- Labor toughens welfare rules, By Patricia Karvelas, August 12, 2010, The Australian: “Julia Gillard has promised much tougher welfare conditions for those on the dole. She has warned the unemployed that they will lose their benefits if they miss an interview or scheduled training opportunities. Welfare groups slammed the move as draconian, while the Coalition accused the Prime Minister of copying its as-yet-unannounced policy. Ms Gillard yesterday revealed she would offer long-term unemployed people up to $6000 to relocate to take up a job, under a welfare-to-work initiative first flagged by the opposition. Employers will be offered $2500 to take on long-term unemployed who have relocated, as the government sets out to encourage people to shift to areas with worker shortages. The program will begin with a trial relocation assistance package, starting in January with 2000 long-term unemployed people…”
- Welfare payments linked to child health checks, By Patricia Karvelas, August 10, 2010, The Australian: “Julia Gillard has announced new rules requiring parents of four-year-olds to take the children for health checks before getting benefits. At stake for the parents is the $726.35 family tax benefit. The new rules for the payment of Family Tax Benefit Part A are part of a radical new plan to link welfare with behavioural change. The Prime Minister announced in Melbourne today a major extension of the government’s welfare reform plan that began with the dole and payments to single mothers. Working parents who receive family payments will be obliged to fulfil responsibilities imposed by the authorities before they receive taxpayer money. Payment of the family tax benefit end-of-year supplement for families on income support for four-year-olds will be conditional on certification that a Healthy Kids Check has been undertaken. The Healthy Kids Checks for four-year-olds were introduced by the government in 2008 to ensure children were healthy before they started school…”
Tag: Australia
Increasing Homelessness – Australia
Homeless People’s Problems Grow, By Natasha Bita, July 22, 2010, The Austrilian: “Two in every three homeless people are being turned away from crisis accommodation each night, a damning government report reveals. Three years after the Rudd government pledged to halve homelessness by 2020, crisis services are facing unprecedented levels of demand. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare yesterday reported that 62 per cent of homeless people — including 80 per cent of couples with children — were unable to find a bed on any given day during 2008-09. The homeless crisis is hitting youth the hardest, with 56 per cent of people with a “valid unmet request” for a bed for the night being turned away. A further 37 per cent of the homeless were aged 20 to 44. Ninety per cent of the homeless people were Australian-born, and more than a quarter of them were indigenous. The institute found that 82,300 Australians were seeking emergency accommodation each night, including 13,300 women escaping domestic violence and 24,600 children…”
Minimum Wage Increase – Australia
- Freeze over, minimum wage up by $26 a week, By Ben Schneiders and Misha Schubert, June 4, 2010, The Age: “More than 1.4 million low-paid workers will receive their biggest pay rise in many years after the first decision by the Rudd government’s new workplace tribunal in a move attacked by employers as ‘excessive’ and ‘irresponsible’. Employers warned of a threat to jobs and said it would add $2.5 billion to the small business wages bill after the decision to lift award-reliant workers’ wages from July 1 by $26 a week to $569.90 a week or $15 an hour. The decision – $1 a week less than the ACTU’s claim – comes after minimum wages were controversially frozen last year in the final ruling of the Fair Pay Commission, the body set up by the Howard government…”
- Opinion split over minimum wage rise, June 4, 2010, ABC News: “Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dismissed concerns that Thursday’s decision to increase the minimum wage will put pressure on inflation and employment growth. Fair Work Australia has granted Australia’s lowest paid workers a wage increase of $26 a week, bringing the minimum weekly wage to almost $570. But business groups are furious, saying the increase is risky, irresponsible, unjustified and will cost jobs. Ms Gillard says the pay rise will give low-paid workers a fairer share of the benefits of Australia’s economic recovery…”