CPD Fellow Eva Cox, in Crikey, questions the ALP’s recent efforts to halt increases in the Newstart allowance. The government is said to believe that the low payments will act as an incentive to find work. Eva Cox writes:

If the government thinks penury is an incentive, it fails to understand the difficulties facing the 600,000-plus people dependent on this payment. According to Shorten:

“Participation in the workforce is a priority the Gillard government is passionate about. Work is at the core of our beliefs.”

That sounds good when you say it quickly and appeals to the puritan core of prejudices the government often uses to justify such policies. What if the jobs are not there? Can we justify paying so little that even big business is backing a rise in payments? How can the government ignore its own statistics, which show that moving off the dole is not just a matter of will and commitment by the recipients?

Continue reading the article in Crikey here

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