Sixty-three-year-old jobseeker forced to make 250km round trip to keep welfare benefits

Map of Michelle’s one-and-a-half-hour journey from Yorketown to Kadina to meet her mutual obligations under the new Workforce Australia program. Illustration: Guardian Design

A 63-year-old woman from regional South Australia needs to make a 250km round trip to meet her mutual obligations and keep her benefits under the new $1.5bn-a-year Workforce Australia program.

Michelle*, who lives in Yorketown, on the Yorke Peninsula, has been referred to a job agency in Kadina, about one-and-a-half-hours’ drive or 125km from her home.