I’ve resigned from my job in early March as my employer wanted me to work 15-20 extra (unpaid) hours on top of my 38.
I thought I would have found a job straight away, and I applied for about 20 different positions.
Covid-19 was upgraded to a pandemic the week after.
All the jobs I applied for have been closed due to the virus, probably the businesses are shutting down.
When I contacted centerlink I’ve been told I had to wait for 8 weeks because by resigning I put myself into this position. This is fair during normal job market conditions. But now, because of the virus, there are no position avaiable because businesses are not operating and on top of it there are 1 million extra people looking for jobs too.
My partner’s workplace cannot longer trade either, and basically to be waiting for 8 weeks (5 more left) with no income at all and a mortgage to pay means forcing us to an assured hardship.
We can’t use the same rules if the whole context we’re living in has changed. Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures, even to help people. I won’t be able to find another job in these conditions, I just going to go broke if they won’t let me access the funds in time.