Coalition relaxes job-seeking obligations but refuses to suspend them during coronavirus crisis

Jobseekers can now request appointments be carried out over the phone or online, while Centrelink debt recovery continues despite Covid-19

Welfare recipients will have their mutual obligations relaxed during the coronavirus crisis, but the government has stopped short of heeding calls from Labor, the Greens and social service groups to suspend them entirely.

Facing growing pressure to ease the burden amid a looming economic downturn and increasingly strict social-distancing guidelines, the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, said on Friday the government had adopted a range of measures aimed at making the system more flexible during the Covid-19 outbreak.