Jobseeker Jez Heywood’s Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union has continued to amass a rich treasury of cash donations but has given barely a penny to those in need.
Despite its bulging bank balance of $134,560, the union paid out just $2,500 in grants last year.
Instead, it spent more than 97 percent of its annual budget on itself, mainly on travel, food and drink, legal bills and “subscriptions.”
The group – registered as a tax-exempt charity – was at the center of controversy last year after a Daily Mail Australia investigation revealed it had huge cash reserves.
Daily Mail Australia also revealed that several key office holders in the union are former private schoolboys, including one who is the son of a Victorian County Court judge.
The union claims to be fighting for the unemployed and demanding an end to the forced job-seeking of the unemployed, and also wants a major increase in job seeker benefits.
The latest figures provided to the Australian Charities Commission show the union is still keeping a huge cash reserve and handing out a small portion in grants.
Jez Heywood wouldn’t answer questions about his Melbourne ‘union’ when questioned by Daily Mail Australia (above)
The union’s latest figures to the Australian Charities Commission show it is still keeping a huge cash reserve and handing out a small portion in grants
Operating costs have skyrocketed to $90,451, more than tripling from $31,756 in 2022 costs.
$46,817 in donations was raised, but in total the group spent only $2,500 on an unspecified “grant/donation to the organization.”
It also spent $6,450 on unspecified “Honorarium” payments, which are usually compensation paid for work done voluntarily, up from $700 the year before.
Nearly a third of expenditure was on travel, with key office holders and members facing a bill of almost $29,000, compared to $3,030 the year before.
The union spent more than $7,000 on “food and beverages” last year, up from just $14 in 2022, while printing and stationery costs rose more than a hundredfold from $35 to $4,607.
It also generated another $7,278 in unspecified “subscriptions” – up from $1,614 the year before – as well as $6,000 in “office costs,” up from $2,072 in 2022.
A further $5,365 was spent on ‘online assets’ – up from $2,126 previously – while ‘overheads’ tripled from $1,262 to $3,664.
Mr Heywood is the union’s president and a long-term unemployed graphic designer who declined to respond to questions from Daily Mail Australia about the union’s finances.
He lives with his retired parents in a granny flat near Frankston in Melbourne’s south-east and last year gave the middle finger when asked about the union’s finances.
He led a delegation to Canberra in September to demand an end to “mutual obligations” that require unemployed people to demonstrate they are actively looking for work while hosting job seekers.
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 their Jobseeker’s Allowance scrapped, but Mr Heywood, 48, said this was too stressful to bear.
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.
“I had a huge breakdown, stayed in bed for a week and cried,” he told Labor MP Julian Hill, chairman of the Workforce Australia Employment Services select committee.
‘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 has had repeated on-air and online clashes with 2GB presenter Ben Fordham, with the radio presenter trying to find him a job and Mr Heywood turning down an employer’s on-air job offer.
“It’s hard to find things that my brain can handle,” he told Fordham.
‘I can’t consistently commit to anything. My brain gets so exhausted.’
Last year, Daily Mail Australia revealed the union was sitting on savings of more than $178,000, but had again handed out only $2,500 in grants.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the union for comment.