Blaming the unemployed

By Dave Matthews

The federal Coalition government showed its true colours on Australia
Day (January 26) by announcing it's latest plan to harass unemployed people.
The plan involves tightening the government's grip on dole recipients through
changes to the way Centrelink payments are administered (see the box below).

 

This is part of what the Coalition calls its “preparing for work” strategy,
but most of the changes won't improve the chances of long-term unemployed
and young people finding employment.

No jobs

Under successive federal governments over the last two decades there has
been massive job cutting in the public sector, including cuts to employment
programs. The government crows about private sector job growth, but according
to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, there are now six unemployed people
for every job vacancy, and that is just counting the 640,000 people who
are officially unemployed.

There are an estimated 111,000 discouraged job seekers (people who've
given up looking for work) and the equivalent of 200,000 full-time jobs
are wanted by people who are under-employed. This means that the real number
of unemployed is close to 1 million people.

No help

The introduction of the privatised job network, to replace the government-owned
Commonwealth Employment Service, has failed to help unemployed people.
The government has repeatedly refused to release figures on the number
of jobs found for people who have participated in its intensive assistance
and job-search training schemes, but almost no large-scale private employers
have participated in the job network, preferring to use other employment
agencies or advertise in newspapers.

The closure of 28 Employment National offices in high unemployment rural
areas will mean that many unemployed people will be forced to travel for
up to 90 minutes to find a job network service or choose one of the big
“winners” from the recent round of contract announcements, the church-based
Salvation Army or Mission Employment. The Salvation Army, in particular,
has been rewarded with extra funding for its vocal support of the Coalition's
conservative social agenda, against drug law reform, for example.

No peace

Sue Vardon, chief executive officer of Centrelink, recently sent a letter
to people on Newstart and Youth Allowance in the greater Sydney and regional
areas threatening to cancel their payments if they did not make the most
of job opportunities presented by the Olympics.

The government is also tightening the requirements of the cynically
titled “mutual obligation” system. Under this system, unemployed people
are forced to work for the dole, unless they are working or studying part-time
or willing to undertake voluntary work with an approved organisation.

This “blame the victim” approach is part of the Coalition's war on Owhat
it calls “welfare dependency”. In reality, the government is waging a war
on the whole welfare system.

While the government gives more hand-outs to business (such as in the
recent corporate tax cuts), it takes away from the unemployed. It wants
less people on the dole, for shorter periods and with lower payments.

Employment services minister Tony Abbott told the Australian
on December 17 that welfare payments in Australia are “especially generous
by Western standards”. But the Australian Council of Social Service has
revealed that unemployment benefits for single adults are 21% below the
official poverty line; for under-21 year olds, the payments are 33% below
the poverty line.

How long would politicians like Abbott last on the dole instead of their
usual salary (even without the all-expenses-paid holidays and phony travel
reimbursements)? The real solution to unemployment is to put them out of
their jobs, and run the system ourselves!