At only $269 per week, Newstart is $177 per week below the poverty line. It is less than 41 percent of the minimum wage, less than 18 percent of the average wage, and has not been raised in real terms for 23 years. Even the Business Council of Australia has advocated to the government that the low rate of Newstart presents a barrier to employment and risks entrenching poverty. Increasing Newstart would benefit local economies, by increasing the spending power of those on low incomes, whose extra funds would circulate through local businesses. Given that the average time spent on Newstart is more than four years, Newstart has become a one-way ticket to poverty for many unemployed people. Its time to raise it.

Axing the Victorian Renewable Energy Target would kill off jobs in construction, manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, warehousing, for electricians and trainers --such as the 200-strong team making wind turbine towers at Keppel Prince in Portland. It would set our efforts to tackle climate change backwards. We, the undersigned, call on Matthew Guy and the Liberal National Party to drop its ideologically-driven pledge to axe the Victorian Renewable Energy Target and get on board with wind and solar jobs. Bipartisan support for the Victorian Renewable Energy Target will give this emerging sector the certainty needed to create good, secure jobs for Victorian workers into the future.

Under the government's Welfare Reform Bill, all unemployed workers aged 30 and over will have their Work for the Dole requirements increased by at least 50%. Unemployed Australians aged between 30 and 49 (approximately 300,000 people) will have their Work for the Dole requirements increased from 30 hours per fortnight to 50. Unemployed aged 50-59 will have to attend 30 hours of activities per fortnight (up from 15), while unemployed aged 60 and over will for the first time have to attend 10 hours at an activity per fortnight (previously zero). Focusing just on the 30-49 age bracket, this Bill will force unemployed Australians to attend 6 million more hours at a Work for the Dole activity each year. A government-commissioned report admitted that 64% of sites do not meet basic safety standards, while another report stated that Work for the Dole helps only 2% of participants into work. We have already lost one life due to Work for the Dole. Last year, Josh Park-Fing was forced to ride on a flat bed trailer being pulled by a tractor at his Work for the Dole site. He fell off and tragically died. The Queensland State Government is taking legal action against the Work for the Dole site, supervisor and job agency. Why is the government refusing to learn the lessons from Josh's death? The government cannot guarantee the safety of unemployed Australians at Work for the Dole, yet is expanding the program. This is a national disgrace. Senator Hinch has the power to stop the Welfare Reform Bill. Send him a messaging telling him why.

We need a fair deal. In the coming year, you will see us fighting for a fairer gas deal for Australians. If the government cannot stand up to big oil and gas companies and impose an effective solution, the Australian economy and families will suffer. We need urgent, decisive action. Australia’s gas should be for Australians - we should pay less for our own gas than our export customers. WE NEED YOUR HELP - TAKE ACTION We urge you to support our fight for a fair go for Australians. Sign the petition and call on the Government to fix our gas export crisis immediately. SIGN THE PETITION.

It's not good enough. We work hard and are entitled to fair pay and proper working conditions. We deserve the conditions and protections that Australian workers have worked hard for. Working as a delivery rider for Deliveroo was precarious. They offer no job security, no sick pay, no paid holidays and no superannuation. Insurance can be expensive and conditions unsafe. A recent survey by the Young Workers Centre found that 3/4 riders are earning below the minimum wage, almost half of riders have been injured at work and for many riders this is their full-time job. Riders are required to be responsible for their own insurance. This means that if workers are injured they will have to pay any medical costs and will not receive any pay while you are unable to work. For workers here on a visa, it is unlikely travel insurance will cover an injury sustained while working. There's no compensation if you get hurt and you can be out of work for months if you have a crash. The bigger the petition is, the stronger the message we can send: we need to change the rules so food-delivery riders get a fair go.

ExxonMobil is a global gas giant with oil and gas operations across Australia. Exxon has not paid a cent in corporate income tax in three years, despite reporting $24.8 billion in revenue. ExxonMobil uses tax havens, related party loans to its sister companies and highly-criticised internal marketing charges to minimize its tax bill to zero. What Exxon is doing may be legal as the laws stand – but it is also very wrong. We all pay our taxes. On wages, food, fuel and even the energy and gas bills that Exxon has become rich from. But the world’s 6th largest company thinks they are different – that they are above paying tax in Australia like the rest of us. Every time a major company like Exxon cheats us by not paying any tax, we all have to cover the shortfall. Imagine what kind of schools, hospitals, roads and bridges we could build if companies like Exxon paid their fair share.

Stealing is wrong. Yet every year hundreds of thousands of hospo workers in Australia are robbed. We are victims of wage theft. Wage theft, where companies deliberately underpay workers or refuse to pay superannuation, is also hurting people working in retail, farms and fast food. If workers stole from the till, we could go to jail. But if bosses steal from us, all they have to do is pay it back, if they’re ever caught. How is that fair? The rules are broken. The current laws make wage theft too easy and the punishment is too light. It’s now so common it’s become a business model. Venue owners right now are getting rich by stealing from their staff. WE NEED TO CHANGE THE RULES Prime Minister, if you are serious about upholding the law, make wage theft a criminal offence and introduce much bigger fines. We need to hold companies to account for their theft.

Edith Creek workers and their families deserve to know whether they will have secure jobs for 2018 before Christmas. While Murray Goulburn is working through what its future looks like, workers at Edith Creek have already been told they are not part of that future. To give Edith Creek workers security and hope going forward it’s important that Murray Goulburn sell the factory site and equipment to a new owner committed to continuing dairy manufacturing and secure jobs in the region.

Amazon is coming. We expect Amazon will be open for business in Australia on October 31 and we need to make sure that, from day one, Amazon workers have a job they can count on with fair wages and conditions.

The people of the Hinkler region ( Hervey Bay-Bundaberg) are feeling threatened , scared and worried for their financial futures and inclusion in our communities. Our population of people on legal eligible centrelink payments across the board, from youth allowance, newstart, dsp, carers etc should not be feeling like they are being excluded from our society and fear losing their sense of self. The insults that we cannot manage our funds, that we are all drunks, druggies and pedos are unjust and not true. People cannot be held responsible for gov't failures to create sufficient jobs and training for people who are isolated and are limited in their prospects. People with addictions need the funding put back into the services that have been removed and treated under the health system, not pushed onto a fantasy card that is being touted as the cure all for all of social ills, at the same time the mantra being pushed that only people on centrelink suffer those ills! Common sense is to provide help to those who need it, and not allow the privatisation of our Social Security sector to a private corp, ready to make big $$ off of the backs of our battlers. The added costs to the tax payer per person per year could be better spent in inclusive public service funding, not a punitive, segregating punishing, dehumanising boot being put down on people who have committed no crime. Australian citizens deserve to feel safe from their own gov't The current gov't is attempting to split our citizens into segments who are judged by their circumstance as to what level their citizenship counts for them. People on Centrelink payments are not "lessor" people just because they receive their rightful payments. Workers who cannot access enough hours are not lessor citizens, and current workers should not be placed in situations where they accept lessor protections at work, in order to stay employed in fear of , if they lose their jobs they will be on the card ! This card threatens our small business, markets and public events . Tourism cannot support these regions alone and the "cash flow" that circulates through our regions economies keeps people going, it keeps our centrelink recipients from becoming destitute, as they have access to secondhand items, cars, and are able to pay their cash rents. We have a large amount of older workers doing their mutual obligations, free labour hours to receive their payments, our younger out of work workers are also doing their work for the dole, part time work and studies, The cashless welfare debit card will completely destroy people on so many levels and we don't have the mental health services to cope with the loss of self and autonomy. This is not how any gov't should be treating any of it's citizens. The card does not care what colour your skin is, your religion, or your circumstance, it is about profits for private business. Indue Terms and Conditions show no mention of any persons health, mental health or general well being, it only has terms and conditions that remove peoples' right to privacy, contract and consent laws, it is about control. If the gov't was serious about helping people overall, they would lift the amounts of centrelink payments to make sure people can keep up with the modern costs of living and provide the health services that all of our community should have access too. The moral of the people is important to how a country works, removing the worth of so many and then the media and the gov't backing of the media "welfare bashing" is causing a great deal of distress across the country as whole. We in the Hinkler region want JOBS not CARD ! Training and PAID work for able bodied people, for older out of work workers and DSP need to be treated with respect too, Dignity NOT Poverty. The card will segregate people and cause more than just financial difficulties for recipients . Stop the Card!

It is the worse time in Australia's post-war history to be unemployed, yet the government and the media continue to blame the unemployed. It is clear that the problem is the system (of which mainstream media is a part) which is upheld by the politicians. The focus needs to be on them, not the unemployed. Politicians and media need to be held to account. Where are the jobs? What are the government doing about the Newstart rate which is $380 per fortnight below the poverty line? What are the politicians doing about the disaster of work for the dole, cashless welfare, job search agencies, drug testing and so on. They profit, while the unemployed suffer. Sign this petition and demand the unemployed are given a voice!

More than 400 people work at the titles office and they take their jobs seriously. Their dedication and attention to detail gives Victorians peace of mind when it comes to their homes. The titles office created $300 million in revenue last year. That's $300 million that was returned to the public to fund schools, hospitals, roads, and other highly valued public services. What's worse, we know privatisation doesn't work. Victoria has a history of privatising public assets only to see costs increase and service quality decline. Just look at the cost of electricity now, our muddled public transport system, not to mention traffic cameras, and prisons run for profit. If the titles office is sold to a private company it will affect everyone from first-home-owners to property developers. Fees are predicted to quadruple as seen recently in Canada, and costly title insurance will be a likely requirement for all homeowners, any revenue made from the titles office will go straight into the pockets of private company shareholders. Buying property in Victoria is hard enough. Why does the Government want to make it harder? We must stop the selling of this valuable public asset. Because once it's gone, it's gone for good.