‘Jobseeker Jez’ demands Centrelink shake-up

Centrelink veteran Jez Heywood has demanded the government stop forcing unemployed people to look for a job while receiving benefits.

The president of the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union made headlines earlier this year after being embroiled in an on-air row with 2GB’s Ben Fordham as the radio host tried to find him a job.

But on Tuesday, Mr Heywood testified before the House of Representatives select committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services and used it to call for an end to job seekers’ “mutual obligations”.

Workforce Australia requires unemployed people to earn up to 100 points each month by applying for jobs, taking courses, appearing at job interviews and keeping appointments.

Anyone who doesn’t meet their target could have Jobseeker’s Allowance scrapped.

But Mr Heywood said being forced to find work was too stressful for the unemployed and should be ended immediately.

He admitted he had suffered a ‘massive’ nervous breakdown during his 10 years on benefits and was allowed to miss his mutual obligations for three months at a time on medical advice.

But Mr Heywood said even that was too stressful to bear.

“I had a huge breakdown, stayed in bed for a week and cried,” he told committee chairman and Labor MP Julian Hill.

‘I was given an exemption from mutual obligations – medical certificates – but that in itself was frightening…

‘Every three months I was at risk of a Centrelink person with no medical experience overriding a doctor’s medical certificate.’

Centrelink eventually stopped accepting his medical certificates, he said, after they said his condition was permanent and prompted him to re-sign every two weeks.

“So now it’s a two-week cycle of anxiety where I have to fulfill my job search obligations and everything else, and then have my biweekly meetings with them,” he said.

“And you know, it’s just, like unemployment, it’s not nice enough as it is. We don’t need all that other s*** anymore.’

He said his best time on the dole was when the pandemic hit Australia in 2020 and mutual obligations were suspended for six months and jobseeker payments almost doubled.

He said the Covid package was a ‘breath of fresh air for everyone involved’.

“The relief people felt when they finally lived above the poverty line, and the government was no longer on their necks,” he added.

‘It made such a difference to people’s mental health.’

He claimed his job center hired him for a barista course in Geelong, south-west of Melbourne, 125km from his home near Frankston in Melbourne’s south-east.

“That was the only site where they offered a barista course,” he told the hearing.

‘I went on the internet and found barista courses in the area that were not through Matchworks (the associated provider). They wouldn’t do it… just no. Sorry.’

He said one of the few jobs he had been offered was making telephone calls for Centrelink.

“Yes, I definitely said that,” he said during the hearing. ‘If you don’t mind running the risk of me becoming a whistleblower.

“I never heard anything about that again.”

His comments come after Mr Heywood joined the social media attack in which Rich List business boss Tim Gurner was attacked for calling workers arrogant and saying the unemployment rate should rise by 40 to 50 per cent.

Heywood posted a photo of Mr Gurner from a Daily Mail Australia article about the reaction to Mr Gurner’s comments, showing him next to a woman in front of an electric blue Porsche 911 Carrera worth $320,000.

In a disturbing appeal to his more than 3,000 followers, Mr Heywood posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘Quite a striking blue Porsche you’ve got there, Tim.

“There can’t be many of them driving around Melbourne. Wonder how much it costs for a set of tires?’

But in the event of a failure, Porsche is not Mr. Gurner’s – and the woman next to him is not Mr. Gurner’s wife, Amee Gurner.

The woman pictured is Gold Coast mother-of-three Rachael Reid, a former model and racing driver, who was photographed meeting Mr Gurner on business.

The Porsche is hers and the photo is on her Instagram account, Her Supercar Life, which has more than 100,000 fans and has now spawned its own company.

A telltale sticker on the rear window of the Porsche in the photo is said to have alerted Mr Heywood, but even after it was pointed out, he continued.

When it was suggested that the car might be a rental, he added: ‘Ah, damn it. Yet there is always the deductible.’

But by then it was too late and his followers were already thinking of ways to destroy the Porsche.

One follower suggested it should be sprayed with paint-stripping brake fluid, while another said a bottle of Coke would have the same effect on the pristine bodywork.

Others warned that using a lentil under the valve cap could scratch the car or ruin all the tires.

One ominously researched the cost of a new Porsche tire and discovered it cost $967 a pop, while another instructed would-be vandals to damage just three tires because “if it’s all four, the insurance pays out.”

Other followers belonged to extremist environmentalist group Tire Extinguishers which targets 4×4 SUVs by deflating their tires to protest carbon pollution.

However, one follower warned Heywood that he had gone too far and advised: ‘I would delete this post’, but his suggestion was ignored.