The Latest Breaking News from JobSeeker

So low is Australia’s unemployment rate, the official count says there are now just 580,300 people unemployed – the least since 2009, when Australia’s population was one-sixth smaller than it is today. Compared to just before the start of the pandemic, 184,800 fewer Australians are now unemployed.

One of the first things Labor’s Bob Hawke did on being swept to office in March 1983 was to lift the unemployment benefit in April, seven weeks later, without even waiting for his first budget.

Out-of-work Australians will not receive any substantial boost to their unemployment benefit, regardless of who wins the federal election, with Labor dumping plans to review the rate of JobSeeker.

Before calling the election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed in a promotional video his government had done a good job of handling the COVID crisis over the past two years.

“Our recovery leads the world,” treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Australia on budget night last week. “We have overcome the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression.”

The Department of Social Services is investigating the "alleged conduct" by an alleged job agent towards a JobSeeker in the video.