Australia —
400,000 people could have reduced payments and more
penalties under proposed changes to welfare without
increasing their chances of getting a job the
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) said
today releasing a new report on welfare reform.
"ACOSS is calling on the
Government to deliver on its promises to get people
back to work without making anyone worse off. This
requires $2 billion worth of better education, work
experience and supports to skill up the 1.5 million
jobless Australians," ACOSS President Andrew McCallum
said.
After years of economic growth,
those who remain jobless are the most disadvantaged
Australians. As detailed in the new ACOSS report,
Welfare Reform: participation or punishment?
(available on www.acoss.org.au)
characteristics of these 1.5 million jobless people
include:
- Around 60% of jobless parents,
people with disabilities and long term unemployed
people have no more than year 10 education (compared
with 35% of all people of workforce age.
- 45% (700,000 people) who have
been assessed by the Government as having
disabilities.
- 30% (425,000 people) who are
caring for children under 16 years.
- 43% of all Aboriginal people of
workforce age are unemployed.
"Investing in these people now so
they have better chances to get work will save money
later by reducing the number of people reliant on
payments long term. ACOSS is concerned that a total of
400,000 disadvantaged people could lose out from these
welfare proposals without a substantial commitment to
increase their job chances," said McCallum.
As detailed in the Report, those
who stand to lose include:
- 60,000 people who apply for the
Disability Support Pension (DSP) over the next 3 years
and are shifted onto unemployment payments. They will
be $20-40 a week worse off and lose significant
concessions.
- Another 65,000 people on DSP
could lose up to $10 a week in payments due to changes
to the way their pensions are indexed.
- If these indexation rules apply
to the 250,000 parents on pensions (with children aged
6-15), these parents will lose up to $10 a week in
payments.
- Another 25,000 long term
unemployed people could be forced onto Work for the
Dole projects for 10 months where they will work for
just $8 an hour (two thirds of the minimum wage) and
are unlikely to be able to look for work effectively
during this time.
Reforms to increase workforce
participation recommended by ACOSS include:
- Wage subsidies to encourage
employers to take on disadvantaged people.
- Better child care, including
after school hours care, in areas that most need it
and more targeted child care payments to benefit those
on lower incomes.
- Easing of income tests so
people on payments do not lose up to 70 cents in every
dollar they earn
- Closing the payment gap between
pensions and allowances.
- Increasing Youth Allowance for
families with children who are 16 to so that families
do not lose income when their teenagers are completing
high school.
Introducing an allowance to help
cover the cost of people with disabilities have looking
for and obtaining employment.
