JobSeeker will be permanently increased after the COVID-19 relief finishes in March, but major welfare organisations have questioned if the $25 increase will be enough to help people live above the poverty line. Currently the emergency COVID-19 relief saw an extra $75 per week added to the payments. The new payments however have been reduced and total $614 a fortnight including the $25 a week increase. This is the first permanent increase to the payments since the early 1990s. For some recipients the reduction means Cliff Fraser, a 61-year-old resident of Skipton near Ballarat, was earning almost $120,000 a year as an interstate truck driver until he suffered a heart attack in 2012. He could no longer hold a heavy vehicle licence and was unable to find other full-time work despite training as a computer technician. Now he lives off the JobSeeker payment and a small income from working two hours a day cleaning at a primary school 30km from his home. Mr Fraser said the government's announcement made him feel unwell. "It's an insult," he said. "I have worked very hard in my lifetime and supported my country, but now that I need some support I am being let down." The boost to the payment during the pandemic had allowed him to pay his phone bill so he can make calls and send messages, as well as get his car serviced and pay other bills on time. The new rate will not allow him to keep up with those basic expenses, he said. "I think politicians just do not understand, they live in a financial bubble," he said. The modest increase to the base rate will be paired with tighter eligibility rules and harsher mutual obligations. Employers will be able to dob in people on unemployment benefits who are offered a job and do not accept. Individuals may have their welfare payments docked if they cannot produce a valid reason. Dr Goldie warned the harsh measures would foster a "culture of division and mistrust". She said millions of people would be "deeply distressed" at the decision but urged jobseekers to keep fighting for a higher rate. Other groups have also criticised the government's announcement. Mission Australia CEO James Toomey described the rate increase as an "appalling decision". Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said it was really a cut, given the coronavirus supplement would be eliminated. The Australian Unemployed Workers Union called the decision "unspeakably cruel". Ballarat Salvation Army Doorway Team Leader John Clonan said they had continually advocated for the 2020 supplement to go on as people continued to struggle. "Any increase is important, but the Salvation Army would prefer that the job seeker increase stay at its current level of $75 per week increase," he said. "Politicians need to put themselves into the seats of these people in these situations. How would they live and survive daily?" IN OTHER NEWS He said the COIVD-19 increase Mr Clonan had at least seen people be able 'to pay their utility bills and retain their human dignity'. Victorian and Tasmanian Community Service Manager for Uniting Cathryn Ryan said "In Ballarat there has always been a need to give people a hand up, but we have never seen numbers at this level." "During COVID-19 we have seen people who never expected to be on the poverty line. Casual workers who have gone from 30 hours a week to between 1 to 10 hours," said Ms Ryan. "It can happen to anyone. I would never want people to not know about the services out there to help people in need." Ms Ryan said with the house price in Ballarat increasing over the last few years it is becoming even harder to balance money. "How do you balance when there isn't anywhere to take from if your only paying for rent and food," Ms Ryan said. Ms Ryan has seen this balancing act become harder and some people she sees are paying almost 80% of their pay check on rent. Uniting's CEO Bronwyn Pike said, "the Jobseeker payment is not a handout, it's about decency and giving people a basic standard of living. Nobody should have to make a choice between paying the electricity bill or school fees and buying necessities like food or medicine." "The government has missed its opportunity to be a government that stood for human decency ... that stood for human dignity. To be a government that stood and genuinely had people's backs," Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said on Tuesday. "What we've got today represents a heartless betrayal of the millions of people who have been hit by unemployment." ACOSS and other welfare and activist groups had been fighting for a permanent boost to the payment, which was temporarily doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. It wanted an increase of at least $25 per day, from the old rate of $40 a day. Other groups like GetUp! were fighting for a minimum payment of $80 per day. "This $3.50 per day is a mean-spirited and complete betrayal of what is needed," Dr Goldie said. She says the size of the increase shows the government is out of touch with the reality of having little money or a low income. Uniting have joined the Raise the Rate Campaign which is advocating for the JobSeeker rate to stay at the current COVID-19 level. Ms Pike said, "We're also disappointed the Government has yet to deliver a proper jobs plan outlining how it will help businesses create jobs and give hope to the millions of Australians who are either unemployed or underemployed." The modest increase to the base rate will be paired with tighter eligibility rules and harsher mutual obligations. Employers will be able to dob in people on unemployment benefits who are offered a job and do not accept. Individuals may have their welfare payments docked if they cannot produce a valid reason. Dr Goldie warned the harsh measures would foster a "culture of division and mistrust". She said millions of people would be "deeply distressed" at the decision but urged jobseekers to keep fighting for a higher rate. Other groups have also criticised the government's announcement. Mission Australia CEO James Toomey described the rate increase as an "appalling decision". Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said it was really a cut, given the coronavirus supplement would be eliminated. The Australian Unemployed Workers Union called the decision "unspeakably cruel". With AAP