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.

The Pastor also vowed to push ahead with slave labour reform; particularly the wider use of individual contracts, saying Australia must ensure that as widely as possible "individual workplaces set individual outcomes".

But in reality what he means is he hates unions!

Costello said that reform of tax was a second-order issue behind welfare and labour market reform in encouraging people to join the workforce.

Does he mean getting rid of the oppressive GST? The fascist HoWARd government robbing the disabled blind? As well as forcing single mothers to work for the dole for $10.00?

Costello: "You can say they're not working because of effective marginal tax rates, but the other reason is no one has asked them to. That is where we ought to start," he said.

Addressing The Australian and Melbourne Institute's Sustaining Prosperity conference in Melbourne, Costello insisted that he was not attacking single mothers, and praised women who had already secured work?

Linking the issue of welfare reform to the shortage of skilled labour, he said it was no longer acceptable to have a system where a group of people on welfare who were capable of work were not required to try.

What the blind leading the blind? But where is the proof that they do not try? So what he said today merely attempts to back up what Peter Dutton said yesterday that, " 300 PEOPLE A DAY GO ONTO A DISABILITY SUPPORT PENSION?

Under existing rules, single mothers are invited to an interview with Centrelink to discuss work but do not have to attend. "At present they are not required to look for work whilst they receive this payment because they need to look after their children," Mr Costello said.

Costello: "But what about when the children go to school? Would it be possible then to look for part-time work? There are a lot of single parents that do work. Many work full-time."

He doesn't think there is anything else that needs to be done while the children are at school? Because he doesn't have to do it? And what about a rest from looking after the child while they are not at school does he think parents should work 24 Hours a day? Just so his criminal government can spend the money on wars and military hardware?

Costello: "A system that has no work requirement -- not even a part-time work requirement -- for a parent of school-age children is a very generous one and an inappropriate one in a country with possible labour shortages and the long-term ageing of the population."?

But that's a copout! Doesn't it depend on what you want the social dollar for? Under the heading 'Illegal and degrading wars' I think the system that has been in place until the wars came along worked just fine.

But, but, but Costello insisted the policy did not mean that single mothers would lose benefits if they could not find work.

But in a move that could mean single mothers who did not find work could be required to undertake training or community projects - the policy of "mutual obligation" - Costello said single mothers "should be encouraged to look for work in the same way as those who are on an unemployment benefit".

The same way as those who are disabled? Why not just send them all off to war and pay them a wage?

One in five adults of working age are on some form of government income support, but only 30 per cent have a continuing obligation to look for work.

But the reasons for it are not entirely explained here and it wouldn't be because of any flawed government policies now would it Pastor Pete?

Mr Costello said he believed that the shortage of both skilled and unskilled labour was a foretaste of what would become a long-term problem if it were not addressed.

Even though he also knows that some of the real reasons for unskilled labour in this country are that he won't employ ex prisoners at 50,000 a year turned out from prison with a criminal record? And some of those unskilled factory jobs are now obsolete because of improvements in modern technology and they don't exist anymore making those people redundant. They have been taken away because they are no longer viable, because machines do the work instead of real people!

He also knows that the real reason for the skilled labour market shortage is that he failed to fund training policies that would attract them?

It's okay to continue with illegal and degrading wars on sovereign nations and boost spending on military hardware but we might have a long-term problem down the track paying for it?

So if we don't remove the social dollar to save money with a one size fits all work policy, no matter what condition people are in to perform that work then we can't wage more illegal and degrading wars?

Costello: "I do not believe we are yet seeing the beginning of the long-term problem, I think we are just at a favourable point in the economic cycle -- a point we should attempt to continue and improve upon," the fascist said.

"But I do believe in the longer term - in decades' time - Australia will face a long-term structural shortage of labour. Like now, but significantly worse."

Depending on how many more illegal and degrading wars we pre-empt and how much more money we spend on military hardware!

Costello said the short-term labour shortage was a reason to start tackling the long-term structural challenges?

Do the limbo rock

The challenge comes as Workplace Participation Minister Peter Dutton prepares to reveal today that 1000 disabled pensioners would face a panel of experts to determine whether they should get a job or receive the pension, under the trial of a new "work test"?

I wonder if they'll include and anti-government doctor?

The pensioners in three states - Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia - would be the first to face an assessment focusing on what work they would perform rather than the scale of their disability?

The pilot is part of the Government's long-awaited plan to reform welfare and could be extended to other types of welfare recipients.

With cabinet in the middle of discussing the next wave of labour market reform, including overriding the state systems and changing the way minimum wages are set, Costello also signalled a renewed focus on individual workplace agreements?

By David Uren and Just Us 1 April 05

Related:

Single Mothers' Self-Defence for the benefits of mothers and children

50% of families world-wide are headed by women but the specialised work of being a single mother is even less recognized, and single mothers are the poorest workers. We are often attacked and witch-hunted by governments.

Over four million people live in single parent families in Britain (1.7m single parents - 91% single mothers - and over 2.5m children). Many more have been single parents or were raised by single parents. Single Mother's Self-Defence is a network of single mothers from different races, backgrounds and situations who came together to defend our welfare benefits, families and communities.

A number of mothers have disabilities or children with disabilities. The government calls us "workless" to hide that we're doing a 24-hour job, and starve us into low waged work or financial dependence on a man. We all know that every mother is a working mother.

Related Links:

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.

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.

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 $$$$!

The Federal Government begins an intensive round of strategies on how to force more Australians off welfare [social-services] and into work the focus is on whether the changes should apply to some of the people receiving the disability support pension.

But before they start manipulating and disrupting the disabled you only have to look at work for the dole for $10.00, one way the HoWARd government has managed to get unemployed people off the Newstart benefit? And I suppose the question is did it work?

Work for the dole? $10.00?

Let's have real jobs paid with real wages. Let's stop this legal slavery now!

ABC: "In Britain, the Blair Government is already getting disability pensioners back into work and an Australian contractor has found that the key to success is not forcing anyone into any work or any training."

The fact is though most disabled people who can do any work actually already work or are volunteers for unfunded and non-government organisations existing on pensions as a basic wage and working when they can within the parameters of their disability.

The Howard Government is aware there is no political danger associated with forcing existing disability support pensioners into work after July 1 when he has control of the Senate. Disability pensioners fear they may lose their pension and associated entitlements if they're forced to work and the job does not work out.

ABC: "In Britain, a program to help people with disabilities find work is well underway."

But that's fine for the disabled who are looking for something to do and haven't found a job or haven't volunteered yet.

After all 'Life is Community Service' and most people find something constructive to do rather than lounge about, because if they didn't they would indulge themselves to death in a very short time. But the governments have a different angle no doubt, 'a good cop perhaps to exterminate the 'cockroaches' with a subtle plan to manipulate, convince and convert people who can easily be led into doing things they may not be able to do and lose those things they depend on for their survival?

These governments say they're trying to help out but they want to shunt the disabled onto Newstart just to save $20.00 the difference between Newstart and the Disability Support Pension and associated entitlements. Forcing them to work when they would otherwise be getting on with their lives and working it out for themselves, when they can, is a lot different than forcing them to do what they cannot.

ABC: "Greg Ashmead is the deputy managing director of Ingeus which is a private company specialising in welfare-to-work[social-services-to-work] programs that has several contracts with the Blair Government, including one to help 2,700 people with disabilities to return to work."

Perhaps though Ingeus is cleaning up in more ways than one and perhaps they are also a scapegoat for the government? To help manipulate clients sent to them with rhetoric and all the while the community is being misled while governments spend their social dollar on warfare expenditure?

Who's cleaning up corporate welfare? What about government advertising to pro-government corporate media? For instance Channel 10 made 94 Million last year?

Welfare Reform for Warfare Expenditure?

Top of the agenda for what the Government describes as its "strategic" Cabinet meetings are the restructuring of industrial relations and welfare reform, but not CORPORATE WELFARE REFORM and it seems increasing GOVERNMENT expenditure on WARFARE in Iraq?

ABC: "Ingeus operates in Australia's Job Network and in the UK and France, specialising in welfare-to-work programs."[social-services-to work programs.

Re: their use of the word 'welfare' is just propaganda for the 'bludger' mentality so the community looks down at the disabled instead of using 'social services' which it really is in terms of assistance to disabled people.

Greg Ashmead says the British program is entirely voluntary.

"I think it's important that we engage people, excite people about the options that are available to them," he said.

As it should be considering the disabled already volunteer their services for free anyway, and all the while paying tax on everything they buy which intern goes back to the government's coffers.

If some of these disabled are already working for non funded government agencies for nothing and paying the government tax all the while, then why can't they be left alone to get on with the job? Think of the inflation of not having mentors in the community and the cost of the government having to deal with every complaint. These people may be disabled but they have lots of skills to pass on in a way that they can pass them on.

How inconsiderate of the government to kick the working poor without taking into account their production and good will considering they're disabled,

ABC: Greg Ashmead says, the key to success there is encouraging, not forcing them, to look for work.

"It's very important that people feel motivated.I honestly don't think people are going to go into sustained quality employment if they feel as though they're forced to do so."

ABC: Less than one year on, Greg Ashmead says 30 per cent of those British pensioners now have sustained part-time or full-time work.

"People can return to benefits if there's an issue or a problem that they endure," he said.

ABC: Mr Ashmead says it is clear an essential ingredient is a team of health professionals on tap, to assess disability pensioners' capacity to work. Doctors, nurses, dieticians, occupational therapists, psychologists and exercise physiologists.

"I think the last thing anybody wants to do is set people up to fail. It's not good enough to put people into a role or a job that is not suitable for them, and then they find themselves maybe even further back than they were before they were referred to an opportunity," he said.

It's not cheap to help disability pensioners into work. One source has told the recent Howard Government pilot program, cost $2,000 to get one jobseeker in the door of an employment agency and another $1,500 to assess their capability to work.

"It's expensive, but I think in terms of returns, it's well worth the investment," Mr Ashmead says.

ABC: To combat any reluctance of employers to hire a person with a disability, the UK program also funds workplace modifications to make sure people can fit productively back into the work force."

By Alexandra Kirk and Just Us posted 2 March 05

Related:

Disability

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.

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.

Children at risk, lack of govt support

The Ombudsman Amendment (Child Protection and Community Services) Act 1998, commenced on May 7, 1999.

Let's take this further: The Federal Government has detained hundreds of young children and their families in desert detention camps locked in behind razor wire enclosures for the crime of fleeing persecution.

The Australian courts have found these children to be psychologically damaged from this imprisonment and likely to be so for life.

The NSW Commissioner of Police Ken Moroney yesterday called for a national summit on child abuse. I guess he won't be arresting Phillip Ruddock or John Howard, two of the worst child abusers on record.

In October stupid white Australians returned a child abusing, family abusing Federal Government intent on destroying the health, welfare and educational institutions built over generations for the care of needy children and families.

The last 30 years has seen a working wage fall so low that two parents working full time can only just meet their responsibilities to feed, house and educate their children.

30 years ago one wage sufficed. The stress of caring for children now is greater than any time in living memory.

Parents are torn from their children to work as wage slaves whilst their children are farmed out as a commodity to the child care industry. Grandparents have had to be dragged in to become de-facto parents to allow parents to slave away for measly wages.

Children bear the brunt of this stress and we can thank our leaders for this. Hale John Howard saviour of the antisocial State, leader of callous business, worshiper of profit, war monger, great leader of the Australians'.

This year in non-white Australia we have recently seen preventable child illness rise yet again. More black deaths from custodial abuse and two riots in black communities.

Governments are talking about introducing curfews, not just for blacks but whites too, that is young white drivers and kids in country towns where lack of services leads to behavioural problems.

What kind of government imprisons young children, places curfews on its citizens dissolves basic services and promotes aggressive invasions of other nations?

No prizes for guessing the right answer.

While govt & media put all efforts into punishment, hate, vilification etc, databases of offenders mean nothing whilst the govt neglects & abuses children in care.

By Tony York 14 December 04

2nd Renaissance -35 "All The Way With The USA" [261]

* "Australia's treatment of refugees in detention centres was the harshest in the world, federal human rights commissioner Sev Ozdowski said today. Dr Ozdowski said the billion dollar system removed basic liberties from refugees, resulting in levels of despair unseen in detention camps elsewhere. 'It (Australia's system) is the harshest - the harshest mainly form the point of view of the length (of detention),' he told seminar guests at Monash University. 'I've never seen the level of despair (in camps anywhere) that I've seen in Australia.'

He said the longest a child had been held in detention in Australia was five years, five months. By April this year, 50 children had been detained for more than two years. Dr Ozdowski ... said the social implications of indefinite detention were shattering. Family life disintegrated, people became suicidal and he had seen children as young as 10 with signs of self-harm. He quoted from one detainee who said "it's 16 months since my detention. My life has been taken away from me ... I've become a useless person who wishes for death every day." ...

Dr Ozdowski, who was once himself a Polish refugee, also said the government's system of temporary protection visas (TPVs) was "ill conceived" "I personally believe that the TPV system is a disaster and we'll be paying for it for a long time." ... He said the biggest human rights abuses had occurred during riots at the centres. "(It happened) where basically control was lost and gas was used and physical force was used." he said. "You just don't keep people imprisoned for a long time with no good reason."

Senator Vanstone issued a statement saying Australia was 'one of the great immigration success stories.' 'We have a generous, robust and ordered immigration system.' she said. (The Age, October 10, 2003)

* "The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office has confirmed it has received several complaints from detainees, particularly those put into detention centres with pre-existing medical conditions, claiming they have been denied treatment. ... One case being investigated by the Ombudsman involves a 37-year-old Lebanese man, Samir Abbas, who suffers from a heart condition known as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. He was put into Villawood in February after overstaying his visa. His lawyer, Stephen Hopper, says Mr Abbas has been refused permission to have a heart operation which doctors say would control his recurring heart palpitations. Mr Abbas has offered to pay for the operation. It is claimed Mr Abbas suffered an 'episode' with his heart on Friday, but despite repeated requests to be taken to hospital, Villawood guards refused to act until his lawyer went to the ABC [media]. After media broadcasts, he was taken by ambulance to Bankstown hospital and kept overnight. Villawood management was rebuked by the deputy state coroner last month over the death of a Thai prostitute in September 2001. Villawood medical staff had refused to take her to hospital." (Sydney Morning Herald, May 16, 2003)

* "The Government has been hiding the real reasons why a private company lost the contract to run six immigration detention centres. ... Also covering up the poor performance is the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (Dima), which is acting in the commercial interests of [...]

BRW has discovered a serious contractual breach relating to [...] and its handling of an escape that the department is keeping secret. Despite the seriousness of the breach - and the amount of about [AU]$90 million in taxpayer's money paid to the company for each year of the contract - the Federal Government refuses to disclose details about why a default notice was served on [...]. The disclosure of Dima's default notice adds to continuing revelations about [...'s] poor operating performance at the six centres. It also brings into question the Government's claim that [...] lost the contract to manage the detention centres because of poor value for money rather than poor performance.

After a lengthy freedom-of-information request that began in May 2002, BRW has established that the department secretary, Bill Farmer, or his agent, issued a default notice to [...] under the contract. ... As a sign of the seriousness of the breach, Dima is not letting BRW see the document because of the harm it would do to [...]. The assistant secretary of unauthorised arrivals and detention services, Jim Williams, wrote to BRW on September 5: "I believe that there is a real risk that disclosure of the document would cause unreasonable harm to [...'s] business reputation and potentially prejudice its ability to perform competitively in its industry." (Business Review Weekly, September 26, 2003)

Mr Williams need not have worried about [...'s] business fortunes though, the company that replaced it in 2002 as the contractor for Australian immigration detention centres is now the subject of a conditional takeover offer by a renamed and rebadged [...]. If the truth were known, he probably had more reason to be worried about the safety of his family or his personal reputation and career. He was dealing with the biggest, toughest and most highly connected corrections corporation in the whole American Military Industrial Complex (AMIC). Those 'Good-ol'-Boys' don't muck around, and few Australian bureaucrats have ever had to deal with anything like [...] before. They are putty in its hands.

By Lothar 2003

Related:

DOCS fails in its duty of care
ELEANOR HALL: A shocking report has revealed that the agency responsible for protecting children in New South Wales is partly to blame for the death of more than 50 children it knew to be at risk.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

Apologise to children abused in care: report
A Senate report on children placed in institutional care has called for the Federal Government to apologise to those who were harmed by their experience.

Gillard stirs Liberal leadership pot
Mr Costello yesterday said that the Federal Government should aim to get all children out of immigration detention and he suggested there should be an increase in immigration levels.

Here is a new project
1. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent children?
2. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent women?
3. Do you believe it is right to imprison innocent people?

Compo claims could follow child detention, group warns
A refugee group has predicted a string of compensation claims, after the Human Rights Commission found numerous and repeated breaches of the UN convention on the rights of the child in immigration detention.

Child detention breaches UN convention: human rights report
A leaked final draft report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is calling for urgent changes to Australia's immigration detention laws.

Report recommends freeing child detainees
The Human Rights Commission has found that some children held in Australia's immigration detention centres have been exposed to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.

No more children for Baxter, pleads SA
The South Australian Government is urging the Commonwealth not to shift any more children into the Baxter detention centre in the state's north.

Nauru staff 'fear children are next'
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says women and children are sitting in on a hunger strike at the Nauru detention centre, but are not participating.

Australian Govt human rights record 'worsening'
Community groups have given the Federal Government five out of ten for its record on human rights this year. Mr Purcell said the Government was also marked down because of the policy of holding children in immigration detention centres.

Detention centre maggots
A Greens' MP has slammed claims that South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre detainees are putting maggots into their own food.

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 would they rather spend the money on WAR?

Almost 700,000 Australians are on disability pensions and the Government says a six-month pilot program to encourage some of them back into the workforce or training was a success?

But they don't give us the success rating? So on a truth scale between 1-10 you can give this a 1 for propaganda or a 2 for ignorance or even a 3 for lies.

Workforce Participation Minister Peter Dutton says the pilot "showed" that a combination of "coercion" and incentive can help get disabled back to work.

But he still hasn't provided any evidence?

The Physical Disability Council of New South Wales has rejected the plan.

The council's executive officer, Dougie Herd, says he believes the Minister is trying to cut the disability support pension budget.

"It's just fanciful nonsense to suggest that you can force people with a disability into a working environment that still remains for many of them hostile," Mr Herd said.

"Whilst we welcome any initiative that the Government wants to take to support and encourage people into work, that's quite different from taking a big stick to beat people to go places that don't want them in the first place."

The president of the National Welfare Rights Network, Michael Raper, says the Government should not assume all disability support pensioners are able to work.

"People with disabilities have a significant level of medical impairment," he said. "They are not ordinary unemployed people, so they have to be treated with care and caution.

"The Government needs to get the proper supports and protections in place, rather than a program of mutual obligation that puts an emphasis on coercion and incentives."

Dutton: "What we've shown is that for the majority of people there is a willingness to participate, to look for work," Mr Dutton said.

"For those people we think aren't there legitimately then we've got to try and adopt some coercion and that's unfortunate in the minority of cases."

For those people they think aren't there "legitimately"? Even though those people have produced and provided medical reports from their doctor to show that they legitimately disabled?

A contradiction in terms Mr Dunce either that or you're completely ignorant.

Mr Dunce says more needs to be done to assist those who want employment and to force a small number of others into work?

To force the disabled to work, even though they have a medical certificate to prove they're disabled?

I would have thought that a decision to make the disabled work was between the doctors who certified the report (that they were a disabled patient) as to whether the disabled patient could work? What if the disabled felt that they could not work? How does force fit in?

Dunce: "We are determined to say to people who are on a disability support pension, 'please go out and look for a job now - you will be surprised by the benefits that brings to you and we think that's an overwhelmingly successful story for those people who are able to find a job," he said.

The problem with that idea is most of these people already do volunteer work when they can and that means they can just survive even though they are disabled.

By The Disabled and Budget Surplus 24 November 04

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.

Related Disability Links:

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."

Related Unemployed Links:

Poverty cycle must be addressed: Ridgeway
The Democrats' Aden Ridgeway says Prime Minister John Howard should stop beating up on people who are on welfare, and focus on solving the national Indigenous unemployment rate.

Labor slams GST windfall figures
The Federal Opposition says the latest figures on GST revenue confirm the Howard Government is the highest taxing government in history. The Government has revealed revenue raised by the tax is $2.9 billion greater than forecast.

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.

Transport costs 'discourage' unemployed renters
A report on housing assistance has found that one of the biggest work disincentives for unemployed renters and public housing tenants is the cost of public transport.

Governance a misfortune to experience
As an employee with the Australian government agency Centrelink my job was to interpret Australian law to determine entitlements for Australian citizens.

Families worse off under Lib/Lab: Community!The London lights are far abeam, behind a bank of cloud. Along the shore the gaslights gleam, the gale is piping loud; And down the Channel, groping blind, we drive her through the haze. Towards the land we left behind -- The good old land of "never mind", and old Australian ways.

Democrats call for improved accountability
Democrats' Senator Andrew Murray says reform of the rules governing political donations and politicians' salaries is needed, as well as measures to help whistleblowers in the public service.

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.

Department of Housing Tenants
A leaflet put out by the Inner city Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service contains some interesting information about how the Carr Government is planning to take some more rights away from the Department of Housing tenants.

Govts failing homeless, ACOSS says
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) says many homeless people are being refused shelter because support services are not properly funded to cope with demand.

Work for the dole failure for two thirds
"The study provides strong support for our view that 'Work for the Dole' is a "cruel hoax" that fails to truly help jobseekers." ACOSS President Andrew McCallum.

Bonus prompts baby talk, principal says
A western Sydney school principal says the Federal Government's $3,000 baby bonus is encouraging his students to fall pregnant.

Government ignoring housing crisis: ACOSS
There are 100,000 homeless people nationwide and one third of those are children. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says low-income families are facing a crisis in affordable housing that the Federal Government is choosing to ignore.

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.

Australia: 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. This agency has a practice of forcing unemployed to fill out preparing for work agreements. Of course they didn't offer him any work! So why was he cut off the dole?

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.

INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT: ISJA
If we want to survive we must work at it Indigenous unemployment reaching crisis: welfare group Action to lower Indigenous unemployment rate Govt underspends on indigenous employment: dept Economic development: The outback malaise Call for end to Indigenous welfare cycle.

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 social services and into work.

ACOSS urges C'wealth to invest in families
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is urging the Federal Government to abandon any plans for a pre-election tax cut and instead increase benefits for families.

'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.

The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 Qld
The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld), requires that any person who has committed an offence which is less than 10 years old or which resulted in a prison sentence of more than 30 months, must disclose that offence if requested eg. for employment purposes. If a criminal record is disclosed in a job application, it is unlikely that person will be given the job.

Tax cuts wrong way to help battlers: ACOSS
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Budgets fails to deliver anything for low and middle income Australians.

Public housing on a precipice
THE booming housing market was squeezing thousands of low-income earners out of private rental accommodation into a public housing system on the verge of collapse, Australia's peak social body has warned.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Shoplifting and homelessness
Shoplifting increased by 7.5 per cent last year, making it the only major crime category to register a significant increase in 2002, crime statistics show. "It's a chain reaction kind of thing. No payments, more crime. More crime, more cops. More cops, more harassment. It goes back to the bloody payments, basically," he said.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Social services groups swamped
A new report has revealed higher costs and increasing demands are forcing [social services] groups to turn more people away.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Social Services small change? Or wast the money on WAR!
Lone parents on [social services] average 12 years of benefits - and are often worse off if they work. But reforming the system is risky and often costly, Bettina Arndt explains.

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
Name removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

Unemployed farm postings would cost jobs: AWU
The Australian Workers Union has rejected a proposal to place work-for-the-dole participants on drought-affected rural properties.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death
Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.

Economy benefiting from non-profit institutions
Non-profit institutions are contributing $30 billion a year to Australia's economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found about a third of that comes from volunteers who worked free for more than 550 million hours in 1999/2000.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

Robin Egan
Two thirds of fines are never collected because they go beyond the means of the defendants and because in lots of cases people do not see that they are responsible. Especially where people know their in the right and no fine ought to have been a penalty.

Related Military Spending Links:

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.

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 social services and into work.

The Government believes as many as 150,000 people on disability pensions will move off social security and into jobs if the pilot scheme is expanded, potentially saving $1billion a year in social welfare payments.

But industry sources told us the pilot was effectively a bail-out of the 12 Job Network providers who had told the Government they were facing a funding crisis.

One of the nation's largest job agencies that helps unemployed disabled people find work collapsed last month.

The provider, Options Community Enterprise, employed more than 120 people across nine sites in Australia and was forced into voluntary administration after running out of money.

Job Network providers will be offered cash to run advertising campaigns to promote the scheme and to employ staff to contact disability pension recipients.

They will also receive a "commencement fee" of between $800 and $1200, and between $1100 and $6600 each time they place a disabled person in work.

[Corporate welfare!]

This payment is considerably more than the $60 to $90 fee the agents currently receive for handling ordinary first-time job-seekers.

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations deputy secretary Bob Correll told us yesterday the scheme would save taxpayers money and offer disability pension recipients the training and intensive assistance they required to re-enter the workforce.

"We believe that one in five people who are on the disability support pension could potentially move into employment," Mr Correll said.

"The individual gains and the taxpayer gains because they don't have to pay for as many disability support pensions."

[At what cost to the social fabric, sick and disabled workers? Why is it all about taxpayers? What happens when those taxpayers become sick, disabled and can't work? Make then work? What about their entitlements, after being worked sick? They paid taxes and they have the right to social services and social security if they get sick or disabled.]

The new strategy is designed to reduce the $2.6billion a year the federal Government currently spends on disability pensions.

Under the six-month pilot program, disabled people will be contacted by phone or letter or through community service organisations, and disability pension recipients will be asked to sign up to training and job-search programs.

One-third of the people on the disability support pension have musculoskeletal or connective tissue conditions, and almost 25 per cent have psychological and psychiatric conditions.

Mr Correll revealed yesterday that the plan followed a policy direction from Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, who said Australia's main economic challenge was to increase the proportion of the population taking part in the labour market.

Twelve Job Network agencies already hired by the federal Government to assist disabled people have been given an extra $840,000 to trial the program.

[Corporate welfare!]

If the pilot proves successful, Mr Correll said the federal Government would pump more money into Job Network and ask all of Australia's 110 agencies to approach all disability support pension recipients.

He warned that employers would face skill shortages if they did not look to disabled people as potential workers.

People on the disability support pensions are not currently required to sign up with Job Network providers to receive social security payments. But the federal Government is hoping many will sign up after being convinced of the merits of work. [?]

Mr Correll warned that Australia desperately needed to stem the decline of labour market participation rates, a result of an ageing population.

He said his department was working with industry to identify the areas where disabled people could work, with retail and hospitality at the top of the list.

[To bad about all that money wasted on war? How is that more important than an ageing population that needs a social security net after working all their lives?]

Six of the 12 Job Network providers have signed up to the pilot scheme and Mr Correll said he expected the other six to come on board.

[Why not it's corporate welfare. Why pay disabled people a living wage when they can force them to work and pay corporations their sick benefits?]

Mr Correll denied it was a bail-out but did concede it might help with their financial problems.

"This could reduce the number of people on disability support pensions . . . so it could save the Government money," he said.

Ed: You want to save the government money then get out of Afghanistan and Iraq and spend those billions on social security for disabled people who can't work. Allow the ex-prisoners to work regardless of past mistakes see links.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death

Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.

Economy benefiting from non-profit institutions

Non-profit institutions are contributing $30 billion a year to Australia's economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found about a third of that comes from volunteers who worked free for more than 550 million hours in 1999/2000.

By Tonia Roberts 12 January 04

The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 Qld
The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld), requires that any person who has committed an offence which is less than 10 years old or which resulted in a prison sentence of more than 30 months, must disclose that offence if requested eg. for employment purposes. If a criminal record is disclosed in a job application, it is unlikely that person will be given the job.

Shoplifting and homelessness
Shoplifting increased by 7.5 per cent last year, making it the only major crime category to register a significant increase in 2002, crime statistics show. "It's a chain reaction kind of thing. No payments, more crime. More crime, more cops. More cops, more harassment. It goes back to the bloody payments, basically," he said.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Social services groups swamped
A new report has revealed higher costs and increasing demands are forcing [social services] groups to turn more people away.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Social Services small change? Or wast the money on WAR!
Lone parents on [social services] average 12 years of benefits - and are often worse off if they work. But reforming the system is risky and often costly, Bettina Arndt explains.

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
Name removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

Unemployed farm postings would cost jobs: AWU
The Australian Workers Union has rejected a proposal to place work-for-the-dole participants on drought-affected rural properties.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death
Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.

Economy benefiting from non-profit institutions
Non-profit institutions are contributing $30 billion a year to Australia's economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found about a third of that comes from volunteers who worked free for more than 550 million hours in 1999/2000.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

Robin Egan
Two thirds of fines are never collected because they go beyond the means of the defendants and because in lots of cases people do not see that they are responsible. Especially where people know their in the right and no fine ought to have been a penalty.