186 - Senator Rachel Siewert

Rachel Siewert has been a Greens Senator for WA since 2005. She's the whip for the Greens in the Senate and her portfolios include First Nations Affairs, Family, Ageing and Community Services, Gambling and Mental Health. She recently chaired a Senate Committee into the adequacy of the Newstart/JobSeeker payment and has been fighting hard for the government to #RetainTheRate after the COVID crisis has passed.  In this conversation, Rachel explains how her politics are founded on concern for both people and the planet, the realities of our punitive welfare system, just how shitty JobSeeker is and why the Greens' "Invest To Recover" policy proposal - including a jobs, income and education guarantee - is the kind of bold response Australia needs right now.   If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you You can see me on Stan Australia’s Australia Lockdown Comedy Festival – episode one is streaming right now! @SenatorSiewert rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au RN INTERVIEW: Are welfare payments entrenching Australians in poverty and unemployment?  SENATE COMMITTEE REPORT: Adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia The Greens' "Invest To Recover" Plan ARTICLE: Greens demand job guarantees and free education for young people in coronavirus recovery plan The Australian Unemployed Workers Union ARTICLE: Adam Bandt, the personable hardliner by Margaret Simons Cause of the Week: The Australian Greens (greens.org.au)