This newswire is for stories from the oceania region..
Single parents deserve a living wage and not persecution |
| by StandUp NEWS |
2005-04-21 3:30 PM +0800 |
| Why is Peter Costello doing this? Costello is a man who sees the world through dollar signs. The less people apply for pensions, the less the government has to spend. This is short sighted as poorly brought up children are likely to be a burden. They are less likely to be employed. They become involved in criminal activity. However, in the short term the government certainly saves money. Many poor parents will have to beg to charities. Some charities such as the Salvation Army in Wollongong are known not to give to those who fail the work test. |
Being a single parent is hard work. It means a lot of responsibility. But you are not paid properly to do this work.
You are paid way below what is recognised as the poverty line. StandUp! Believes that looking after a child is a job and should be paid for like any other job.
Unfortunately Mr Costello does not share our philosophy. He wants sole parents whose child has started school to look for work or be breached just like those on Newstart.
Those on Newstart should not be work tested. We strongly oppose it for sole parents.
Just because your child is at school doesn't mean that there is no work to be done. There is housework and there is shopping. To ensure your child's safety you have to be there when your child finishes school to escort him/her home. Very few jobs allow you to do this. Work is often tiring and this makes child raising more difficult. You also have to cook and do housework. This is hardly the basis for a meaningful relationship with your child!
Why is Peter Costello doing this?
Costello is a man who sees the world through dollar signs. The less people apply for pensions, the less the government has to spend. This is short sighted as poorly brought up children are likely to be a burden. They are less likely to be employed. They become involved in criminal activity. However, in the short term the government certainly saves money. Many poor parents will have to beg to charities. Some charities such as the Salvation Army in Wollongong are known not to give to those who fail the work test.
Another reason is that Costello, the Christian, wants to force us to live in a nuclear family. This he wants to impose on everyone. But for many living in a couple is neither practical nor desirable. Many men are violent. Many couples are simply incompatible. Marriage should be a choice and not enforced by poverty.
Another way CentreLink is persecuting sole parents is by putting the onus on the parent to establish that he or she is not part of a de facto relationship. Before it was the onus on CentreLink to establish that a couple were in such a relationship. But now, if they considered that you haven't proved otherwise, they will assume you are in a relationship and breach you...
StandUp! Believes in independent status. That means that irrespective of whether you are married, in a relationship or otherwise you deserve a living wage under your control and not in the name of your partner. It's time that child rearing was considered as work and paid for properly. No to the attacks on sole parents.
More Attacks from Peter Costello
Peter Costello is in a vicious mood at the moment. He wants to force single parents and those with a disability to be forced to do the work test. This will mean massive suffering.
What he has also foreshadowed is the end for "generous" indexation of benefits. So when inflation hits our benefits will go up.'
It is hard enough to live off our meagre benefits at the moment. So when inflation hots it will be even harder.
We, the unemployed are not responsible for the economic crisis it causes. Yet they make us, the victims pay for it. A living wage should be a right?
Ed. Now the Medicare levy has risen from $300 to $500 for people on low income then try going to a specialist medical practitioner who wants $180 up front with a $60.00 rebate? Then if that specialist cannot find your problem you have to go to another? That's another $180 up front. Well that is what has just happened to me.
Do I go on looking for my problem at the cost of my living expenses? So far I have cancelled my next appointment to another specialist because I'm unsure if I'm simply paying medical practitioners the money they need for prestige opposed to fixing my problem 'if they can find it'?
For many sick poor people who are unsure whether they're sick enough to seek a specialist medical practitioner or if that practitioner can help then they need to weigh up the costs, but many will simply wait until it's too late and this is what I call 'death row' not MEDICARE!
Related:
Costello to force single mums to look for work?
What the blind leading the blind? But where is the proof that they do not try? So what he said today merely attempts to back up what Peter Dutton said yesterday that, " 300 PEOPLE A DAY GO ONTO A DISABILITY SUPPORT PENSION?
More: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/90019.php
Labor sees problems in welfare proposals
"That's not welfare reform. That's not going to assist people make a transition from welfare into work. It's simply creating a new dole for people with a disability and for sole parents."
More: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/90710.php
Cover the Uninsured Week
All the way with the USA: Cover the Uninsured Week? That's what happened when the Neo-Liberal fascist party lied to us about Medicare. Now we have to fork it or walk it? There is an old bush saying, 'that you can take a sheep if you're hungry but you must leave the pelt on the farmers fence'. That as well as stealing hubcaps for a living seems likely to become good options for the poor and underprivileged when HoWARd takes over the Senate in July. Tony Abbott must stand down Now!
More: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/90887.php
Dismantle the war machine, slash taxes, privatisation, and keep welfare
Professor Saunders says if the amount of money returned to people could be stripped back, more lower and middle-income earners could choose how to spend their money on health, education, savings and retirement?
More: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/90470.php
Dismantle the War Machine not Welfare
http://www.msav.org.au/rally/Medicare.htm
Pastor Pete and the Family First? Party
THE HILLSONG'S ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF ' NEO-LIBERALISM'
But is this in good faith? Dr David Millikan of the Hillsong church has gone on record saying he thinks that he feels that Peter Costello has been destined by God to be the prime minister and I'm sure he feels that in his very being and all too willing to convince those in his congregation of the same.
More: http://brisbane.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=13932&group=webcast |
|
|
Poorly brought up children are likely to be a burden
scale pictures
|
Link here
|
