Category Archives: NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Sex workers to have to wait longer to get dole

Victoria Editor
Melbourne

SEX workers and table-top dancers who lose their jobs will not be eligible for a reduction in the number of months they have to wait before they can get the dole, sparking accusations the Abbott government is imposing moral judgments on the social welfare system.

Even unemployed people who claim they have worked by running for public office will have to wait longer than others to get the Newstart Allowance.

Welfare Rights has written a submission to the government, declaring its outrage at the “moral judgments” being made in new rules.

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Increase in Newstart ranks ‘deeply alarming’

The Australian
25 April 2014

MORE than 50,000 people have joined the ranks of Australians relying on the Newstart income support payment over the past year, including 3000 in the past month, latest figures show.

Figures from the Department of Social Services show that people on Newstart and Youth Allowance grew by almost 60,000 people in the year to March. Almost 850,000 Australians are on the two payments, with those on Newstart rising 7.5 percentage points from 682,120 to 733,601.

The Australian Council of Social Services described the increase as “deeply alarming”, warning that people aged over 50 and younger Australians were finding it difficult to find work.

ACOSS seeks a $50 a week increase in the single rate of New­start, the same rise given to pensioners in 2009, and indexation to minimum wages to keep pace with living standards. “We caution the government against considering shifting even more people on to Newstart, including people with disabilities on the DSP payment,” said ACOSS director of policy Jacqui Phillips.

The gap between DSP and Newstart is $166 a week, so any move to shift people from DSP to Newstart would drive people into deeper poverty, she said. About 80,000 Newstart recipients were sole parents who until a year ago got extra money under the now-scrapped Parenting Payment.

“They and their children have suffered a more than $60 a week drop in income as a result of a decision by the previous government,” she said. “People who are unemployed need more help to find a job and a better income support payment than the $36 a day Newstart Allowance.”

Pensioners and low income earners are worried about cuts from state-based concession programs flagged in the Federal Budged

University student Chris Wheeler said it will be tough if the government makes concession

University student Chris Wheeler said it will be tough if the government makes concession funding cuts. PICTURE: Mark Wilson Source: News Limited

SENIORS and low-income earners are worried concession discounts ripped out of this year’s Federal Budget will hurt their quality of ­living.

The State Government will make up the $73 million shortfall after the Commonwealth ended its share of funding for the $500 million program but has only agreed to meet the difference for one year.

 

What happens after that is unknown and recipients fear cuts to the concession system are inevitable. The program included concessions on items such as rates and electricity and water bills.

Labor’s Cost of Living spokeswoman Lily D’Ambrosio said even though Premier Denis Napthine committed to finding cash for the program until next year, she questioned what programs the money would be taken from to cover the shortfall.

“Many concession cardholders are people struggling with energy bills and council rate increases. These people are desperately concerned that while the Premier is saying he will keep concessions for 12 months, what programs will suffer in order for that to occur?” Ms ­D’Ambrosio said.

A spokesman for the Premier, who refused to be named, said that the concessions would continue without any cuts to services.

“We are disappointed that the Federal Government has ceased funding its share of this longstanding partnership. The Victorian Government will continue to discuss these matters with the Federal Government,” he said.

La Trobe University student Chris Wheeler, who ­relied on concessions for transport and energy bills, said it would get tough for him if the program was stopped completely.

“I am also on Youth Allowance while I am studying. I would be concerned about how I can pay my bills and pay for transport to get around. It could be really hard hitting. I don’t know where they are going to take that money out of,” Mr Wheeler said.

“People in government should really think twice when they make big changes like this. Hitting the worst off in society or the most vulnerable is not a good way to go about it when making the changes to the budget.”

Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) chief executive officer Emma King said concessions programs needed to be simplified and better promoted, with almost a third of eligible households not claming concessions to which they are entitles.

“People are often not aware of the concessions they are entitled to or how to apply for them,” Ms King said.

Ms King said the Federal Government’s decision to cut money from state-based concessions programs was “just one of the many profoundly unfair measures” in the budget.

“State concessions programs assist hundreds of thousands of Victoria’s most vulnerable people (to) meet some of their cost-of-living expenses,” she said.

“The essential services covered by concessions increasingly demand a greater share of low-income households’ budgets.”

She praised the State Government for stepping in to fund the shortfall but urged the Premier to lobby the Federal Government to reconsider the cuts.

A spokesman for Federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, who ­refused to be named, said the Federal Government would continue to fund Commonwealth concessional benefits, such as the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, some ­Office of Hearing Services benefits and a discounted mail ­redirection through Australia Post.

“Changes ­announced in the budget will mean state and territory governments will fully fund their own concessions in the ­future,” the spokesman said.

PROTECTION FOR CONCESSIONS NEEDED

 

Lalor pensioner couple Reg and Barbara Breaks are worried about the pensioner cuts made i

Lalor pensioner couple Reg and Barbara Breaks are worried about the pensioner cuts made in the federal government. The couple say the cost of living is too high and that it is a ‘battle’. PICTURE: Paul Loughnan Source: News Limited

PENSIONERS Barbara and Reg Breaks know how to budget. 

The Lalor couple say they had been struggling with the cost of living lately but seemed to have managed thanks to saving and cutting down on non-essential items.

Mrs Breaks said the pair would be in some trouble if the State Government could not find the money to pay for the concessions program.

“We are concerned they will cut the concessions to the electricity and gas. It will make the bills higher. The food bill is hard enough as it is,” she said.

“We budgeted all our married lives, we built our home here. We would have to budget harder and tighter.

“They call pensioners whingers but we have worked hard all our lives.

“The Liberal Government would be happy if you died so they don’t have to worry about you. Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey were making it clear that they thought pensioners would be a liability.”

Mrs Breaks said in order to save money,the couple did not go on outings and did not smoke or drink.

“The Federal Government has cut back on the State Government so badly there is a danger the state would have to take money from other programs. We are just living from day to day,” she said.

“The state isn’t a money tree. The state would have to get money from somewhere.”

 

End of entitlement culture must start with MPs

The Australian
Feb 24 2014
Illustration: Eric Lobbecke

IN this new age dedicated to ending the culture of entitlement, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have, rightly, asked all Australians to curb their dependence on government largesse.

Last week, Employment Minister Eric Abetz asked public servants to help repair the budget bottom line. He asked them to choose between cutting their entitlements and freezing future wage rises.

In the private sector, workers are being urged to make sacrifices in response to a deteriorating budget position and a fragile economy. There will be no more taxpayer handouts.

The public service, already subject to efficiency dividends, should not be exempt. And the place to start is not with Australia’s 165,000 federal public servants, but with Australia’s 226 federal MPs. It is scandalous how much money our politicians shell out to themselves in salary and entitlements each year.
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Budget crackdown won’t shorten the dole queue

THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 26

Out of work.

Out of work. Source: TheAustralian

FIFTY per cent of dole recipients do not have to look for work, because of a doubling of job-search exemptions granted in the past four years.

Treasury figures reveal the ­Abbott government expects the average time on the dole to remain at four years and four months, despite its welfare crackdown.
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