Deal looms on wait for the dole under Newstart Allowance plans
Patricia Karvelas

    The Australian
    September 02, 2014


UNEMPLOYED people under 30 would face a shorter wait for the Newstart Allowance payment than the six-month proposal unveiled in the budget, as the Abbott government prepares to compromise in order to get its controversial welfare reforms through the Senate.      

The Australian understands that senior members of the ­Coalition have conceded that getting the proposal for a full six months off the dole through the Senate is extremely difficult, or even impossible, and are prepared to accept a shorter waiting period. The government is expected to be able to get the radical measure through if it settles for a waiting period of one month, as operates in New Zealand.

Senate crossbenchers have so far been unwilling to accept any waiting period for the dole but given New Zealand has had success with its one-month waiting period, the Abbott government hopes to convince them that this is a useful policy for deterring people from living on the dole.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, who this week begins negotiations on the welfare measures in the budget, confirmed that he was ready to compromise.

“I’ll talk to anybody who wants to discuss the detail of this proposal, who accepts the proposition that it’s unreasonable for the taxpayer to be subsidising someone who neither wants to work nor train,” Mr Andrews told The Australian.

“This is not an earn-or-starve provision; this is an earn-or-learn provision. If you engage in education and training, there is ­support for you to do so.”

Under the proposed budget measure, people under 30 can avoid being kicked off welfare payments for six months if they enrol in school, TAFE or apprenticeships to receive a lower welfare payment. Many categories of unemployed people will be exempt from the tough new rules, announced in the budget, which will force people under 30 off the dole every six months. The exemptions will apply to people who are considered to face multiple barriers to work, such as homelessness, disability and poor literacy and numeracy.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the agency strongly opposed any move to take “vital life support income from young people in need, whether for six months or one month”.      

“The fact is this would ­represent a fundamental departure from the principle of basic support for all, in return for reasonable efforts to look for work,” Dr Goldie said.

“The proposal has no merit. Driving people into poverty by taking money away that they desperately need while they look for work simply makes no sense.

“It would only cause more hardship and swell the numbers of people knocking on the doors of charities seeking shelter, food, emergency relief and other support.”      

She said policies to reduce youth unemployment must start with investing in the transition from school to paid work.

The National Welfare Rights Network’s Maree O’Halloran said the proposal to make some people under 30 wait six months every year before gaining access to the unemployment benefit
was both extreme and counterproductive. “Bargaining the proposal down to 28 days still leaves people without the support of family and friends in desperate need, particularly as a cascading number of other waiting periods will also be applied,” Ms O’Halloran said.

“The government would be better placed to give up this proposal altogether and look to real solutions to the looming and pressing problem of youth unemployment.”

Ms O’Halloran said the agency would urges all senators to reject any compromise offer.

“With youth unemployment rates at around 20 per cent in some electorates, the community wants our political leaders to assist unemployed people into jobs, not to make life harder,” Ms O’Halloran said.

“No income means no income, whether its 26 weeks or just four weeks.”