Extract from ABC News
Updated
Plans to crack down on the dole have sparked fears
that young people will be left stranded, although the Government says it
will make allowances for some people in difficult circumstances.
From
next year, unemployed people under 30 will have a six-month wait for
the dole, and the Commonwealth will be able to cut them off for six
months at a time if they are not "earning or learning".In addition, people under 25 will only be eligible for Youth Allowance, which is less than the dole.
The Business Council of Australia has called the crackdown "pretty tough", noting also that the budget is predicting the unemployment rate will rise.
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews says the measures will reduce youth unemployment.
"This is about ensuring that we encourage young people under the age of 30 to get into work, and if they're not working, to get the qualification or training necessary to get a job," he told PM.
Young jobseeker Eleanor accompanied the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to Canberra to express her concern.
She says she has been looking for work for two months and also has a persistent weakened immune system.
"If I can't get Centrelink, if I can't get Newstart, I won't be able to pay my medical bills; I won't be able to pay my rent, and I won't be able to afford to eat," she said.
'There's my future gone, right in front of my eyes'
There are also concerns over the closure of some youth services, such as the Youth Connections program in Sydney, which will be closed at the end of the year.In Sydney's west and in other hotspots the jobless rate can be as high as 30 per cent - and the youth unemployment rate nationally is already twice the average.
Both 18-year-old Jessie Slager and her partner Matthew Ellick left home young and dropped out of school.
They have been using the Youth Connections program to look for somewhere to live.
"[We are] looking for accommodation because we have been couch-surfing," Ms Slager told ABC's 7.30 program.
Ms Slager is pregnant and says she is concerned about her future and that of her child.
"I am really nervous with the cuts to education that I will never be able to better myself or afford to better myself for my child," she said.
"We are going to be in a very low income, low socio-economic sort of situation for the rest of our lives. And I don't want that because I grew up in that and I know how that feels.
"I don't want that for my child."
Mr Ellick says the program has helped him to get back on track.
"I come from a really rough life, from a broken family, and then I found this youth care, they have helped me so much," he said.
"I have become a better man, I am getting out there, I am applying for a Certificate 3 next week for commercial cooking because I want to be a chef.
"If they cut the payments I won't be able to do that. If they cut youth care, there's my future gone, right in front of my eyes."
Ms Slager says wanting a job is not necessarily enough to secure one.
"Everywhere wants someone with experience, someone with education," she said.
"I've got a couple of certificates but nothing that is going to get me a proper job with a proper salary. Maybe $400 a week, and that is still not enough to rent a house with a child. It's not, you can't do it."
The agencies who will soon be solely responsible for helping young people find work are part of Job Services Australia.
"We have gone from a country where we have a pretty good social safety net to one that has some gaping holes in it for young people that can't get a job, that are not ready for or who cannot access learning," Job Services Australia CEO David Thompson said.
"We are going to say to them, for every six months in 12 you are on your own."
The CEO of the soon-to-be-closed Youth Connections network, Rebekha Sharkie, says Jobs Services Agencies (JSA) simply will not cope.
"They say themselves that they don't have the skill sets or the time or the style of program to provide individualised intensive case management that is needed when you are presented with a young person that has serious complex barriers in their lives," she said.
"If you are homeless, if you can't read, you can't write, you haven't been to school for three or four years, I really don't think that JSA provider is going to fix all that for you in 15 minutes."
Kevin Andrews defends tough new benefits rules
Mr Andrews told PM that there were a number of reasons why people might be exempt from the six-month welfare cut-off."Firstly, cutting off the allowance is only the choice that they would make if they don't get into training," he said.
"There are exemptions for a whole range of people. If they can't work for more than 30 hours a week, if they're a parent receiving child tax benefits for a child, if they're a part-time apprentice, if they're a principal carer or parent, if they're in stream 3 or 4 in the job network, if they're a disability employment services person or they're in full-time education, then these provisions don't apply to them at all.
"So we've exempted a whole range of people that might be regarded as having other responsibilities.
"But, secondly, this then becomes a choice for the person concerned. What we're saying is that, if you're not working, then this is encouraging you to get into training."
Mr Andrews says a similar system in New Zealand has shown results.
"In terms of research, I've just come back from New Zealand where they have a general one-month preclusion period and what they've found there [is] that about 40 per cent of people actually don't come back, don't seek welfare after just one month."
"If a person who is capable of working says, 'Well, I don't want to work; I just want to pick up the Newstart Allowance,' well then we're saying, 'No, those days are over'."
But, Mr Andrews will not quantify how effective the new policy will be in cutting unemployment.
"I think over time it will lead to some reduction in youth unemployment," he said.
"Unemployment is a consequence of a whole lot of factors in the economy. What we're saying is that for young people, the expectation is that you are either learning if you're not earning [sic]."
Mr Andrews says that if people struggle to find employment after training there are other supports available to them.
"They have access to employment services, relevant training and relocation assistance is available to them, so there are other supports available," he said.
"If they're in a family arrangement, then there is a range of family payments.
"The reality is that a large number of people who go onto Newstart actually only use it for a very short period of time."
Mr Andrews says the changes will need to be legislated. The Greens will vote against them in the Senate.
Clive Palmer does not think his party will support it either.
"I know in my case, when I was that age, I was on the dole for that first six-month period and, without that sort of support and being able to go forward in my life, it would have been a lot different. It was a time when I needed help and support and I got it," he said.
"Certainly, if they do that, it'll mean we've got an increased crime rate; you've got to remember there are parts of Australia, or certainly parts of western Melbourne, where the youth unemployment rate's approaching 50 per cent.
"If there's no jobs to be had, what do these people do? Do they either turn to crime, or what happens?"
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