Welfare changes still leave many vulnerable

Jac Taylor, Melbourne

On September 21, Dr Elspeth McInnes, convenor of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, criticised the Howard government's changes to its proposed "welfare-to-work" package as still failing for protect vulnerable families from the adverse impacts of the package.

"The government is still planning to slash payment rates on the youngest child's sixth birthday, still increasing the clawback on earnings and still cutting parents' access to education across the board", McInnes said. "Families with exemptions from activity testing will still have to live on less, they just won't have extra activities and punishments.

"One size does not fit all, yet all sole parent families after July 2006 will be marking their youngest child's sixth birthday with income cuts and new demands and punishments."

She welcomed the new $104 employment entry payment for parents but noted that the one-off payment barely compensated for three weeks of payment rate reductions. She also said the eight-week non-payment period did nothing to assist parents to get jobs. "The stress that such a punitive measure will cause cannot be overstated. To have to beg to have your most urgent bills paid will do nothing to enhance the well-being of families."

From Green Left Weekly, September 28, 2005.

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From GLW issue 644