for the payment. One such condition is that you cannot be getting any other form of financial support from any government programme.
“I think it will start being a real struggle to meet the costs of housing. There’s obviously the risk of having to leave my house and find a cheaper place to live in. There’s so many additional costs involved with moving,” Western Sydney resident Aneesa, a Jobseeker recipient who lost her job at the start of Sydney’s protracted lockdown, told Nationwide News. “It’s already done so much harm for my mental and physical health. I’m worried about how this situation could continue.”
According to ACOSS, so far, more than 640,000 people in NSW and Victoria have claimed disaster payments worth more than $317 million, while more than 582,000 of them were claimed in NSW.
A recent survey conducted by the organisation with the participation of 88 people living in greater Sydney revealed that every respondent unable to access the disaster payments was struggling to make ends meet in lockdown. “I think it’s really, really important to consider that a lot of people on welfare don’t choose to be on welfare,” Aneesa noted. “No one’s just sitting around doing nothing. Everyone deserves to be treated equally and respectfully.”
