Unemployed benefit recipient does not contact employer who offered him a job after 2GB presenter Ben Fordham called him

A Melbourne man on Jobseeker who clashed with Ben Fordham after the 2GB host famously told him to ‘get a job’ failed to contact an employer who offered him a job.

‘Job seeker’ Jez Heywood, 48, appeared on Fordham’s 2GB show in May.

Mr Fordham offered to find him work in his field of graphic design after being consistently unemployed since 2017.

“He was only willing to work about eight hours a week,” Fordham said Friday.

“One of our listeners Ben immediately had some work for him. It was the perfect role for Jez; graphic design, working from home and setting your own hours.’

So Ben contacted Jez and the first conversation was positive. That was three months ago and a few people asked us, ‘What was the deal with Jez? What happened to Jez?” so we contacted Ben for an update.”

According to Fordham, the generous boss said he had “absolutely no contact with Jez” after offering him the job.

It appears that Mr Heywood, who is chairman of the ironically named unemployed union, turned down the position by not bothering to take up the job offer.

“I had to hire someone else,” Ben told the radio program.

“My honest assessment is that he is not interested in anything other than pursuing his jobless union and generally has a ‘poor me’ agenda,” he said.

“He asks for tolerance and understanding, but if you read some of his social media activity, he doesn’t offer much of that himself.”

Fordham said Ben had moved and the job was no longer available.

“Ben was a really decent guy because he said to us, ‘Look I don’t want to make life harder for him, I want to make life easier for him, he said he wants a job, I got a job for him’ ,’ Forham said.

“But Jez didn’t want the job, what a pity. Looks like Jez doesn’t want to work. Let’s face it, he’s happy to be on welfare indefinitely.’

Jobseekers will increase by $56 every two weeks on Sept. 20, when a $40 increase announced in the budget goes into effect, plus a 2.2 percent increase in the cost of living.

Mr Heywood previously told Fordham: ‘The best thing that happened in the last three years was when the Morrison government doubled the number of job seekers and lifted all cross-commitment.’

Australia’s unemployed union – which says it wants to ‘ease poverty’ – is led by President Jeremy ‘Jobseeker Jez’ Heywood, 48, who says he has been labeled a ‘dole bludger’

Fordham said on Friday that Centrelink had no clue in following up on the mutual obligations of people on benefits.

‘One of Centrelink’s requirements is that people must accept any offer of suitable paid work if you fail to meet the requirement, and fines may apply’

“Centrelink is a toothless tiger… I don’t think anyone will follow Jez, he doesn’t want to work and no one will force him, even though they should.”

According to the Services Australia website, failure to meet requirements such as applying for a job, attending interviews or appearing for a job will result in penalty points.

With three penalty points in six months, an interview will follow to discuss your situation and with five penalty points, a capacity interview will follow.

“People like Jez understand the system, there are 881,000 people on the Jobseekers and Youth Benefits, 150,000 have been in the program for at least 5 years, 156,000 have been unemployed for more than ten years.”

“They don’t all have the same attitude as Jez, but he’s become a poster child for a big problem; it is not obligatory to work for the benefits and if you do not fulfill the obligations, the consequences are pathetic.’