Addressing the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 20 May, Tony Abbott was selling his “real work for the dole” plan to Australia’s bosses.

Abbott urged businesses to take advantage of the scheme, which will “allow” workers who have been unemployed for more than six months to work for them for one month without pay.

“That person can do up to four weeks of work experience with your business … so it gives you a chance to have a kind of try before you buy look at unemployed people”, he said, referring to unemployed workers as you might a used car or a pair of shoes.

Alongside this proposal, this year’s budget also included measures that will increase work for the dole requirements from 15 to 25 hours per week for those aged under 30. The government also wants around 37,000 mostly Indigenous job seekers, aged between 18 and 49, to undertake work for the dole for 25 hours per week, five days a week, for almost the entirety of the year.

The “Growing Jobs and Small Business” component of the budget is a massive handout to business. A 1.5 percent tax cut for all businesses with turnover of less than $2 million, combined with a 100 percent tax deduction on any business equipment expenditure up to the value of $20,000, amounts to a $5.5 billion gift.

While the government showers business with cash, ABS data released on 7 May showed worrying trends in unemployment. The rate of unemployment now stands at 6.2 percent, with 769,500 unemployed – up from 453,100 in 2008.

In response to the budget, growing unemployment and proposed laws that will give employment service providers increased powers to penalise the unemployed financially, the Australian Unemployed Union has called for a series of protests across the country on 1 July.