A fair go for job seekers and asylum seekers

Published Tuesday, 14 June, 2016 at 07:40 PM

JOINT STATEMENT

Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence
The Honourable Shannon Fentiman

Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Grace Grace

The Palaszczuk Government will extend public transport fare concessions to Queensland job seekers and asylum seekers, following a recommendation from the independent Fare Review Taskforce.

Employment Minister Grace Grace said the concession fares for the unemployed and asylum seekers would be implemented in early 2017, pending discussions with federal agencies.

“Public transport plays an important role in connecting job seekers with education, employment services and job interviews,” Ms Grace said.

“This new initiative reflects the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment to support more Queenslanders back to work.”

Minister for Communities Shannon Fentiman said extending concession fares would help asylum seekers access important social and community services across the state and enhance participation.

“This decision is in line with other jurisdictions who have also extended public transport concessions to asylum seekers,” Ms Fentiman said.

“Asylum seekers are among the most vulnerable members of our community, and they often rely one public transport to access critical services like language classes, education and settlement support services.

“These members of our community often live below the poverty line while they wait for their refugee claims to be processed.”

The Queensland Government will work with federal government agencies and support groups to determine how to administer the benefit by early 2017.

Unemployed people receiving NewstartAllowance or Youth Allowance and asylum seekers will be eligible to receive concession fares under the package.

This initiative is part of the Fairer Fares Package with an additional $19.1 million allocated to the program in the 2016-17 Budget over the forward estimates.