Presented with a JobSeeker finding too clear to ignore, he changed the subject: how Jim Chalmers is shaping the budget

What was Treasurer Jim Chalmers thinking? A group of Labor backbenchers, including two first-time MPs, sign an open letter calling for a lift to the JobSeeker rate as the federal government finalises next month's federal budget. Whereas a quarter of a century ago Australia's unemployment payment was roughly in line with the pension, decades of lifting one in line with prices and the other in line with wages have left us with a base JobSeeker rate of $347 a week, compared to a base age pension of $485 a week. The committee's number one recommendation — more important than any other — was that the government "as a first priority, commit to a substantial increase in the base rates of the JobSeeker Payment and related working-age payments". Treasurer refuses to confirm reported JobSeeker lift Photo shows Jim Chalmers outside the White House The federal budget will contain targeted support for unemployed women over the age of 55, but the treasurer will not say if that will come in the form of a lift in the JobSeeker rate for that group.