Respect integral to hope for unemployed

22 November

Treating people with respect is integral to helping people find work and giving them hope that they can engage more fully in society. Employing 1,000 contractors from a private company to chase supposed debt does neither.

Now is the time to strengthen the public service, not undermine it by implementing an outdated ideology of privatisation of public services.

Dr John Falzon, CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council said, “We have seen how this ideology of privatisation has failed catastrophically in helping people who are experiencing exclusion and inequality.

“If this latest ill-conceived plan of the government proceeds, many of these same people will be pursued for debts that they may not even have accrued, when they are already struggling to survive below the poverty line.

“The government seems to have learnt nothing from the Robo-debt fiasco, except that in future they may be able to blame problems on external contractors.

“Australia is crying out for a broader vision that addresses the structure of the labour market and the future of work. Social and economic security are not achieved by hounding the poor in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Len Baglow 0400 845 492 or media@svdp.org.au