Australian Council on Social Service rejects ‘myth’ that there has been a significant blowout in welfare budget

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Australian Council on Social Service fears the government is preparing to make savings “on the backs of people doing it toughest” in next week’s budget.

The organisation released a social security snapshot on Wednesday, which seeks to dispel what it terms the “great myth” that welfare recipients are bludgers, or that there has been a significant blowout in the welfare budget.

The chief executive of Acoss, Cassandra Goldie, said there was currently one job for every 10 people locked out of paid work or underemployed, while inequality was the highest it had been since the 1950s.

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Spending on unemployment payments makes up 10% of the government’s total social security budget, which is largely directed to the age pension.

Expenditure on cash benefits is also well below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average.

Newstart payments – about $268 per week for singles – were well below the poverty line and about $176 per week below the pension and recipients were subject to one of the more onerous compliance regimes in the OECD, Goldie said.

“The vast majority of people are doing everything they can to survive and improve their lives under extremely stressful, difficult circumstances,” she said. “We’re seeing repeated, mean-spirited attempts to vilify and demonise people who are locked out of paid work, mostly through no fault of their own.

“This appears to be a deliberate government strategy to pave the way for further budget cuts on the backs of people doing it toughest in our community.”

In recent weeks, the human services minister, Alan Tudge, has raised the prospect of a more punitive compliance regime for jobseekers who repeatedly fail to attend interviews or appointments.

Currently, the government has powers to withhold eight weeks of payments from those who fail to comply with the mutual obligation requirements but waives the penalty where a jobseeker re-engages.

The waiver system is designed to encourage welfare recipients to continue to seek jobs and stay in the system, while ensuring they are not pushed further into disadvantage.

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Tudge has expressed concern about that waiver system, which he says is allowing people to get around their mutual obligation requirements.

“So we would like to address those and just toughen up the system, as well as identify those people who need additional support and provide additional support for them,” Tudge told Sky News this week.

On Monday, the Brotherhood of St Laurence launched its own campaign to prevent the vilification of welfare recipients.

The campaign, titled “Job hunter not dole bludger”, is focused on youth unemployment and challenges the “myths that young unemployed people are ‘job snobs’”.

The Brotherhood’s executive director, Tony Nicholson, said entry-level jobs were disappearing for school leavers, making it more difficult to find work.

“We need to concentrate efforts as a community in creating opportunity for young people and building up their capacity for work,” Nicholson said.