BigOl64 wrote on Mar 2
nd, 2014 at 6:15pm:
St George of the Garden wrote on Mar 2
nd, 2014 at 5:18pm:
BigOl64 wrote on Mar 2
nd, 2014 at 4:58pm:
sir prince duke alevine wrote on Mar 2
nd, 2014 at 4:47pm:
Actually I wasn't referring to you at all, and I apologise if you felt I was. I was just being general in how I feel our truly dumb government sees young people and the disabled. Because their statements over the election and in recent times seems to suggest they are very far from reality, as is normal in the case of a coalition government.
In relation to your comment, I think people should complain. The majority of people on the dole would, in my opinion, wished to get into employment within their skill set, and as fast as possible. Especially young graduates, who've spent thousands on an education and who know how detrimental it would be if they don't get a job in their skill set within the first year. And especially young apprentices, builders, plumbers, carpenters etc who want to work in their field but the recent economic conditions have seen their industries grind to a hold.
And based on that, you can see how planting a tree isn't really a suitable alternative.
Fair enough.
I have been through a couple recessions and it is no fun at all.
You just do the best you can until it turns around, expecting / demanding sh1t to be done the way you want, is just going to make you angry.
No recession for the last 20 odd years has made people complacent and unprepared.
The point is this stupid scheme won’t give anybody any skills.
Im pretty sure it never was the point of the scheme.
I thought it was to plant some trees and clean up the place.
If you want skills go to uni or tafe, being on the dole isn't the place to get skills.
Actually, making valid, recognised training available to any unemployed person who wishes to avail themselves of it should be mandatory. And the recipient should be able to decide on the course, level and duration, not Centrelink or JN providers.
Howard and the arch-ratbag Abbott (as Ho-hum's Unemployment Minister) Brought in their 'Mutual Obligation' bullsh1t, but the obligation has never been mutual, it's all one-way. Do your WfD, don't complain, and for the life of you, don't ever miss a pointless, punitive time-wasting 'appointment' or you'll lose your money. But they provided very little training, and that only entry-level for menial jobs.
If you were a labourer or time-expired apprentice who couldn't get work, God (and the govt) forbid if you wanted to get trained in, say, computing, to a level where an employer would look at you. No, you'd be sent to learn how to use a shovel, or push a barrow. Or, the ultimate in pointlessness, classes on how to write a resume or application letter. To someone who may have been in the workforce for 30 years or more, this was, and is, simply insulting.
While I was out of work during the 'recession we had to have', I took advantage of every CES course I could get into, figuring the skills would one day come in handy, even if the courses didn't lead me directly into a permanent job or some kind of casual work. And they have. Many, many times. Doing recognised training is
never a waste of time, although at the time it may seem so.
Almost from the (black) day Howard was elected, the training dried up in favour of the 110% punitive WfD scam. Rudd/Gillard did attempt to address the training issue, but it went into the 'too hard' basket I think, because very little changed.
This scheme of Abbott's may be OK for the young who may never have had a job before, but it would be shag-all use to someone like, say, me. There's little I'd be likely to learn, at my age I have less than no interest or enthusiasm for manual labour (and KNOW I'm better than that), and I won't be working for less than the award/minimum wage. Of course, if I was to be employed (properly employed) as a trainer/supervisor on the scheme, at full pay and conditions, I'd seriously consider it.
But, like everything the conservatives come up with regarding the unemployed, I doubt the driving motive is anything but punitive.
Now, bring on the usual suspects with their abuse and denigration.
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