WEL 1998 Election Form Guide

Social Security

Social Security is an easy target for many governments responding to either desires for cuts or looking tough. Both Labor and Liberal have taken advantage of the 'free kicks' by targeting relatively unpopular groups for cuts. The actions of both to cut payments to newly arrived immigrants is particularly obnoxious as it plays on both anti immigration and anti bludger prejudices at the expense of very vulnerable groups. Sole parents are another group that are used in this way, and general surveillance measures are seen as proving prudence, regardless of their costs in both financial and social terms. The present system is very tightly targeted and policed and has become so complex that few recipients can understand their entitlements. Changes in eligibility and names of programs do not help the often less literate people who are most in need of its assistance. The shift of service delivery to Centrelink is another possible level of confusion and makes the processes less transparent.

Positives

• Improvements of benefits for couples by providing individual entitlement to income support for each member of a couple
• Introduction of parenting payment available to partners of low wage earners
• payment to women on home child care allowances
• Increased guardian allowance
• Increased rate of family payments

Negatives

• Introduction of home childcare and parenting allowance gives extra legitimacy to full time unpaid work and added to divide
• Shift of promised maternity leave to a baby benefit
• Increased complexity of payments
• Migrants not eligible for payments for 6 months
• Harsher penalty periods for unemployed

Positives

• Pensions pegged to 25% of male average weekly earnings

Negatives

• Closure of a number of social security offices, making access difficult in some areas
• Changes to benefits available to young unemployed and students, and introduction of Youth Allowance with much stringent means testing and age limits raised for parental means test
• Removal of earnings credit scheme for pensioners and beneficiaries
• No benefits for migrants for 2 years
• Cuts to Aboriginal CDEP sole parents

Positives: +2

• Increase in taper rates for family payments
• Changes to youth allowance to ease burden on low income family of supporting dependent students

Negatives: -1

• No movement on income for newly arrived migrants.

Positives: +2

• Simplification of the family payments system and expansion of family tax initiative
• Increase in taper rates for family payments

Negatives: -2

• Rationalisation will mean benefits will flow disproportionately to single-income families

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Page created 20 September 1998; last updated 20 September 1998