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AUSTRALIA

Catholic Social Services refuses to police "harsh" Govt policy

After months of deliberation with Government, other church groups, our board and member organisations, Catholic Social Services Australia has advised its 61 member organisations not to participate in the Financial Case Management measures under the Government’s harsh new Welfare to Work legislation, which came into effect on 1 July this year.

Under the legislation, people on unemployment benefits risk having their payments cut for eight weeks if they fail to comply with the participation requirements.

These are unduly harsh measures and we don’t want to be confused as administrators and policemen of poor Government policy.

These arrangements compromise our capacity to serve our clients who are some of the most vulnerable and marginalised Australians.

Catholic agencies share the Government’s objective of moving people from welfare to appropriate work according to their capacity.

We support the principle of mutual obligation.

We remain partners with Government in many of the successful programs it has implemented to achieve this objective.

Our objection to Financial Case Management is long standing and well articulated. This stance has recently seen us accused of abandoning those most in need.

If Government is to place obligations and requirements on those most in need, it must first ensure that it has met its obligation to provide the support, skills and assistance required to meet those obligations.

Financial Case Management is the Government’s ‘safeguard’, run by Centerlink, designed to protect ‘extremely vulnerable’ people against loss of income under the new regime.

The harshness of the new arrangements is evident in Centrelink’s own guidelines. In order to qualify for financial case management, job seekers must have a dependent child or other vulnerable dependent or be assessed as exceptionally vulnerable. The documentation defines ‘exceptionally vulnerable’ people as those who have a recognised disability, medical condition or physical or mental impairment; and they require medication to manage that condition; and they do not have sufficient funds available to purchase essential medication.

We see three major flaws with the new system.

We contend the legislation is too harsh and that vulnerable people are not protected by, and should not be included in the new arrangements.

For those who do have their income suspended, there should be an avenue to re enter the scheme once they are able to comply with the participation requirements. Let’s not lock people out for eight weeks. Let’s allow them an opportunity back into the system.

And thirdly, more resources are needed to address barriers to work, such as mental illness – diagnosed or undiagnosed, which might have contributed to participation failures in the first place.

As the number of unemployed Australians decreases, those left looking for work are more likely to experience significant barriers to finding employment. They are increasingly vulnerable and marginalised people. Among them are people with mental illness, single parents, and people with disabilities.

Our agencies work with these people every day. Some of the clients we see through programs like the Personal Support Program (PSP) find it difficult to manage the simplest daily functions. Many can’t negotiate their health care needs, their income support, adequate housing or even the most basic personal care.

Senate Estimates revealed that up to 18,000 people could have their payments cut in the first twelve months under the new legislation but that as few as 4,000 people might qualify as ‘extremely vulnerable’ and therefore qualify for financial assistance through Financial Case Management.

The sums suggest up to 14,000 people will not have access to any income support for eight weeks.

We know that people who have their benefits suspended endure great hardship. They go without food. Their accommodation is often put at risk. They have reduced access to public transport and childcare and they fall further into debt.

The punitive new measures are extreme and unjustified, especially considering there are not enough places for people in the programs that provide them with the care and support they need in their efforts to rejoin the workforce.

Around 10,000 PSP places will be released over the next five years, but over 7,500 people are waiting up to twelve months to get access to the program. Many of these people are homeless, making it difficult to find them again in twelve months time.

Senate estimates also revealed that homeless people don’t qualify as ‘extremely vulnerable’. These are the people who have fallen through the cracks – the people with mental illness who are incapable of negotiating the maze that is our public health system.

Our role is to assist those who are most disadvantaged to develop skills and build their capacity to participate more fully in society. It’s properly the role of Centrelink agencies – the Government’s own agency – to control income support.

Church and community groups have provided assistance to people most in need at many other times when those people have fallen through the cracks of government programs, and that’s what Catholic Social Services will continue to do.

We will continue our dialogue with governments on both sides of the Parliament to make sure the best interests of our clients are served.

Frank Quinlan is Executive Director, Catholic Social Services Australia

Recent articles by Frank Quinlan.

  1. Why Tony Abbott is right about welfare
  2. A plan to overcome poverty
  3. Inside Canberra's Catholic lobby
  4. What welfare policies?
  5. The Budget of social exclusion

 

 

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