We at Vinnies have marked the day
with a sad heart. The new laws (Welfare to Work) will see many people with
disabilities, single mothers and their children pushed into greater poverty and
indignity. Our members feel a deep sense of compassion for people who will
suffer under these new laws. We will stand with them in their financial
distress.
UnitingCare –Uniting Church
UnitingCare
is the community service network of the Uniting Church.
It is one of Australia’s
largest non-government providers of community services, with 400 community
service agencies located across every State and Territory, providing services
to 1.8 million Australians each year. UnitingCare employs 35,000 staff and
24,000 volunteers nationally and provides services to children, young people
and families, people with disabilities, and older Australians, in urban, rural
and remote communities. UnitingCare Australia is committed to values
based advocacy, speaking with and on behalf of those who are the most
vulnerable and disadvantaged, for the common good. UnitingCare is a signatory
to the national community sector Compliance Statement. It is our experience
that people want to work, and we are concerned that the government is
implementing a compliance-based framework rather than a strengths-based one. We
are concerned about the very harsh 8-week no payment penalty. We believe that
this penalty is too severe and will push people further away from gaining the
skills they need to find and keep a job. We cannot see how withholding
essential support payments to vulnerable people and families will motivate or
assist them into work. This approach does not ft with our extensive experience
across Australia
working with vulnerable people. While the community and welfare sector is being
asked to provide financial case management in the event of an 8-week no payment
penalty, the requisite funds, training, staff and general capacity and
resources available to carry out case management are just not adequate. We
believe that the Government should abolish the maximum 8 week no payment
penalty so that disadvantaged Australians are encouraged to re-engage but
retain basic income support. We support the government’s goal to move people
off
welfare and
into work, but wish to see this happen in a sustainable way that ensures that
people are able to acquire the skills and access the services they need to get
a job and then to keep it over the long term.
Lin Hatfeld Dodds
National Director
UnitingCare Australia
St. Vincent de Paul Society-Catholic Church
1 July
marks the day on which new Welfare to Work legislation is implemented. We at
Vinnies have marked the day with a sad heart. The new laws will see many people
with disabilities and single mothers and their children pushed into greater
poverty and indignity. Our members feel a deep sense of compassion for people
who will suffer under these new laws. We will stand with them in their financial
distress as well as their sense of despair. We cannot understand why the people
we assist should be further oppressed. The point of good government is to
address our nation’s problems, not create new ones. We have consistently voiced
our support for policies that enable people to move from welfare to work. We
oppose, however, any moves that drive vulnerable people from one social
security benefit to a lower benefit and then into jobs that actually keep them
in poverty. To oppose sole parents and people with disabilities to the threat
of 8 weeks payment suspension is an example of the governments ‘sticks rather
than carrots’ approach. To then refer some of these victims of breaching to
charities is a further means of humiliating them, rather than empowering them.
We will not participate in this ill-conceived program. We anticipate that our
members will see a significant increase in the number of people seeking assistance
due to the combination of these Welfare Laws and the IR Laws. We will always
provide what charitable assistance we can. What these people deserve, however,
is justice rather than charity.
Dr. John Falzon
National Council CEO
St. Vincent de Paul
Anglicare Australia-Anglican Church
Anglicare
Australia and its member agencies are concerned that Welfare to Work changes
currently being implemented by the Federal Government will further disadvantage
people already experiencing trauma, relationship breakdowns, unemployment and
long term health and disability issues. In addition, a new compliance and
penalty regime will be implemented for people on payments including a maximum
eight week no payment penalty. Anglicare Australia supports the goal of moving
people back into the workforce but is concerned that, when people already face
so many obstacles in finding and staying in jobs and who also suffer major
health and disability issues, they can be further punished by these changes.
Not only will people get less money, but they will also be forced to go cap in
hand to welfare agencies. The expectation that welfare agencies will wield a
big stick to already vulnerable and disadvantaged people is not the appropriate
way to encourage them into the workforce.
Ray Cleary
Chair
Anglicare Australia
Hillsong Emerge – Hillsong Church
Hillsong
Emerge is a not-for-profit charity that has been providing essential community
services to some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our communities for
more than 20 years. For over 17 years, we have been an emergency assistance
provider in areas including Blacktown, Mount Druitt
and St Marys helping those in crisis. We have also been a Personal Support
Provider (PSP) in those areas since 2002.
We were
recently invited by Centrelink to be on a register for referrals, similar to
our arrangements with other agencies. We see this as an extension of services
that we currently operate, in line with our ongoing commitment to helping
people wherever need arises.
With the
introduction of the government’s Welfare to Work changes, we believe that it’s
essential that those affected are properly supported.
Leigh Coleman
CEO- Hillsong Emerge
The national community sector
Compliance Statement referred to in the UnitingCare statement is a policy produced
by the Australian Council of Social Services which summarises best practice in
the area of client care and compliance with welfare laws. It can be found on its website: www.acoss.org.au
[South
Sydney Herald August 2006]