There’s a particular kind of conservative rhetoric around at the moment that says all people on welfare are terrible. These awful poor people are destroying the budget with their free welfare from hard working taxpayers causing rising divorce rates and declining fertility. Even worse, these bludgers will blow the budget to smithereens by costing over a million squillion hard earned tax payer dollars any time now.
All of this is predicated on the belief that somehow people on welfare are ripping off ‘decent Australians,’ because they are always two separate groups. Every article spawns the same comment thread bingo card about fraud and that bloke down the road who plays video games and smokes bongs all day, despite repeated findings that welfare fraud is actually minuscule.
This is bullshit, of course, but also doesn’t make sense to me. People use our social safety net when things go wrong. That’s what it is for.
I live in a place with more than a few people on welfare, and even some living in those magical free houses from the government. It’s cold at this time of year, and the kids sitting in the library aren’t there for the books. The two blokes on a seat in the shopping centre are there to get warm, and to go to lunch at the community centre. The young mum, shivering as she tucks her baby under a thick blanket, is taking her time looking at everything in BigW because she can’t afford heating in her flat.
None of them are luxuriating in a pile of taxpayer dollars or lazing around. Perhaps they are among the 20% of people on Newstart who work in insecure, casual jobs that don’t pay enough to get them off the dole. Maybe they are fleeing domestic violence and had to leave everyone they knew. Perhaps they ran out of money this fortnight because their kid needed something for school. Maybe they’ve had a breakdown, or got depression, or someone they loved died and they fell apart for a bit.
And you know what? That’s what our social safety system is for – to make sure that everyone can eat, and put a roof over their head when things are shit.
The people I meet around town are kind, generous and keen to help, which is what most people are like. People who need a bit of help don’t suddenly turn into the evil welfare monster chasing taxpayer money through Scott Morrison’s nightmares. They are people who fight bushfires, and make a cake for a neighbour, and mind a friend’s kids, and donate a couple of dollars for that sick Mum up the road just every other kind of person.
Being on the dole, or the disability pension, or getting any other kind of social security payment doesn’t suddenly turn people into someone different from everyone else.
I wonder if any of the people making conservative characterisations of the social safety net ever stop to think about what the consequences would be if we didn’t have a safety net? Do they really want kids to got to school hungry? Do they want disabled people to be homeless? Do they want older women to live in their cars and go without medicine? I sure as hell don’t.
I want a system that helps people when they fall down, or have bad luck, or get old, or sick. I want the system we have to be better at doing that, not to degenerate into a nightmarish maze that punishes people for being poor. Our social safety net is something to be defended and strengthened, not brought down with lies and prejudice.
Totally agree. I have used the social safety net (which I have contibuted to in tax through all my jobs, starting at age 16) once for a year with a chronic illness and once for two months with a broken bone. I had no real savings at the time of both events as I was a student and then on a low (self-employed) wage. If I did not have the safety net at those times, my life may well have taken a completely different path, especially not being able to work for a year. I used it exactly as it was intended – to help people while they get back on their feet. Frankly, I don’t even see what the fuss is about. I am so glad we have this kind of system in Australia – we already have too much poverty and homelessness as it is.
There is a mindset operating that people receiving Newstart Allowance and Parenting Payment Single are bludging off the taxpayer whereas people receiving Age Pension have “paid taxes all their lives” so they “deserve” the pension. No stigma attached to Age Pension. It’s all welfare. It’s all there for those who cannot afford to support themselves for one reason or another. The fact is that most people receiving Newstart and PPS only do so for a short period or are only receiving part payments because, guess what? It is a pittance, and they really don’t like being unemployed and on welfare payments. So they work part time until they can get full time work. Personally, I am glad we have this safety net in place. I’ve used it myself for a short time to get back on my feet. And then I got a job on the other side of the counter. Good article. Wise words.
I’ve never had to use the safety net (yet) but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere that didn’t have one. What has happened to this once great country that we begrudge it to others? The only thing I’ve ever objected to my taxes being spent on is helping the filthy rich pay less.
So many don’t realise that you are only one accident or set of shitty circumstances away from having to use our ‘Safety Net’. It seriously makes me want to scream when I see people on well paying jobs, carry on with their “Well I have had to work hard, earn everything I have….” bullshit. Never looking at the free education – including tertiary – they often got to be in that position and most importantly luck. The fact that so many who say this are taking advantage of Negative Gearing, great breaks on their Superannuation etc just adds insult to injury.
Many years ago, I was in a great position financially, then got pregnant, moved back to Australia from overseas, found my private medical insurance did not transfer back (though had transferred over ARGH!), in an expensive city, a debilitating disease presented itself during pregnancy, so sick AND of course no-one will employ me as obviously I have lost half my brain due to being pregnant and thousands of kilometres away from family. It was the perfect storm of crap. The ultimate going from the Penthouse to the Shithouse, ie earning a great wage, travelling, earning respect for my position to suddenly lonely, sick and spending all my savings on just surviving and medical bills.
Very few choose to be on welfare of any sort and we all need to call out that crap when it is propogated in the media or in our backyards.