Bill Shorten rules out increase in the dole


NEW Employment Minister Bill Shorten has slapped down an unprecedented push by business, welfare groups and the union movement for a boost to the Newstart "dole" allowance as part of root-and-branch reform of the welfare system.

Mr Shorten said the dole, worth $243 a week, acted as a safety net and was deliberately set at a level that encouraged people to take up paid work.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/bill-short...


The ALP should be ashamed of itself.

People lose jobs because of bad decisions made by management, opposition leaders spending a year talking down the economy so dry up consumer and business confidence and so business investment, and the ALP making bad decisions around it's policies.

As the world economy collapses, we should see the unemployed payments as a safety net, not a punishment. Also it is a form of stimulus to boost the economy.

People should not be punished because of external factors to themselves.

Labor does not only punish the unemployed, it punishes the families of the unemployed. The children of the unemployed then suffer due to the parents having to cost cut on food quality etc.

Shame ALP, Shame. Your ignorance is astounding.

I do not think any government should be criticised for not trying to make dole payments equivalent to a "living wage", because the dole should never get to a position where it becomes a viable financial alternative to working for a living.
Apart from anything else, people need to feel they are contributing members of society, and earn the sense of righteous pride that comes from providing for yourself, and your family, from your own efforts, and despite what anyone says, I cannot help but think receiving continuous handouts must be ultimately soul destroying.
If people really are unable to work, due to physical, or psychological limitations beyond their control, they still need to be encouraged to engage with society on some level, so that they can find some sense of value to their existence.

mozzaok wrote on Jan 11^th, 2012 at 12:09am:




Is the age pension in the target range of the ALP.

Do they plan to make it harder to qualify by increasing the age.

Meanwhile Labor voted yes to their own MP's pay rises.

While the unemployed ... let them eat cake.

AN 18-year-old university student will run for the SA Greens in the Port Adelaide by-election.

The new Greens candidate, Justin McArthur, once described himself as "lonely and unemployed" with "nothing better to do" than work in student politics.

Mr McArthur, a third-year university student, says he is deeply committed to the Port and has flagged heritage and development as campaign issues.

He said Port Adelaide had been neglected by the State Government in recent years and pointed to the Newport Quays development as a prime example of the Government's mismanagement.

But the party is coy on what it will do with preferences which could prove crucial to the result.

Mr McArthur said that the only job he had ever had outside of student politics and volunteer work was to work as a blueberry picker for a month.

He said he had been fast-tracked through school and was already in third year of university despite his age.

"I've been young as long as I can remember, I've never not been young," he said.

The media and arts student said he would campaign on heritage issues in the Port, including converting Hart's Mill into a community precinct and ensuring heritage buildings, including the Quarantine Station on Torrens Island, were protected.

"We still desire people to be able to access the Island, but we require to cease industrial development where those buildings stand."

He said Port Adelaide had been neglected by the State Government in recent years and gave the Newport Quays development as an example of Government mismanagement.

In his election bid to the Adelaide University Union, Mr McArthur said he was "committed, honest, sociable, socially and politically aware, and enthusiastic about important things. Plus, I'm lonely and unemployed, so I've got nothing better to do".

But he said the comment was a "throw-away line" and he was committed to the Port campaign.

At the last State election, the SA Greens secured about 6 per cent of the primary vote in the Port Adelaide seat.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/greens-turn-to-teen-in-port-s...


It is difficult enough for the unemployed without the ALP wanting to punish them more.

Only through parties like the Greens, can we give the unemployed a political vehicle, so to effect policies to assist the unemployed in lifting themselves, rather than punish them and keep them down.

Come on Labor's Left, you never use to be so mean.

I dont hear the bleeding heart Greens or big business calling for an increase in the pension do you?  they just want to socialize their labour costs onto the Welfare system during the GFC - onto a welfare system they have stripped.  Fix up the Pensions first, cut exec salaries and bonuses and be responsible with shareholder dividends first.  Bill Shorten is defending jobs here and I commend him, Job security is essential for social harmony and cohesion to get us through this difficult time.   If we let business get away with this they will break the social security system to subsidize corporate welfare.  ShAME BIG bUSINESS sHAME.

corporate_whitey wrote on Jan 11^th, 2012 at 12:48am:



It was the Greens that pushed to lift Pensioners out of poverty, which the mean spirited ALP and Coalition voted down. Not giving up since it is not the way of the Greens, we were able to wedge the old parties and so we got the coalition onside. Once this happened, ALP's opposition to lifting Pensioners out of poverty collapses.

And so Pensioners across Australia benefited ... even though the ALP tried to take the credit. It didn't matter. Pensioners could once again have dignity and a full stomach.

C.W, I suggest you reassess who your friends really are.

Meanwhile, it is now time to focus on others who have been left behind for too long because  ... of Labors hate of the low and medium income Australians.


http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1313092805

WAYNE Swan yesterday rejected a Greens demand that he dump a planned one percentage point cut in corporate tax, saying governments could not spread opportunity without aiding economic growth.

Attacking a proposal by Greens leader Bob Brown to dump the tax cut and instead increase welfare benefits by $50 a week, the Treasurer said governments could improve the lives of citizens only if they created conditions in which business flourished. His comments came as the Greens' proposal caused confusion in opposition ranks, with Tony Abbott offering in-principle support for Labor's tax cut, but two of his frontbenchers opposing it because of its link to Labor's proposed $7.4 billion Mineral Resource Rent Tax

____ wrote on Jan 11^th, 2012 at 1:24am:

I am all for an increase in the unemployment payment but now in the GFC is not the time.  What is really happening here is that Big Business and the Greens have their hand out for the tax payers dollars and the greedy bludgers want to fund their massive salaries, bonuses and retirement packages out of the welfare budget and throw the Pensioners into the streets.  Its a greedy cynical ploy and i am glad Shorten sees right through them.

____ wrote on Jan 11^th, 2012 at 1:54am:

The Greens solution to poverty, hunger and human suffering is Euthanasia and Flat Taxes like the Carbon Tax and a "Transaction Tax" to protect the position of the 1%.  Increasing the dole at this time would do more harm than good to the interests of social justice and human equality and further the interests of organized greed.  It would be in their strategic interests.  I see it as more beneficial not to allow Big Business Greed to throw another generation of Australians on the welfare scrap heap to fund the CEO Bonus.  i wish for those workers to have a future not a dole check.   I am with Bill Shorten because its the right thing strategically for the dispossessed at this time  At a time of greater economic security, that is when I will ease the burden organised greed has placed on the unemployed with a better payment.   We could assist them now with more dignified treatment rather than treating them as economic criminals for failing to find jobs the greedy have vanished..