- Cash bonus 'should go to unemployed'
- The Australian
- 08/12/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
IF the Government had wanted its bonus payments to go straight into the economy, it should have paid them to the unemployed, the nation's peak welfare group said.
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief executive Clare Martin said those on unemployment benefits were doing it tough, with young people on youth allowance doing it the toughest of all.
Ms Martin said ACOSS's new report, Who Is Missing Out? Hardship Among Low Income Australians, cites the case of Bill, 50, an unemployed railway worker, who spends most of his benefit on renting his home, with $20 left for food - and most of that going on baked beans.
"It's just an absurd situation and it makes you really wonder why, with the bonus coming out in the next two weeks, the unemployed didn't get it," Ms Martin told ABC radio.
"Because if you are going to look at who is going to spend into the economy when their budget is so tight, someone like Bill .... he would spend it."
The Government is handing over a total of $4.8 billion to pensioners and $3.9 billion to families in a bid to to ward off an economic downturn.
Eligible families will receive $1000 for each child, as will those who have dependent children on other benefits such as youth allowance, while single aged-pensioners will receive lump sum payments of $1400 and couples $2100.
Ms Martin, the former Northern Territory chief minister, suggested Bill would spend his $1000 on paying a utilities bill or doing something better for Christmas than having baked beans.
She said the Government had been asked why the unemployed were not receiving the bonus, but the question had not been sufficiently answered.
Ms Martin said there had been some concerns that some of the bonus would be spent on alcohol or gambling.
"My feeling is that most of it will be spent very constructively," she said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is relying on the cash bonanza to convince millions of Australians to loosen their purse strings in the lead-up to Christmas and in doing so help create up to 75,000 jobs.
Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief executive Clare Martin said those on unemployment benefits were doing it tough, with young people on youth allowance doing it the toughest of all.
Ms Martin said ACOSS's new report, Who Is Missing Out? Hardship Among Low Income Australians, cites the case of Bill, 50, an unemployed railway worker, who spends most of his benefit on renting his home, with $20 left for food - and most of that going on baked beans.
"It's just an absurd situation and it makes you really wonder why, with the bonus coming out in the next two weeks, the unemployed didn't get it," Ms Martin told ABC radio.
"Because if you are going to look at who is going to spend into the economy when their budget is so tight, someone like Bill .... he would spend it."
The Government is handing over a total of $4.8 billion to pensioners and $3.9 billion to families in a bid to to ward off an economic downturn.
Eligible families will receive $1000 for each child, as will those who have dependent children on other benefits such as youth allowance, while single aged-pensioners will receive lump sum payments of $1400 and couples $2100.
Ms Martin, the former Northern Territory chief minister, suggested Bill would spend his $1000 on paying a utilities bill or doing something better for Christmas than having baked beans.
She said the Government had been asked why the unemployed were not receiving the bonus, but the question had not been sufficiently answered.
Ms Martin said there had been some concerns that some of the bonus would be spent on alcohol or gambling.
"My feeling is that most of it will be spent very constructively," she said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is relying on the cash bonanza to convince millions of Australians to loosen their purse strings in the lead-up to Christmas and in doing so help create up to 75,000 jobs.
Source: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24766514-12377,00.html
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