Aussies have been warned it is unfair to tell Centrelink recipients to ‘get a job’ – as the debate over welfare benefits reignites and benefits rise again.

From this week, five million Aussies will receive a cash boost of up to $20 every fortnight on Centrelink payments.

Centrelink’s payments are indexed for inflation every six months, with the 1.8 per cent increases that came into effect on Wednesday reflecting the combined Consumer Price Index increases in the September and December quarters.

Amid the rise in payments, many of those receiving Centrelink have heard the words ‘dole bludger’ or ‘get a job’ – but experts say these comments unfairly characterize those receiving benefits.

Elise Klein, senior lecturer in public policy at the Australian National University, recently set out the top four reasons why securing a job is not as easy as it seems to many at Centrelink.

She said many recipients are hampered by other volunteer commitments, have health issues, face financial challenges or are affected by the area where they live.

“Many people who are on social security do enormous amounts of unpaid work, especially unpaid work in healthcare,” Dr. Klein told ABC News late last year.

‘Another important part of this is that many people on JobSeeker have a disability or illness, so there is a tightening of eligibility for a disability pension.’

The tightening of disability pension criteria 12 years ago has meant that those on Centrelink benefits battling cancer and those with disabilities deemed unable to work part-time have been forced to receive lower Jobseeker’s Allowance, she explained out.

Dr. Klein called for the system to be reclassified.

“If you’re fighting cancer or know you have a disability, you’re not looking for work,” she added.

“You can’t be looking for work; You’re trying to stay alive.

‘The whole rationale behind JobSeeker is a complete mismatch with where people are.’

Location is also another big factor, especially in remote areas where there aren’t enough jobs.

The policy also creates a barrier for job seekers and Youth Allowance recipients, who have mutual obligations to actively look for work, attend job interviews, make appointments and receive training, she says.

Dr. Klein believes that the mutual obligations should be eliminated or revised.

“The payments are so low that it puts people below the poverty line, and that’s a big barrier for people to get out and look for work,” she said.

‘There is a huge amount of Australian-specific research showing that mutual obligations work against people.

‘People who are actually subject to mutual obligations don’t want them and say they are really damaging and affect their self-confidence and ability to go out and look for work.

‘They consume people’s valuable time and are at odds with reality.’

The Australian Council of Social Service has made calls for the federal government to increase income support payments following routine indexation increases.

According to CEO Cassandra Goldie, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Youth Allowance and related payments should be increased to the new pension rate of $80 per day so that recipients can afford basic necessities.

“The changes will still leave more than a million people dependent on JobSeeker and associated payments struggling to survive, with JobSeeker rising by just 96p a day to $55 a day,” Ms Goldie said this week.

“It is completely inadequate for people who are barely surviving, forced to ration food and medicine or suffering from the sweltering heat because they cannot afford to cool their homes.

‘With unemployment expected to rise this year, lifting income support is not only the right thing to do; it provides an essential buffer against falling living standards and increasing job losses.’

Australians are fleeing Sydney in droves as overseas immigration hits a new record.

A record number of 548,800 migrants moved to Australia in the year to September, with the population growth rate of 2.5 percent the highest since the early 1950s – even as the birth rate plummeted.

Sydney, already one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world, is so expensive that many residents are moving abroad in search of cheaper housing as foreign migrants pour in.

In one year, 33,202 New South Wales residents moved to another state, while 186,433 overseas migrants took up residence.

But when the interstate exodus was taken into account, NSW still needed to accommodate 153,231 new residents before accounting for 32,893 new births.

The large outflow saw NSW experience below-average population growth of 2.3 per cent, lagging behind Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria.

Meanwhile, Tasmania was the only state to record a zero natural rate of increase, based on births minus deaths.

The island nation saw 3,079 residents move interstate while 4,400 overseas migrants moved in – a very small net increase of just 1,321 new residents or a minuscule population increase of 0.3 percent.

Sydney’s median house price of $1.396 million is significantly higher than Brisbane’s $899,474 level, based on data from CoreLogic.

Queensland had the largest migration inflow among states at 32,625 as 87,954 overseas migrants moved in – a net increase of 120,579 new residents before taking into account 23,010 net births.

Queensland’s population growth rate of 2.7 percent was slightly above the national average of 2.5 percent.

Victoria had 161,758 new overseas migrants, but only 1,119 left for the interstate, while Melbourne still has suburbs with an average house price of less than $600,000.

While Melbourne is cold in winter, Victoria is still expanding with a population growth rate of 2.7 percent – ​​the third highest in Australia.

Mining-rich Western Australia had the second highest interstate migration inflow at 11,233, while 67,629 migrants entered.

WA had Australia’s highest population growth rate: 3.3 percent.

South Australia had 1,007 residents move interstate, while 28,587 overseas migrants moved in – for a population growth of 1.7 per cent.

On a per capita basis, the Northern Territory had the largest interstate exodus, at 3,606, while only 3,189 overseas migrants entered, making it the only state or territory where interstate outflows exceeded overseas inflows.

The NT population grew by only 0.7 percent.

The Australian Capital Territory, which covers Canberra, had 1,845 residents moving interstate, while 8,792 overseas migrants moved there – giving it a below-average population growth rate of 2.1 percent.

Australia is now home to 26.8 million people.

Immigration was responsible for 83.2 per cent of Australia’s population growth in the year to September, with 548,800 new migrants and 111,100 new births – a natural increase of 3.9 per cent on the previous year.

Shortly before the Australian Bureau of Statistics data was released, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called for a vote on immigration policy.

“Australians have never been allowed to vote on immigration and multiculturalism,” she told the Senate.

‘When have we been asked or consulted about our population?

‘Governments have consistently introduced high levels of immigration, they say, to stimulate the economy – this is nonsense.’

While the Australian economy continues to grow, there has been a per capita recession since the June 2023 quarter, with output per worker in decline.

A young Australian fed up with social media has put up a poster of himself across Sydney in the hope of making ‘real friends’.

The poster was spotted on walls around Sydney, including City Hall, Chinatown and Redfern, and was the brainchild of 18-year-old Cooper.

Cooper told Daily Mail Australia he was confronted with the idea earlier this month while scrolling through his social media accounts at 1.30am.

‘I was just up and scrolling on my phone. I thought, ‘Man, this is so boring. I wish I was doing something else,'” Cooper said.

‘So I decided to make that poster. I told myself, if I still think it’s a good idea in the morning, I’ll post it.’

The full-time student printed 35 copies of the poster which he described as “some graphic designers’ worst nightmare.”

He titled the creation ‘I’m tired of online friends, let’s be friends in real life’ and called on Aussies aged 17 to 24 who weren’t ‘bigots’ to get in touch.

‘In the rise of social media I say: f**k it! If you want to be friends (or enemies) CALL ME TODAY!!!” he wrote.

Cooper said he received an overwhelming response to his poster, with more than 50 different people calling or texting him.

He explained that of the 55 comments, some made encouraging comments, and a small number were trolls, but the “vast majority” were people who genuinely wanted to make friends.

“Now I have plans from this week to next week for trips, places to go and people to see, and that’s fun,” Cooper said.

Cooper believes the best way to connect with others is through comedy. He wrote “little funny things” on the poster so people would laugh and be more likely to text him.

“I think someone who is really funny and can really make people laugh is a real treasure for social circles and humanity,” Cooper said.

“So the whole idea [of the poster] was to make it so sexy and so that it was about being good again.”

On the poster, Cooper posted a photo of himself and mentioned his interests and qualities he brings to a friendship.

He described himself as the “go-to guy” for complaining, a great movie watcher, a talker and a listener, someone who would text random thoughts at noon and a person who would invite himself over to your house to boil eggs.

He added: “I’m actually very charming and funny.”

The Gen Zer, who studies psychology and counseling at the Australian College of Applied Professions, said he used the poster to highlight how young Aussies are stuck socializing via social media.

“I feel like the younger generation relies too much on social media,” Cooper said.

‘Nowadays the number of depression and loneliness is increasing. We feel so isolated by our devices because we are more connected than ever, but in a way that is socially isolating.

‘People don’t put themselves out there. They don’t bother talking to people. I’m pretty sure the right people will look, see the poster and speak to me.’

He urged young Aussies to let go of their phones and encouraged them not to be afraid to put themselves out there.

“You only live once and you have to make sure you know this is the prime of your life,” Cooper said.

‘You don’t live it by being on your phone. You have to go out and experience life yourself.”

There are growing calls for Australia to address the “very serious threat” that Chinese social media giant TikTok poses to Australians.

The short video app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is one of the fastest growing platforms in the world with more than 170 million users in the US and 8.5 million in Australia.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would give ByteDance six months to divest the app and sell it to a company outside China.

Australian Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Sunday that TikTok will remain unsafe unless its relationship with Beijing is “severed”.

His comments came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to follow the US.

“Now that Congress and the US are banning TikTok, do you think we’ll do the same here in Australia?” asked WSFM radio host Brendan Jones.

“We will seek advice, but we have no plans,” Mr Albanese replied.

“You must always put national security interests first, but you must also recognize that this is a way for many people to communicate.”

But Patterson called on the government to “take action”, saying the app posed a risk to Australian democracy and national security.

Speaking on Sunday, he said the coalition does not yet support a full ban on the platform, but that the administration should support growing efforts in the US to spin off TikTok’s US operations from its Beijing-based parent company.

“If the United States successfully removes TikTok from ByteDance, Australia should look to do the same,” the Victorian senator told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“The ending I hope for is that Australians can continue to use TikTok, but without the risk of their data being misused and without the risk that the Chinese Communist Party can override the algorithm to pump disinformation into our democracy.

‘I’m sure intelligence agencies aren’t saying to the Prime Minister, ‘There’s nothing to worry about with TikTok – there’s no worry at all.’

“We know that’s not the case.”

The platform, whose users are mainly teenagers and young adults, is among Australia’s most downloaded apps.

But many politicians and security analysts in Australia and abroad have become increasingly wary of it, concerned that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over user data, or use it for propaganda and to sow division.

TikTok said it will not transfer data to China and that it is trying to remove misinformation from its platform.

The US legislation to tackle TikTok has received significant support among US politicians and was overwhelmingly passed by the lower house of Congress.

TikTok has urged US users to contact their local politicians to show their disapproval via an in-app notification.

If the bill also passes the U.S. Senate, President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the legislation into law, creating a legal challenge to the legislation on the grounds that it infringes on the First Nations’ right to freedom of expression Amendment.

Chinese government officials have also expressed opposition to US pressure to force the sale of TikTok, telling ByteDance they would prefer to see a ban enforced.

An outcome in which ByteDance refuses to divest the $160 billion app, forcing the ban and reducing its value, would be “revealing,” Senator Paterson said.

“That would be a very irrational choice, but it will be quite an illustrative choice, because I suspect that ByteDance would operate as an extension of the Chinese government, and not as a commercial entity.”

The senator also called on the government to introduce new transparency requirements on TikTok and other platforms such as Chinese social media site WeChat, as recommended by a Senate committee investigating the risk of foreign interference through social media.

“They need to be transparent about the relationship they have with foreign governments and the directions they receive from foreign governments to interfere with the content on a platform,” he said.

“These recommendations are there for the government to implement at any time… I really hope they do.”

But asked whether the issue should be raised when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Canberra next week, Senator Paterson said it was “not a high priority issue”.

“The Foreign Minister (Penny Wong) and the Prime Minister have a long list of issues to raise with (Mr Wang), especially the death sentence facing Australian citizen Yang Hengjun.”

By Jimmy Briggs for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 7:58 PM EDT, March 13, 2024 | Updated: 7:58 PM EDT, March 13, 2024

When the eruption broke out, 24 Australians were among 47 tourists on New Zealand’s White Island.

DEATH:

Julie Richards, 47, and her daughter Jessica, 20, from Brisbane.

Martin Hollander and his wife Barbara

Martin Berend Hollander, 48, from Sydney.

His two sons Berend, 16, and Matthew, 13, who attended Knox Grammar in Sydney, both died in hospital after suffering serious injuries in the blast.

According to his Linkedin profile, Mr Hollander works at Transport for NSW as a freight initiatives manager.

He is also a director at a Singaporean investment management company, Wipunen Incrementum Capital.

The bodies of Mr. Hollander and Mrs. Hollander were later recovered from the island.

Gavin Dallow, 53, and stepdaughter Zoe Hosking, 15, from Adelaide

Mr Dallow’s body was identified by police from five bodies recovered on the island. Zoe was later formally identified as the victim.

Karla Mathews, 32, and Richard Elzer, 32, from Coffs Harbour, NSW

The couple were identified as the tourists still on the island and therefore presumed dead by their families.

Jason Griffiths, 33, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Jason Griffiths, 33, from Coffs Harbour, NSW, died from his injuries after being taken to hospital in a critical condition.

He had been on a tour of the volcano with couple Karla Mathews, 32, and Richard Elzer, 32, who are now believed dead, friends said.

Matthew (year 8) and Berend Hollander (year 10) from Sydney

Knox Grammar schoolboys, brothers Matthew, 13, and Berend, 16, Hollander.

They died in two New Zealand hospitals after escaping the island with horrific burns.

Their father Martin and mother Barbara were confirmed dead.

Krystal Browitt, 21, from Melbourne, and her father Paulus

Ms. Browitt was on the Ovation of the Seas cruise with family for her 21st birthday.

Mr Browitt died in hospital on January 13.

Their mother Marie escaped death by staying on the cruise ship.

Anthony Langford, 51, and his wife Kristine Langford, 45, from Sydney

Kristine Langford, 45, from Sydney, is also among the dead.

The couple’s 19-year-old son, Jesse, survived the volcanic eruption and is recovering in hospital with burns to 90 percent of his body.

Mr Langford worked for Sydney Water.

Winona Langford, 17, Sydney

New Zealand police said one of the still missing bodies on White Island belonged to 17-year-old Winona Langford from Sydney.

It is confirmed that Winona’s mother and father are dead.

Her body is buried on the deadly volcanic island or lies in the sea.

THE WOUNDED:

Stephanie Browitt
Stephanie Browitt suffered burns to 70 percent of her body.

The 24-year-old from Melbourne had her fingers amputated and wears a full face mask to protect her healing skin.

Lisa Dallow, 49, from Adelaide

She was in a medically induced coma at Hamilton Hospital, with 57 percent of her body burned.

Jesse Langford, 19, Sydney

Jesse Langford was the sole survivor of his family of four who visited the island on an Ovation of the Seas cruise for his father’s birthday

By A. James for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 6:25 PM EST, February 16, 2024 | Updated: 6:26 PM EST, February 16, 2024

By Lisa Edser for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 09:28 EST, February 15, 2024 | Updated: 4:36 PM EST, February 15, 2024

• 500,000 homes in Victoria without power
• State hit by forest fires and hailstones

By Max Aitchison for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 01:48 EST, February 13, 2024 | Updated: 02:21 EST, February 13, 2024

The disappearance of Samantha Murphy has gripped the nation with many left baffled as to what has happened to the missing mother-of-three.

The 51-year-old hasn’t been seen since the morning of February 4 when she vanished while going on an early morning run in the Woowookarung Regional Park, around two hours northwest of Melbourne.

She’d left her house in Ballarat East to go for a jog as she did everyday, but when she failed to show up for an 11am brunch, her family raised the alarm.

A major search operation was launched with several police units involved along with SES volunteers, friends and family and members of the local community.

With Ms Murphy now missing for eight days, Daily Mail Australia takes a look at some of the key questions about the case.

What happened to Samantha Murphy? 

The night before she disappeared, during dinner with her husband Mick and friends, Ms Murphy mentioned she was going for a 14-km run the next day before it got too hot. 

Ms Murphy left her home on Eureka Street in Ballarat East to go for a jog just after 7am last Sunday at a pine forest at the end of her street.

This area, referred to as the Woowookarung Regional Park, features over 120km of roads, tracks, and trails winding through dense scrub. 

It is littered with abandoned mines and treacherous mineshafts where the unwitting could easily fall into. 

CCTV captured Ms Murphy running past a neighbour’s house at about 7.16am on the Sunday she went missing.

It’s understood she was running in a north-easterly direction. She’d told her husband she was heading out on a run but she never returned.

Her disappearance has sparked various theories on what happened:

• Foul play, including false allegations Samantha’s husband was behind her disappearance 
• Potential dangers from drug users and homeless encampments in the forest
• The possibility of a hit-and-run incident occurring along her usual running route 
• Samantha potentially getting lost in the forest due to health problems 
• There are concerns that Samantha might have accidentally fallen into an abandoned mine or mine shaft in the vicinity 
• Some speculate abduction or intentional disappearance

Was Samantha Murphy the victim of foul play?

Victoria Police Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt said on Friday police had not identified any ‘suspicious or sinister circumstances’, but held concerns for her welfare.

Respected criminal psychologist, Tim Watson-Munro, said nothing could be ruled out and raised the possibility Ms Murphy may have had a stalker if her disappearance is found to be a result of foul play.

‘Who’s responsible I don’t think we could say. As I understand it was a happy home life,’ he earlier told Daily Mail Australia.  

‘It could be that she was being stalked, if you have a regular pattern, stalkers love that and she had a regular pattern of running through that area.’

Mr Watson-Munro also said misadventure could be a possibility and noted locals in the area had raised concerns about unnoticeable mineshafts in the state forest.

He also said that if any crime has occurred, it’s also possible it may be opportunistic, in that someone has seen Ms Murphy out and decided to act on that. 

Superintendent Hatt said detectives would also look into Ms Murphy’s movements and interactions with others in the days before she vanished, including her friends and family.

One wild claim alleges Ms Murphy was involved in an ongoing dispute with a local who took their revenge while she was out on her regular run.

There is no suggestion Ms Murphy had any ongoing dispute with any neighbours or locals.

Detectives will also trawl through Ms Murphy’s computers and devices in the hope of finding clues. 

Why has the search been scaled back?

The official search was scaled back on Saturday with those wanting to help told there would be no co-ordinated effort and that they could carry out their own searches alone. 

Crews from the Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service volunteers have been told to withdraw from the search, which has been ‘scaled back’ but not abandoned.

‘The current phase of the active search for missing woman Samantha Murphy has been scaled back over the weekend,’ a police spokesperson said earlier.

‘An extensive 6-day search has been conducted involving local police, along with personnel from the Search and Rescue Squad, Mounted Branch and Dog Squad, plus significant assistance from members of the SES and CFA.

‘Police continue to be in regular contact with Samantha’s family regarding the developments of the search and the status of the investigation.

‘The investigative stage of the investigation continues and as any new information comes to hand identifying areas of interest, the search will be scaled up.’

The Missing Persons Unit has taken charge of the investigation.   

What significance do the discovered items hold?

Early on in the investigation an item of interest was found in the bushland near where Ms Murphy disappeared.

However, Victoria Police later confirmed it was not relevant to her disappearance.

Last Wednesday, police released CCTV of what was believed to be Ms Murphy running along Eureka Street.

Another runner later came forward to say it was them in the footage and not Ms Murphy.

Ms Murphy was also wearing an Apple watch at the time of her disappearance, and her phone had pinged in the nearby suburb of Buninyong. 

Victoria Police Inspector Bob Heaney said they were investigating the devices but the area they were able to track from them was ‘limited’.

Police have been relying on the public to report any information into Ms Murphy’s whereabouts, with the state forest she was running in having no CCTV. 

Over the weekend, a team of volunteers found a black bra that had been chopped in half and hung on a post in nearby bushland, which was also reported to police. 

What were the strange encounters in the forest before the incident?

Locals say the area is notorious for drug users, while search parties have also found evidence of homeless encampments deep within the bush.

Greens senator candidate Sissy Austin was savagely attacked a year ago while on a run just 20km away from where Ms Murphy vanished, sparking fears of a similar attack.

Ms Austin was running along a similar track when she was smashed in the face by a random stranger wielding a rock tied to the end of a stick.

The blow knocked her unconscious and left her face bloodied and bruised when she finally came to, but had to stagger 4km before she could raise the alarm.

Her white male attacker had vanished when she woke up, and no-one was ever caught in connection with the attack.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Agheli was camping with her boyfriend in the Woowookarung Regional Park on the weekend Ms Murphy went missing.

Ms Agheli said they’d travelled to Ballarat on a gold hunting trip and arrived on February 1.

They’d gone to an area about 15 minutes from the state forest to look for gold when they had a frightening encounter.

Ms Agheli said while she was still getting ready, her partner Michael had already set off to look for gold when he suddenly returned to their car.

‘He’s a big guy, he’s not usually scared of anything, but he told me he’d seen a strange, dishevelled man pop out of the bush talking to himself with the crotch on his pants ripped,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. 

The couple decided to pack up and go to another area, which Ms Agheli guesses was about a seven-minute drive away.

She said her partner had warned her of mine shafts in the area and suggested they go elsewhere, but Ms Agheli wanted to have a quick look and wandered a short distance away from the car.

‘Then I saw the same guy again even after we’d just driven about seven minutes,’ she said.

‘His whole face lit up when he saw a woman on his own.

‘I was thinking, “how did this guy get here so fast, he must know a shortcut”. He had both of his hands behind his back and started walking towards me really fast.’

Ms Agheli said she then called out to the man to ask if there was any gold in the area, loud enough so her partner could hear.

Michael immediately ran over to Ms Agheli. She said the man quickly put his hands in his pockets and fled into the bush.

The couple then camped overnight in the state forest on Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday morning they saw Ms Murphy run past their campsite. She wished them a good morning as she went on her way.

Who is Samantha Murphy’s husband Michael Murphy?

Ms Murphy and her husband both own a car repair business called Inland Motor Body Works.

Mr Murphy has 23 years of experience in the industry while his wife handles the books and administration of the office, along with ‘keeping Mick in line’.

The business describes itself as Ballarat’s ‘leading smash repairs specialist’.

On the third day of his wife’s disappearance, Mr Murphy said he was feeling ‘not too bad under the circumstances’.

‘It’s just up in the air, we don’t know,’ he told the Herald Sun.

‘It’s just a whole time thing, at the end of the day.’

Mr Murphy had also told Nine News he would not be joining the search as he preferred to keep his mind occupied with other matters while he waited for an update.

Last week, Ms Murphy’s family attacked the online trolls who have been falsely alleging Ms Murphy’s husband Mick was behind her disappearance.

‘For those questioning Samantha’s husband, you need not worry,’ said a statement to the Facebook group set up to help in the hunt and believed to be from a family member.

‘He is in more pain than anyone and would be the last person to suspect in any of this.’

How are Samantha Murphy’s family coping? 

Ms Murphy’s eldest daughter Jess and husband issued an emotional plea for their loved one to come home on the fifth day of her disappearance.

‘Mum’s a really strong woman, and she’s far too determined to give up this fight,’ Jess tearfully told reporters. 

‘Mum, we love you so much, and we miss you. We need you at home with us. Please come home soon. I can’t wait to see you and to give you the biggest hug when I do.

‘And to tell you off for giving us so much stress. I love you.’

Moments earlier, her father made an impassioned plea for information from the public that may assist in finding his wife.

‘People just don’t vanish into thin air. Someone’s got to know something,’ he said.

‘Whether it be any little thing that you might think is relevant, just call the police and let them know. It’ll give us a bit of peace of mind, some hope’.

Following commentary online about why he was being so quiet about his wife’s disappearance, Mr Murphy said on Wednesday he had been advised to do so. 

‘I’ve been speaking with the police and I’ve been advised not to say anything,’ Mr Murphy told the Herald Sun. 

He added he was doing ‘ok’ and was not worried about the various theories of what lay behind his wife’s disappearance; saying he doesn’t ‘even look online’.