The #coronavirus supplement is the biggest boost to Indigenous incomes since Whitlam. It should be made permanent https://croakey.org/the-coronavirus-supplement-is-the-biggest-boost-to-indigenous-incomes-since-whitlam-it-should-be-made-permanent/ via Francis Markham at @ConversationEDU

"The unfavourable job market now facing many Australians for the first time has been the normal state of affairs for many Indigenous people... the temporary increase to income support should be made permanent, and the suspended mutual obligation requirements abolished.

"Doing so, and normalising some of the anomalies of the current arrangement (such as the exclusion of disability support pensioners, age pensioners, and temporary residents) would provide all Australians with an income floor below which no one could fall.

"For Indigenous Australians, it would lock in the biggest reduction in poverty rates since the 1970s.
It would be affordable — it’s only a question of our priorities.
The crisis has reminded us once again how much we depend on each other.

"We can use it to rebuild a society which is fairer and in which no one is forced to struggle in deep poverty." #SDOH #coronavirus