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Keywords: Newstart

  • AUSTRALIA

    The privatisation of human services

    • El Gibbs
    • 20 October 2017
    20 Comments

    The Federal Government's recent announcement that Serco will be delivering some of the income support system, Centrelink, is another blow to core public services that serve some of the most disadvantaged Australians. No one should make a profit out of people being poor.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Compulsory drug testing is no silver bullet

    • Frank Brennan
    • 29 August 2017
    10 Comments

    In an age of 'budget repair' when both sides of politics are trying to contain the welfare budget, the search for savings and silver bullets is relentless. If Ministers Porter and Tudge are really seeking 'a way of assisting people to get off drugs and back into work', they should convince their cabinet colleagues of the need to increase the Newstart and Youth Allowance so that it might provide a real start for assisting people to survive with dignity while preparing for and getting back into work.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Vulnerable victims of government hit-and-run

    • Irfan Yusuf
    • 04 February 2014
    7 Comments

    Each time I see a Melbourne driver wait for a pedestrian, it seems they can barely restrain the urge to run the poor person over. Similar observations could be made about how our politicians confront the most vulnerable individuals.

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  • ECONOMICS

    Don't rob the poor to pay the rich

    • Bruce Duncan
    • 04 February 2014
    14 Comments

    The budget problems are not caused by Newstart or disability pensions, which have been declining as a proportion of economic activity. Had the Howard Government not been so generous with its tax cuts to upper and middle income groups, there would today be no budget deficit.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hockey's space cadet schemes

    • Ray Cassin
    • 30 October 2013
    17 Comments

    There is a bizarre and remorseless logic to some of Joe Hockey's proposals, such as the absorption of Centrelink by Australia Post and making Medibank Private responsible for delivering the services of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. ACTU president Ged Kearney described the Centrelink proposal as 'moving into space-cadet territory'. She's right: the space cadets are flying the ship now.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    When it comes to work and welfare, market rules Labor's roost

    • Luke Williams
    • 27 May 2013
    10 Comments

    If I was a long-term unemployed person, how would I answer the question, 'What has the ALP done for me?' 'Lots, and not much.' The Gillard Government's commitment to developing workforce skills suggests it values decent work, not just jobs, but in positing productivity as the path to prosperity it seems more Reagan than Keynes.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Labor goes from Robin Hood to the Sheriff of Nottingham

    • John Falzon
    • 17 May 2013
    9 Comments

    You don't build someone up by putting them down. You don't help someone into employment by pushing them into poverty. By keeping the unemployment benefit low, successive governments have deliberately humiliated people rather than improving their chances.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Flawed beauty in back-to-the-wall Budget

    • Paul O'Callaghan
    • 15 May 2013
    13 Comments

    The Treasurer has emphasised his belief that Labor's values and priorities are reflected in this Budget. He is keen to help the battler. Yet there is a sharp dissonance between the Government's promotion of a 'fair go' through big reforms and its evident disinterest in so many citizens whose financial struggles are profound.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Not poor just broke

    • Ellena Savage
    • 10 May 2013
    6 Comments

    A few years ago, when my shifts had been cut at the store and I was waiting on a few freelance cheques, I found myself down to $3 for the entire week. I don't like borrowing money, so I spent it all on a 3kg bag of potatoes and got creative. The thing to remember though is that I had $3 and a functional kitchen.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Black hole budget will penalise the poor

    • Brian Toohey
    • 07 May 2013
    9 Comments

    Labor is struggling with a $12 billion write down in anticipated revenue for 2012-13 after Treasury bungled the forecasts. It could cut back on government assistance to those who can fend for themselves. But it has chosen to penalise the poor, with those on the parenting payment being switched to the lower Newstart. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hearing the unheard at Christmas

    • John Falzon
    • 21 December 2012
    17 Comments

    The greatest power for progressive social change lies with the forming of connections between the excluded. This Christmas I invite you to join me in saluting the people who experience exclusion and who are best placed to teach all of us how best to change society for the better. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Gender and class equality should go hand in hand

    • John Falzon
    • 16 October 2012
    39 Comments

    Last week we witnessed one of the most powerful articulations of gender equality by any prime minister. Sadly on the same day the Government and Opposition pushed through legislation to force 140,000 sole parents onto the inadequate Newstart Allowance. Gender analysis is mainstream; it is time for class analysis to become so too.

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