Post by Banker on Mar 31, 2011 7:45:27 GMT 7
Every long-term unemployed Australian would have half their welfare benefits quarantined under reforms being pushed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
He also says Work for the Dole should be compulsory for all people under 50 and that unemployment payments should be scrapped wherever there are too many unfilled, unskilled jobs.
Mr Abbott, who's long backed stricter welfare rules, is due to make the call in a lunchtime address to the Queensland Chamber of Commerce in Brisbane on Thursday.
Welfare reform is essential in helping Australia meet the economic challenges that lie ahead, he will say.
"Governments have to be firm to be fair.
"(It) is the kindness that kills.
"It's the misguided compassion that eventually breaks down the social fabric, as the more perceptive Aboriginal leaders have long recognised."
Since the government began quarantining welfare payments for all long-term unemployed people in the Northern Territory, Mr Abbott has called for the program's expansion.
He says half of all payments that go to every long-term unemployed Australian, regardless of where they live, should be quarantined to the basic necessities, such as food and medicine.
He labelled it a "justified interference" in people's lives that would help more than hinder, and said taxpayers deserved to know that their money isn't being wasted.
Among his other initiatives, Mr Abbott wants Work for the Dole participation to be mandatory for all those under 50 who have been unemployed for more than six months.
Unemployment benefits should also be suspended for those under 30 where there are unskilled labour shortages, say in Orange, NSW or the Barossa Valley in South Australia.
"Why should any reasonably fit person be on unemployment benefits in Karratha, for instance, when employers can't find cleaners to work even at all above award wages?" Mr Abbott queried.
He'd also like Australia to follow the lead of the UK and reform the disability pension, creating a new benefit to encourage people to be treated and get back into the workforce.
"Encouraging more people into work has important economic consequences.
"Attracting more people into the workforce is likely to improve the country's morale and to help people to feel more comfortable in their own skins."
Mr Abbott later said Australia should not be content to have about 600,000 people on unemployment benefits, and about 800,000 others on the disability pension.
His proposed reforms were about helping more Australians achieve the self respect that came from making an economic contribution, he said.
"It's certainly not about saving money in the short term, because putting more people on to work-for-the-dole will actually cost money in the short term," he told ABC Radio in Brisbane.
Asked if he believed there was a culture of laziness among some welfare recipients, Mr Abbott said he believed a lot of people had become "defeated".
"Work-for-the-dole is great way of society re-engaging with people who've become economically marginalised."
Historically, there had been a tendency to "give people a cheque and forget about them".
"I think that's absolutely the wrong way to go."
Mr Abbott is proposing a two-tiered disability pension structure: one for people whose disabilities were permanent, and another for those whose disabilities weren't and did not preclude some form of work.
"I'm not talking about cutting benefits, I want to stress that," he said.
au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/9104772/abbott-calls-for-welfare-reform/
He also says Work for the Dole should be compulsory for all people under 50 and that unemployment payments should be scrapped wherever there are too many unfilled, unskilled jobs.
Mr Abbott, who's long backed stricter welfare rules, is due to make the call in a lunchtime address to the Queensland Chamber of Commerce in Brisbane on Thursday.
Welfare reform is essential in helping Australia meet the economic challenges that lie ahead, he will say.
"Governments have to be firm to be fair.
"(It) is the kindness that kills.
"It's the misguided compassion that eventually breaks down the social fabric, as the more perceptive Aboriginal leaders have long recognised."
Since the government began quarantining welfare payments for all long-term unemployed people in the Northern Territory, Mr Abbott has called for the program's expansion.
He says half of all payments that go to every long-term unemployed Australian, regardless of where they live, should be quarantined to the basic necessities, such as food and medicine.
He labelled it a "justified interference" in people's lives that would help more than hinder, and said taxpayers deserved to know that their money isn't being wasted.
Among his other initiatives, Mr Abbott wants Work for the Dole participation to be mandatory for all those under 50 who have been unemployed for more than six months.
Unemployment benefits should also be suspended for those under 30 where there are unskilled labour shortages, say in Orange, NSW or the Barossa Valley in South Australia.
"Why should any reasonably fit person be on unemployment benefits in Karratha, for instance, when employers can't find cleaners to work even at all above award wages?" Mr Abbott queried.
He'd also like Australia to follow the lead of the UK and reform the disability pension, creating a new benefit to encourage people to be treated and get back into the workforce.
"Encouraging more people into work has important economic consequences.
"Attracting more people into the workforce is likely to improve the country's morale and to help people to feel more comfortable in their own skins."
Mr Abbott later said Australia should not be content to have about 600,000 people on unemployment benefits, and about 800,000 others on the disability pension.
His proposed reforms were about helping more Australians achieve the self respect that came from making an economic contribution, he said.
"It's certainly not about saving money in the short term, because putting more people on to work-for-the-dole will actually cost money in the short term," he told ABC Radio in Brisbane.
Asked if he believed there was a culture of laziness among some welfare recipients, Mr Abbott said he believed a lot of people had become "defeated".
"Work-for-the-dole is great way of society re-engaging with people who've become economically marginalised."
Historically, there had been a tendency to "give people a cheque and forget about them".
"I think that's absolutely the wrong way to go."
Mr Abbott is proposing a two-tiered disability pension structure: one for people whose disabilities were permanent, and another for those whose disabilities weren't and did not preclude some form of work.
"I'm not talking about cutting benefits, I want to stress that," he said.
au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/9104772/abbott-calls-for-welfare-reform/