Single-parent families could lose all income in January

Date
    November 14, 2012


SINGLE parents affected by the federal government's changes to welfare payments face being left without any income on January 1 because many do not realise they will have to reapply for their new payments.    

Changes announced in the May budget mean about 150,000 parents will no longer be paid the sole parent payment but will instead receive the dole when their youngest child turns eight, a drop in income of between $60 and $110 a week.    

Welfare groups say people affected by the changes believe their payments will be automatically adjusted instead of having to reapply for the dole, or Newstart Allowance.    

''It is deeply disturbing to find that single-parent families may be left without any income when the new rules start on January 1 next year,'' the president of the National Welfare Rights Network, Maree O'Halloran, said.


''Those parents who have not heard the bad news will not have made a new claim for the Newstart Allowance.''

The change, which angered many Labor MPs, is budgeted to save the government more than $700 million over the next four years.

Ms O'Halloran said it was ''unacceptable'' that families could be left without any government payments because they did not know they would have to complete additional paperwork.   

''The legislation does not help parents find more hours of paid work and these are the families that can least afford cuts,'' Ms O'Halloran said.    

Minister for Human Services Kim Carr said 300 Centrelink staff had been trained to make sure people affected by the changes were contacted in advance of the January 1 changeover.

''For many people, everything will be explained and organised for them in just one phone call,'' Senator Carr said.

The department is meeting welfare and church groups as part of its attempts to reach people affected by the changes.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/singleparent-families-could-lose-all-income-in-january-20121113-29as9.html#ixzz2C8bv731m

The title is misleading, i was thinking what the hell is changing that is going to put so many single parents out of work....

Welfare groups say people affected by the changes believe their payments will be automatically adjusted instead of having to reapply for the dole, or Newstart Allowance.    One would at least like to think, that the government would at least tell people what the changes  mean, and that they will have to reapply, to continue getting some form of payment.                  

This all could be avoided if the Government would only give out to people who put into the system, for example,, if you have contributed X amount of dollars in Tax then if needed you would be entitled to X amount of welfare if and when its ever needed. Either that or some sort of payback system.

Not that at all, Give it to those who are willing to earn it and don't give it to free loaders. Its not like there is no jobs out there.
The proof is in our immigration levels.
And if one was required to pay back what they took, one would do their best to support them self.
Like if someone was unfortunate to lose their job, they wouldn't sit around moping about it, they would be up early every morning looking for work. And we would no longer have so many fathers skipping out on paying their way for their child for they would also have to payback any child benefits accumulated for the raising of their child whether they wanted to hang around or not.

People receiving benefits should be aware of their obligations, read the 1st line people

Quote:



Get off the couch & get down to centrlink, fill out new form, no loss of income.

Seriously if your too stupid or lazy to do this bad luck, your being given plenty of notice.

Andrei, arguing for big government LOL 

"The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I am from the Government and I am here to help', you know what? No thanks" - Ronald Reagan

Ring any bells

Dsmithy70 wrote on Nov 14^th, 2012 at 9:44am:



There should be a letter sent out to those who will be affected by this. A pretty easy thing to do to ensure families that are already living week to week are still able to afford basic necessities.

Also, they could have chosen a better time to implement the changes. The post-Christmas/returning to school period is going to place a lot of pressure on these families.

I have no problem with the changes, once the last child reaches 8 work should be found.

I've been under no illusion about the surplus, it will never be reached.

Labor should have the guts to argue against the Liberal Fetish regarding them.

But then again Labor have been spineless since Keating.

I also agree with Kat, anyone on 65K & above for singles & any family earning above 90K should get sweet FA.

More Liberal than you it would seem