Blue collar blokes to undergo urine tests for no reason

Blue collar middle-aged men who have recently been made redundant in sectors such as manufacturing, will be among those subjected to Scott Morrison’s humiliating urine tests.

This includes men in their 40s and 50s, who will be forced to undergo urine tests for no reason other than they require income support while they retrain and reskill in order to re-enter the workforce.

A University of South Australia expert, who studied workers made redundant following the closure of the Adelaide Mitsubishi plant in 2004-05, has criticised the government’s plan to drug test income support recipients.

The study found that 40 per cent fell into short-term or casual work.

Almost one in five Newstart recipients – or over 130,000 – have a job, but do not receive either enough hours or income to get them off the payment.

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures revealed that underemployment was at a record high of 1,167,300.

Australians are asking, how is urine testing redundant workers creating local jobs?

Linda Burney

Media release

Tuesday, 24 September 2019