Being a single parent is hard work. It means a lot of responsibility. But you are not paid properly to do this work. You are paid way below what is recognised as the poverty line. StandUp! Believes that looking after a child is a job and should be paid for like any other job.Unfortunately Mr Costello does not share our philosophy. He wants sole parents whose child has started school to look for work or be breached just like those on Newstart.
Those on Newstart should not be work tested. We strongly oppose it for sole parents.
Just because your child is at school doesn't mean that there is no work to be done. There is housework and there is shopping. To ensure your child's safety you have to be there when your child finishes school to escort him/her home. Very few jobs allow you to do this. Work is often tiring and this makes child raising more difficult. You also have to cook and do housework. This is hardly the basis for a meaningful relationship with your child!
Why is Peter Costello doing this?
Costello is a man who sees the world through dollar signs. The less people apply for pensions, the less the government has to spend. This is short sighted as poorly brought up children are likely to be a burden. They are less likely to be employed. They become involved in criminal activity. However, in the short term the government certainly saves money. Many poor parents will have to beg to charities. Some charities such as the Salvation Army in Wollongong are known not to give to those who fail the work test.
Another reason is that Costello, the Christian, wants to force us to live in a nuclear family. This he wants to impose on everyone. But for many living in a couple is neither practical nor desirable. Many men are violent. Many couples are simply incompatible. Marriage should be a choice and not enforced by poverty.
Another way CentreLink is persecuting sole parents is by putting the onus on the parent to establish that he or she is not part of a de facto relationship. Before it was the onus on CentreLink to establish that a couple were in such a relationship. But now, if they considered that you haven't proved otherwise, they will assume you are in a relationship and breach you...
StandUp! Believes in independent status. That means that irrespective of whether you are married, in a relationship or otherwise you deserve a living wage under your control and not in the name of your partner. It's time that child rearing was considered as work and paid for properly. No to the attacks on sole parents.
More Attacks from Peter Costello
Peter Costello is in a vicious mood at the moment. He wants to force single parents and those with a disability to be forced to do the work test. This will mean massive suffering.
What he has also foreshadowed is the end for "generous" indexation of benefits. So when inflation hits our benefits will go up.'
It is hard enough to live off our meagre benefits at the moment. So when inflation hots it will be even harder.
We, the unemployed are not responsible for the economic crisis it causes. Yet they make us, the victims pay for it. A living wage should be a right?
Ed. Now the Medicare levy has risen from $300 to $500 for people on low income then try going to a specialist medical practitioner who wants $180 up front with a $60.00 rebate? Then if that specialist cannot find your problem you have to go to another? That's another $180 up front. Well that is what has just happened to me.
Do I go on looking for my problem at the cost of my living expenses? So far I have cancelled my next appointment to another specialist because I'm unsure if I'm simply paying medical practitioners the money they need for prestige opposed to fixing my problem 'if they can find it'?
For many sick poor people who are unsure whether they're sick enough to seek a specialist medical practitioner or if that practitioner can help then they need to weigh up the costs, but many will simply wait until it's too late and this is what I call 'death row' not MEDICARE!
By StandUp NEWS posted 21 April 05
Related:
Costello to force single mums to look for work?
SINGLE mothers would be forced to look for work once their children reached school age, under a draconian welfare package outlined last night by fascist Pastor Peter Costello to bolster funds to spend on military hardware and the ongoing illegal and degrading war in Iraq.
Labor sees problems in welfare proposals
The Federal Opposition says proposed changes to Australia's welfare system are a cost-cutting measure and will leave disability and sole parent pensioners worse off.
Dismantle the war machine, slash taxes, privatisation and keep social services The Centre for Independent Studies report says the flat-rate income tax of 10 per cent would ensure most Australians could afford to pay for essential services such as health and education, instead of relying on welfare [social service] payments.
The HoWARd Government is simply robbing the disabled blind
KERRY O'BRIEN: Federal cabinet adjourned today still undecided about the final formula for what has become politically one of the toughest reform challenges the Government will face this term. For the past two decades, the disability support pension has been one of the fastest growing welfare payments [social security payments.]
Encouragement is the key to social-services-to-work programs
Corporate Welfare! I think we should start with Ingeus Company. Telling us what we already know for $$$$!
Peter Saunders shake-up is long overdue: Welfare Not Warfare
Peter Saunders: Many DSP claimants are older men with limited skills who have had difficulty finding work?
Welfare Reform for Warfare Expenditure?
John Howard: "Self-evidently we would have liked the major combat to have gone differently ... [but] coalition withdrawal or defeat is unimaginable."
Govt plots post-July strategy?
Fascist Prime Minister insists he is not on a mission to punish welfare recipients [social services.]
HoWARd 'determined' to make the disabled woRK?
The Federal Government is considering a system of "coercion" and incentive to force the disabled to work. But what happened to 6 billion-budget surpluses? Why do they need to force disabled people to work? Do they need more money and less disabled people? Or do would they rather spend the money on WAR?
Opposition pension claims valid
The Federal Governments secret agenda to cut pensions, including the disability and single parent payments while spending billions on military hardware is just too much for most disabled people to accept.
Thousands march for disability protest
"We are not prepared to go back to the dark ages. This has to be reversed," Mr Preston said. "We are hoping that the community sees that we shouldn't be taking money from people with disabilities. These people have had it tough all their lives (and) there is already more unmet need than we can cope with."
Howard's Job Network Bailout
Up to 670,000 people on disability support pensions will be encouraged to sign up to the Job Network under a radical new plan to get disabled people off welfare and into work.
THE HILLSONG'S ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF ' NEO-LIBERALISM' Only a bent mind would envisage the possibility or think of the concept that a '2nd Neo-Liberal 'front' promoted by the right and posing as a Church would enter politics under the flag of "Family First Party".
Costello, Howard's Disciple
JOHN HOWARD AND PETER Costello lost their vision for Australia from the time they were elected and embarked on a vision for the neo-Liberals.
Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel?
Well praise the Lord the light is Hell bent here on Peter Costello, treasurer of the Howard Government who now has his own "flock" of onward Christian Soldiers.
Corporate Welfare
Corporate welfare or how to steal social services?
Ever wondered why there are so many homeless, why we need a 10 pc GST, lack of services for mental disability, still paying off the Olympics, poor public transport planning etc etc etc?
Unemployed:
Work for the dole is legal slavery
Work for the dole was originally sold to us by Howard as a warm and fuzzy light work project. We would be working for nothing but we would be enjoying giving back something to the community, so it was reckoned.
FIGHT UNEMPLOYMENT!
Peter Costello commended this result in his budget speech. Even if we were to believe this figure it still means more than half a million living at a level much lower than that is recognised as poverty.
Mark Latham's, token gestures for older unemployed
StandUp appreciates the fact that Mark Latham is concerned about older unemployed people. His specialist job network proposal aimed at older people might provide a bit of assistance.
Work for the dole failure for two thirds
THE Un-Australian: " MORE than a third of the people who completed the Howard Government's work-for-the-dole programs last year were in jobs or studying within three months of finishing.
Work for the dole? $10.00?
StandUp! Wishes to draw your attention to a serious attack on all of us--work for the dole. We were assured that unemployed would not be forced to work in areas where employed workers would normally be employed. This has shown to be a lie! Under work for the dole, unemployed have been forced to carry out; concreting, tiling, landscaping, repairs, renovation, painting, gardening, nurses and teachers aid work.
'WORK FOR THE DOLE' REDUCES JOB PROSPECTS
A major independent study commissioned by the Government and released today under Freedom of Information by The Australian newspaper indicates that the 'Work for the Dole' program actually reduces the job prospects of unemployed people.
Youth welfare system unfair: ACOSS
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is warning urgent action is needed to fix youth poverty and disincentives for the unemployed to improve their job prospects.
Bringing up children Can we afford it?
Peter Costello expects us to carry out our patriotic duty by going home and having more children. But for most people it is a struggle to bring up one child let alone two or three.
Federal Budget: Tax cuts for the rich!
For the Howard government, unemployed people are not even worth thinking about.
Private job network agency blues
Can you trust a private job network agency? No you can't! A friend of ours is registered at MTC Marrickville.
Indigenous Social Justice Association Djadi Dugarang
INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT. Part 1
Centrelink puts the screws on prison debt
A 1999 study by the Brisbane Prisoners Legal Service revealed that on leaving prisoners had an average debt of $14,031. Almost one in five had a debt to Centrelink while in prison. This debt arose as a result inability to cancel things such as leases, Social Security payments, utilities and telephones.
Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out?
There used to be an old saying in Australia" if your hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence.
Six weeks, six months, six years: inmates have little chance of making fresh start Even prisoners who serve short sentences are likely to suffer long-term consequences, including increased rates of homelessness and unemployment.
Military Spending
Howard: We as a nation have got to invest heavily in defence?
Fascist Prime Minister John HoWARd has indicated the Government will make major changes to work place laws, cut disability support forcing the disabled to work and increase his defence commitment.
Hill primed for war!
Australian Caretaker Defence Minister Robert Hill has announced a multi-million dollar upgrade of the Pearce Air Force base in Western Australia. Hill says $87 million would be spent on a major upgrade of the base, which is Australia's main flying training facility.
Troop deployment not a deepening of effort: Hill
Deploying an extra 30 troops to Iraq was not a deepening of Australia's involvement because they were being sent to protect those already there, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.
Auditor Generals damning defence report
The Defence Department computer system upgrade has cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in a gigantic bungle, according to the Federal Opposition. The Commonwealth auditor-general has issued a damning report into the project.
