Opinion: Stressed self-employed Australians battling policies designed by people who don’t get workplace safety

We have all seen results coming from robodebt. The big lesson is that governments must now give proper consideration to the human impact of any proposed policy — not just the economic impact or the budget gains or the electoral benefits or the ‘ideological’ wins.

The first consideration is the potential mental health impact on people — all people. Whether they be the unemployed, foreign students, those with disabilities, the poor, or those in the middle and the self-employed. Governments have an absolute duty to do the right things by the people.

One area that is not talked about enough is the wellbeing of more than two million self-employed Australians, who employ more than half of all workers.