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The Conversation
The Conversation
Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Australians on unemployment benefits are set for two record paydays – but it's a sign of a broken system, long overdue for a fix

JobSeeker Unemployment Australia Anthony Albanese Inflation Labor OECD
Julian Smith/AAP

Australians on our humiliatingly-low unemployment benefit are about to get their biggest payday ever.

On September 20, the single rate of JobSeeker will climb A$25.70 per fortnight from $642.70 to $668.40. That’s the biggest automatic increase since the payment began at the turn of the 1990s, and twice as big as the next-biggest.

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