This week the Greens and the Coalition had a common goal: to amend a Labor welfare bill so that recipients could earn twice as much — $300, instead of $150 — in a fortnight without their JobSeeker payments being affected.
Both sides put up amendments that would have done so, and with their combined Senate 42 votes, they would have been able to easily beat the government’s 26 votes. Yet neither side would allow the other’s amendment to pass.
The Greens framed their proposal as part of a progressive agenda that would ideally also have included much higher JobSeeker payments.
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