This response is from a man in his 50s who has been homeless. He is living in regional Queensland. He has requested that his name be withheld.
Survey responses
| Which payment do you get from Centrelink? | JobSeeker |
| Do you ever worry about losing your payment? | Yes |
| Provider name | APM |
| Do ‘mutual’ obligations activities make your mental or physical health worse? | Yes |
| Have you been able to access programs or services through a job agency or other provider that helped to improve your physical or mental health? | No |
| Have you ever had paid work, study commitments or caring duties at the same time as being required to do ‘mutual’ obligations? | Yes, I have had paid work while doing ‘mutual’ obligations |
| Do you have any paid work? | No |
Do you want to say anything about your experience with Centrelink or living on payments?
Poverty payment
What effect do ‘mutual’ obligations have on your wellbeing?
Stress Anxiety
Has a provider ever caused a problem with your payment?
Yes, but I was able to fix the problem before my payment was affected
What is the worst activity you have had to do?
Work for the DoleWork for the Dole is a program that applies to people in the mainstream Workforc...
Placement experience – Work for the Dole
| Host organisation name | Vinnies |
| Do you think the activities you did during the placement were useful or important? | No |
| Do you think these activities produced something valuable for the host organisation? | Yes |
| Do you think these activities produced something valuable for the community more broadly? | No |
| Did you learn something valuable or gain skills that you think make you more employable? | No |
| Did you feel that you were in a safe working environment? | Some of the time. An employee or someone else was injured or involved in a safety incident. |
| Were there any safety incidents while you were working at the host organisation? | ANSWER |
| Do you want to say anything about your experience with this placement? | Sucks badly |
| Did you enjoy doing Work for the Dole? | No |
| Did you participate in Work for the Dole by choice? | No, I did not want to participate in a work placement but I was not told there were other activities I could choose |
| What type of job or activities did you do? | Truck driver’s offsider |
| Do you think this should have been paid work? | Yes |
| Did you get a paid job with the host organisation? | No |
Employment services survey
The Punishment for Profit report is based on hundreds of responses to surveys conducted by the Antipoverty Centre. This research is ongoing. If you are in Workforce Australia, Disability Employment Services or a similar program, we welcome any information you are able to share about your experiences.