Author Archives: AUWU

WA plan to hit fine defaulter welfare ‘unfair’

SONIA KOHLBACHER

January 14, 2015 12:00AM

A WEST Australian government plan to raid welfare payments and increase jail time for fine defaulters will unfairly affect people on low incomes, according to a lobby group.

Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis said he would examine the option of compulsorily deducting payments for unpaid fines from welfare recipients and extending jail time to make imprisonment a less appealing option.

WA Council of Social Service chief executive Irina Cattalini said the approach was unfair and would target the poor.

“There are some real inequities and systemic failings that make it difficult for people who are on low incomes to pay that in the first place.”

Ms Cattalini said it was inequitable for the government to use levers in the welfare system to force people to pay off fines.

She questioned whether fines were an appropriate method to curb offending and whether the government offered flexible payment options.

A woman known for cultural reasons as Miss Dhu was never given a custodial sentence by any magistrate, her full court record shows.

The 22-year-old was ultimately incarcerated for not paying a fine that a Geraldton magistrate imposed on her as an alternative to prison.

When she died in a Pilbara lockup on August 4, Miss Dhu was serving out a $1000 fine for a clash with a police officer 4½ years earlier, when she was 18.

Police took her to the Hedland Health Campus three times over the three days she was in the watch-house. The first two times she was deemed by medical staff as fit to return to her cell. On the third occasion they took her, a day before she was due to be released, she arrived with no pulse and was declared dead within an hour.

Labor’s corrective services spokesman Paul Papalia said fines were “cut out” at a rate of $250 for every day spent in prison although it costs taxpayers $345 a day to keep a person in jail.

Mr Papalia said one-third of all women jailed in WA were there for unpaid fines and, of those, two-thirds were Aboriginal.

“It does not get people to pay fines and it does not change their behaviour,” he said.

Deaths in Custody Watch Committee secretary Marc Newhouse said the state government was monetising the issue of unpaid fines and had failed to address the circumstances that led to fines.

“It would be far more to the point to be able to address the offending behaviour,” he said.

Complaints about employment service system increase by a third

The Australian

December 27, 2014 12:00AM

Patricia Karvelas

COMPLAINTS about job providers within the government’s $5.1 billion employment services system are increasing, with data revealing an upswing in the number of complaints by a third from July to October this year.

Over this period, there were 1041 complaints a month compared with 712 each month of the previous year.

One in five of the unemployed people who complained raised inappropriate service and one in eight were troubled by unprofessional behaviour of the employment consultant.

Assistant Employment Minister Luke Hartsuyker said the government was changing the system to address quality concerns. “The government expects employment providers to deliver high-quality services to jobseekers and that jobseekers will also work cooperatively with their providers to meet their mutual obligation requirements, such as attending appointments and job interviews,” he told The Weekend Australian.

“Where a jobseeker has a complaint … there are processes to resolve the matter. This includes the Department of Employment speaking to both parties to clarify issues and, in a small number of cases, transferring a jobseeker to another provider if the relationship has totally broken down.

“The government’s employment services model requires all providers to commit to new quality standards to ensure jobseekers receive the right sort of help they need to find and keep a job.”

Maree O’Halloran, president of the National Welfare Rights Network, said new Senate estimates data showed that in the 12 months to June, 8550 jobseekers registered a complaint about their interaction with the employment services system.

“This is certainly a very low number when you take into account that point in time data suggests at June 2014 there were over 652,000 active jobseekers in the Job Services Australia caseload,” she said. “However, complaints about employment services are increasing. The data shows an upswing in the number of complaints about employment services by a third from July to October 2014. Over this period there were 1041 complaints per month compared to 712 each month of the previous year.”

The key areas of complaint, such as adequacy of services and inappropriate provider behaviour, mirror the concerns some jobseekers raise with Welfare Rights legal services across the country.

Centrelink call waiting racks up costs for poor

The Australian November 07, 2014 12:00AM

Patricia Karvelas

TENS of thousands of pensioners and welfare recipients are being stung by high call costs to Centrelink, prompting the National Welfare Rights Network to call for a 1800 free-call facility for more people. In a letter to Human Services Minister Marise Payne, the network notes with concern that the majority of lines used by the department’s clients are still ‘13’ listed numbers.

Centrelink’s two main lines, the self-service line and the reporting line, only offer a ‘13’ option. General inquiry lines for information about payments and services that are most frequently used do not provide a no-cost 1800 option.

These include lines for older Australians, those with a disability or sickness, carers, employment services, families and parents, and youth and students.

“With the number of fixed-line services dropping each year and mobile phones becoming the preferred choice of many people, it is important that DHS provide a 1800 Freecall facility for ‘13’ numbers,” the letter says.

“Telstra has announced it has removed call charges to 1800 numbers from Telstra mobiles. Traditionally, 1800 numbers have been free of charge from landlines.

“However, calls from mobile phones are generally charged at timed rates. This has led to many of our clients being saddled with unavoidably high costs while waiting for considerable periods when calling the Centrelink call network”.

The network urges the department to significantly expand access to 1800 free-call numbers for people seeking information about payments and services, to reduce call costs for millions of low-income and disadvantaged Australians.

“Our clients can spend significant amounts of money calling DHS, irrespective of the call-back and queuing options that are available,’’ the network says. “For instance, some prepaid calls can charge $1.39 for a three-minute call. “Even if a person manages to get through in 15 minutes, they will still be out-of-pocket by nearly $7 for the call.”

Scott Morrison to be the Mr Muscle of reforms

the Australian

December 22, 2014 12:00AM

TONY Abbott has rewarded Scott Morrison with an enormous new super portfolio placing him at the centre of delivering the Abbott government’s biggest changes and constructing a budget package delivering childcare, welfare, pension and paid parental leave reforms.

The man who is credited with stopping the boats and delivering a hard-line immigration policy has been given the role of social services minister in a move that has sent shock waves through the welfare, childcare and family services sector.

Mr Morrison said yesterday he would devote himself to getting people off welfare and into work.

The welfare sector is viewing the appointment of the Immigration Minister as a sign the government will pursue draconian policies, particularly in reducing the amount spent on welfare.

The Prime Minister has decided his most difficult but crucial policies needed the cut-through messaging of Mr Morrison, but sources in the government questioned the decision, saying Mr Morrison lacks the ability to show a “softer” side.

Mr Abbott hopes Mr Morrison’s formidable political skills will land a package of reforms and secure their path through a difficult Senate.

Mr Morrison will have to respond to the Productivity Commission’s report on childcare, which has yet to be released, and tone down the promised paid parental leave scheme identified as one government barnacle.

He will also be required to respond to the forthcoming review by Patrick McClure that backs radically reduced and tightened welfare payments.

And he will have to resurrect the government’s policy to deprive people under 30 of the Newstart payment.

The reform promised in the budget has failed to get through the Senate.

Mr Morrison’s new portfolio places him at the helm of one of the largest areas of government expenditure, responsible for crafting the government’s revamped PPL and childcare scheme.

Mr Abbott said Mr Morrison’s new role would see him responsible for crafting a “holistic families package which will be such an important part of our political and economic agenda in the first half of next year”.

Mr Morrison issued a statement saying the Australian people can expect him to apply the same energy, commitment and leadership in this new role “as I have in immigration and border protection”.

Maree O’Halloran, president of the National Welfare Rights Network, said she hoped he would have the same position as the previous minister Kevin Andrews and commit to grandfathering disability support pension recipients.

“We will work with whichever minister is in the position. But the McClure report is about to be released and we are very concerned about people who are disabled on the disability support pension do not lose payments,” she said.

Labor’s families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said Mr Abbott had finally admitted his government’s record on family payments and pensions had been an utter failure.

The Greens said the appointment of Mr Morrison showed the government’s clear intent to pursue hard-line policies that would weaken the nation’s social safety net.

Parliament approves first of government’s budget welfare measures

The Australian

November 17, 2014 2:35PM

Patricia Karvelas

Victoria Editor

Melbourne

THE Abbott government has finally passed its social services bill, which has $2.7 billion in net savings over the forward estimates.

The revised bill includes a new lower means test on family payments and the tightening of the disability support pension.

The bill passed the Senate with ALP and Greens support. Crossbench senators including Bob Day, David Leyonhjelm and Ricky Muir also supported the bill. Independent senator Nick Xenophon and Jacqui Lambie opposed, as did the Greens. The rest of the Palmer United Party abstained.

Measures passed support the Government’s decision to review disability support pension (DSP) recipients aged under 35 years against revised impairment tables.

From 1 January 2015, DSP recipients will generally be paid for up to four weeks only in a 12 month period if they are absent from Australia.

A sum of $3 million will fund the young carer bursary programme, which will provide support for young carers who look after people with disabilities, physical or mental health issues or older people in need of care.

From July 1, the family tax benefit (FTB) part B primary earner income limit will fall from $150,000 to $100,000 per year, and the FTB Part A per child add-on amount will no longer be used in calculating a family’s higher income free area.

Income from superannuation income will be included in the commonwealth seniors health card income test from January 1, with grandfathering provisions applied to existing cardholders.

Access to relocation scholarships will be restricted to students relocating to or from regional areas.