Contributed by Ugly

According to a Deloitte Access Economics analysis, the cutting of JobSeeker payments will hit the economy by $31.3 billion, and this will lead to 145,000 new job losses.

The removal of this much spending money will contract the market by enough to stop any recovery after Covid-19. This will lead to a further decline in growth.

This is the last thing Australia needs.

It is not just about the economy. Human beings are affected. They are not just numbers on a table of statistics. A lot of people are going to be skipping meals, not be able to pay their bills, or provide enough for their kids, and in the worst cases, become homeless.

Small local businesses will close their doors because, they have lost too many of their customers. How many of these small business owners will themselves end up in the ranks of the unemployed?

More businesses will close their doors

There is far too much talk about the economy without consideration of the people who are in it. If the cut is implemented, which that the Morrison government has already said it will do, it will impose a human toll. This is the bottom line.

The economy has an importance. This is obvious. If the cut is implemented by the Morrison government, the size of the cut and the number of jobs that will go with it, will add new weight to he forces pulling down the economy. This will bring even more human misery a little way down the track.

Nicki Hutley, an economist at Deliotte, said this.

“We will remove growth from the economy. That means we will get less revenue for the Government, so you’re actually giving yourself a bit of a slap in the face if you take it away.”

“If people don’t have the supplement, they can’t consume as much,” she said.

“That affects demand for all sorts products right across the Australian economy but particularly the services sector and that’s where we will see the biggest job losses.”

ACOSS chief executive officer Cassandra Goldie repeated the organisation’s calls for the Prime Minister to stop the imminent cut to the supplement and instead legislate a permanent increase.

Living Incomes For Everyone calls on the present rate to be maintained as a minimum. Its position is that this puts the burden on those who can least afford to bear it, that they need support, instead of being victims of uncaring government policy.

The Australian Unemployed Workers Union has been campaigning to prevent the cut. So has the Anti-Poverty Network.

If the Morrison government persists on going down this road, it might just find it has a fight on its hands.