Welfare privatisation:
The pensions hot potato

by Jules Andrews

The Howard Government's anti-welfare agenda has gained momentum with the 
imminent release of a report recommending further welfare "reforms". The 
government-commissioned report from the Welfare Reform Reference Group 
recommends the abolition of Disability and Sole Parent pensions, rolling 
them in with unemployment benefits to create a single new Participation 
Payment.

Under the Government's policy of "mutual obligation" sole parents and the 
disabled would then be forced to undertake "activities" aimed at making 
them more employable, or risk losing their benefit.

This seems to ignore the fact that people receiving disability support 
pensions do so because they are physically unable to work. It also 
assumes that parenting is a part-time job that finishes when the kids go to 
school.

Previous welfare changes carried out by this government have included 
tightening restrictions on aged and disability pensions, work-for-the-dole 
schemes, and the abolition of the CES.

Other recommendations in the policy leave the way open for further 
tendering out and privatisation of government services.

This is in line with John Howard's promotion of a "social coalition", i.e. 
divesting the government of its responsibility to care for the 
disadvantaged in society and placing them under the crushing and 
exploitative "care" of big business and market forces.

Senator Jocelyn Newman, the Minister for Family and Community Services, has 
stated "the Prime Minister and I have both made it very clear we are not 
about slashing payments".

But this strategy had obviously been cooked up some time ago, the Minister 
last year being prevented by PM Howard from launching this very same plan 
because it was deemed too hot a political potato at the time.