIS, drought relief and bushfire relief to see that the amounts heralded by the various ministers bear very little relationship to the much smaller amount actually spent. – Adrian Dormer

Commenting on the story: New director for Carrick Hill

Congratulations to Tony Kanellos on his appointment as Director of Carrick Hill.

He will be a great asset to the place, though I’m sure the Botanic Gardens will miss him. All the best for his future there. – Anne Levy

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