Victoria’s debt will hit $162 billion by 2025; Tim Pallas Awards Region Victoria, Health Sector; $250 rebate on floating energy bill

John Attard is currently unemployed and living on his savings.

The 48-year-old man from St Kilda has decided against getting a COVID-19 vaccination due to his pagan spiritual beliefs.

He was made redundant from two jobs, one at St Kilda’s Adventure Playground and the other in the juvenile justice system, leaving him jobless for the first time in six years.

With COVID-19 warrants still preventing him from re-entering the workforce and his savings dwindling, he now receives Centrelink fortnightly payments to help him survive.

Attard said on Tuesday it was “doubtful” the government’s attempts to get the unemployed back into work would work because they were in specific areas like advanced manufacturing, medical research and renewable energy, and depended on training and qualifications that people like him didn’t have. to have.

He is eager to claim the $250 payment available to all households if they use the Victorian Energy Compare website, but said it was a “drop in the ocean” of what he needed.
“Seeing is believing,” he said. “Sounds good, but only if they keep their word.”

Attard was initially concerned about the lack of support for the homeless in Victoria, but said he was happy to see that $1 billion in low-interest loans and government guarantees would be made available for social housing and affordable.

But he wondered why the government wouldn’t fund the construction of social housing directly, instead offering loans to community housing agencies.