The Guardian 6 December, 2006
Federal Government's quick fix is no fix
Andrew Jackson
An US-style system proposed by the Howard Government to withhold cash from welfare
recipients in favour of coupons and debit cards was instantly and universally panned by
churches, welfare groups and other political parties, who rebutted the measure as "short
term, paternalistic and impractical" and "political".
"The Australian Government is proposing to allow a proportion of welfare payments, potentially
around 40 per cent, to be quarantined to pay for children's needs in cases where children have
been identified at risk of neglect", said Family Services Minister Mal Brough when launching his
policy at the Australian Council of Social Services national conference.
No doubt he was shocked as speaker after speaker at the conference then stood up to condemn
the proposal.
"You don't help children by degrading their parents", said the CEO of St Vincent de Paul. "You
don't help children by making their parents feel like third class citizens. You don't help children by
using their income security as a bargaining chip. You help families by investing in them, by valuing
them, by giving them a hand up; not by ad hoc American-style policies that demonise and degrade
them."
Save the bludgers from themselves
The new welfare payment system will give recipients of unemployment benefits and pensions who
have children deemed "at-risk" by their parents' substance abuse or gambling addiction problems
vouchers and debit cards. These may only be spent on food, housing and payment of utility
bills.
Such a program already exists on a voluntary basis.
The Howard Government is no doubt hoping the proposal will be an easy sell to the so-called
"aspirational class" that Howard has convinced many workers they belong to. Indeed, over the last
10 years Howard has put concerted effort into convincing these workers that anyone on
unemployment benefits is a "dole bludger" who is living off the tax-payers' wages.
To an extent this assisted the Howard Government's return to office in the last elections enabling it
to hold on to "aspirational class" mortgage-belt suburbs in major cities.
As Kim Beazley said pointedly of the Howard Government's new plan: "It seems to me that Mr
Brough is more interested in creating an effect politically than he is in solving the
problem".
Real problems
Food coupons and debit cards will achieve little. Parents, for instance, would be able to sell them
for cash — at a dollar-value loss — in order to continue financing their substance abuse or
gambling.
Howard's populist rhetoric must be countered by exposing both the level of poverty that exists in
Australia — often as a direct result of Howard government policies — and by addressing both the
problems in their various forms and their root causes.
It is true that the lower the income of the families involved the higher the rate of drug and alcohol
abuse and that these feed on each other. It is imperative that action must be taken to ensure that
children be protected from harm.
But the changes proposed by the government do not offer that protection.
Real solutions
A very first step to pursuing a comprehensive approach to this problem is for governments to
provide and fund the services and programs to treat the health and psychological issues of the
parents involved.
At present there remain long waiting lists of people for people wanting to access methadone
programs and enter detoxification centres around Australia.
The exponential rise of gambling addiction to its current astronomical rate in Australia can be laid
squarely at the feet of state governments. Tax from gambling revenue has provided a quick fix for
budget problems, and the massive donations to political parties by lobbyists from the hotel industry
have ensured that poker machine licences have continued to fall like manna from
heaven.
In the meantime funding for treatment programs for gambling addicts and an advertising budget
warning of gambling's dangers remain barely a blip in comparison.
In recognising that there is a direct link between substance abuse and those with poor eduction
and no work skills, both the federal and state governments must return the billions of dollars
stripped from public schools, TAFE colleges and apprenticeships training programs if employment
levels are to be raised, particularly amongst youth.
The increasingly precarious nature of employment under WorkChoices legislation will only add to
the economic and social problems of workers, placing more stress on families — a trend more likely
to increase rather than reduce gambling and drug dependency.