Post by zorro1 on Jan 11, 2013 11:43:20 GMT 7
www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/macklin-apologises-for-insensitive-newstart-comments-20130111-2cjx4.html
Families Minister Jenny Macklin has apologised for her "insensitive" comments about the Newstart allowance, saying it was very hard to live on a low income.
The debate over dole payments were reignited last week when Ms Macklin told reporters that she could live on the Newstart allowance of about $35-a-day.
Ms Macklin made the controversial statement after more than 80,000 single parents were shifted from the parenting payment to the lower Newstart allowance, leaving some up to $110-a-week worse off.
Ms Macklin said on Friday that she could understand why people were angry about her remarks, and she was "very sorry".
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"I can understand that people are angry about what I've said," she said. "I have heard that message clearly over the last week or so.
"I acknowledge my remarks were insensitive, that I could've been clearer in the way that I expressed myself.
"I do understand that it is very hard to live on a very low income, including unemployment benefits.
"That's why the government is so determined to do everything we possibly can to support families and also to help people get work."
Ms Macklin's apology comes as former prime minister Kevin Rudd called on the government to ''show a bit of heart and do more'' to help Australians struggling to get by on the dole.
Mr Rudd said on Friday morning that the government's abandonment of its surplus promise gives it an ''opportunity to attend to some pretty basic social needs like this one''.
''I think people need to show a bit more of a heart,'' Mr Rudd said on ABC TV.
Mr Rudd has been relaxing on the beach on the Sunshine Coast and says he has not spoken to any member of caucus for some weeks.
''I'm just saying that we are a Labor Party, a Labor government, we have got responsibility for people who are doing it tough, for people who need a bit of a hand up and therefore I think we could be doing more,'' he said.
''I just think we need to show a bit of a heart and do more''.
The issue of raising the dole has already divided some in the Labor Party. Left-wing faction leader Doug Cameron wants the allowance raised but senior Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon told ABC that an across-the-board increase in the dole would be a ''lazy'' option and that a more ''targeted'' approach was needed.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard would not comment on Mr Rudd's call, only saying that the government's priority was to create jobs for Australians.
The Greens announced last week that they would move a bill to raise the weekly Newstart, Abstudy and Youth Allowance rates for singles by $50 a week, arguing the time for talking about the problem was over.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert will introduce the plan to the Senate in Parliament's first sitting week in February. She said: "It's realistic and achievable and, if we're truly a caring society, we care for our most vulnerable."
The Greens say the money needed to fund the plan could be found by toughening the mining tax and increasing the mining tax rate to 40 per cent.
The Business Council of Australia chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, has written and spoken in support of raising the dole, saying in August that "entrenching people into poverty by expecting them to live on $35 a day is not a pathway back into employment".
Families Minister Jenny Macklin has apologised for her "insensitive" comments about the Newstart allowance, saying it was very hard to live on a low income.
The debate over dole payments were reignited last week when Ms Macklin told reporters that she could live on the Newstart allowance of about $35-a-day.
Ms Macklin made the controversial statement after more than 80,000 single parents were shifted from the parenting payment to the lower Newstart allowance, leaving some up to $110-a-week worse off.
Ms Macklin said on Friday that she could understand why people were angry about her remarks, and she was "very sorry".
Advertisement
"I can understand that people are angry about what I've said," she said. "I have heard that message clearly over the last week or so.
"I acknowledge my remarks were insensitive, that I could've been clearer in the way that I expressed myself.
"I do understand that it is very hard to live on a very low income, including unemployment benefits.
"That's why the government is so determined to do everything we possibly can to support families and also to help people get work."
Ms Macklin's apology comes as former prime minister Kevin Rudd called on the government to ''show a bit of heart and do more'' to help Australians struggling to get by on the dole.
Mr Rudd said on Friday morning that the government's abandonment of its surplus promise gives it an ''opportunity to attend to some pretty basic social needs like this one''.
''I think people need to show a bit more of a heart,'' Mr Rudd said on ABC TV.
Mr Rudd has been relaxing on the beach on the Sunshine Coast and says he has not spoken to any member of caucus for some weeks.
''I'm just saying that we are a Labor Party, a Labor government, we have got responsibility for people who are doing it tough, for people who need a bit of a hand up and therefore I think we could be doing more,'' he said.
''I just think we need to show a bit of a heart and do more''.
The issue of raising the dole has already divided some in the Labor Party. Left-wing faction leader Doug Cameron wants the allowance raised but senior Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon told ABC that an across-the-board increase in the dole would be a ''lazy'' option and that a more ''targeted'' approach was needed.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard would not comment on Mr Rudd's call, only saying that the government's priority was to create jobs for Australians.
The Greens announced last week that they would move a bill to raise the weekly Newstart, Abstudy and Youth Allowance rates for singles by $50 a week, arguing the time for talking about the problem was over.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert will introduce the plan to the Senate in Parliament's first sitting week in February. She said: "It's realistic and achievable and, if we're truly a caring society, we care for our most vulnerable."
The Greens say the money needed to fund the plan could be found by toughening the mining tax and increasing the mining tax rate to 40 per cent.
The Business Council of Australia chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, has written and spoken in support of raising the dole, saying in August that "entrenching people into poverty by expecting them to live on $35 a day is not a pathway back into employment".
