Mr. John McKeon:

No, it is not, as I will explain. There is a new sanction which is in addition to the previous one - the stopping of a payment. Every year the payments of thousands of people were stopped. This sanction was always available and it still is. What has been introduced is an intermediate sanction. As of today, out of the approximately 300,000 people who could potentially be subject to sanction because they are in receipt of a jobseeker related payment, 1,100 or approximately 0.3% are on a penalty rate or a reduced payment.

The Senator mentioned the perception.