POVERTY COSTS
The social repercussions of multitudes of people of varying backgrounds forced into poverty cost the communities and countries in which they live.
This is fact. This is why these payments were introduced in the first place.
The fact is most single parents are not teenage mothers, with the aim of living a life on welfare, as they are portrayed to be on programs like ACA. Teenage mothers are less than 3% of single parents in Australia. The majority of single parents in Australia are women between 30-50 who were previously married.
"There are many reasons that couples separate. Unfortunately, in many cases the
single parents who rely on Parenting Payment had to leave violent or abusive
relationships, or they separated under the financial strain or the
personal strain of raising a child with a disability."
The social repercussions of multitudes of people of varying backgrounds forced into poverty cost the communities and countries in which they live.
This is fact. This is why these payments were introduced in the first place.
The fact is most single parents are not teenage mothers, with the aim of living a life on welfare, as they are portrayed to be on programs like ACA. Teenage mothers are less than 3% of single parents in Australia. The majority of single parents in Australia are women between 30-50 who were previously married.
"There are many reasons that couples separate. Unfortunately, in many cases the
single parents who rely on Parenting Payment had to leave violent or abusive
relationships, or they separated under the financial strain or the
personal strain of raising a child with a disability."
(Source: http://acoss.org.au/images/
As stated in the Australian a few days ago, 68% of single parents were already working, when the Gillard government brought this policy in and the majority of those who were not working had irregular income from casual jobs because children are a huge responsibility. Who is everyone going to blame when they skip school, congregate in gangs, vandalise or steal? The RESPONSIBLE ADULT who is supposed to be taking care of them – a responsibility being taken away from us, but still attributed to us when the shite falls. Current legislation states that it is illegal under any circumstances to leave children under the age of 12 at home alone. Knowing this, how on earth can a single parent work enough hours to support their kids, and be at home to take care of them?
But what I wanted to talk about today was not the hardships of single parents, or the detriment to kids and society of not having responsible parents taking care of children. Anyone with a brain or a child who cares to look at the situation can see these issues, and I am sure many people will share those stories with us today.
As stated in the Australian a few days ago, 68% of single parents were already working, when the Gillard government brought this policy in and the majority of those who were not working had irregular income from casual jobs because children are a huge responsibility. Who is everyone going to blame when they skip school, congregate in gangs, vandalise or steal? The RESPONSIBLE ADULT who is supposed to be taking care of them – a responsibility being taken away from us, but still attributed to us when the shite falls. Current legislation states that it is illegal under any circumstances to leave children under the age of 12 at home alone. Knowing this, how on earth can a single parent work enough hours to support their kids, and be at home to take care of them?
But what I wanted to talk about today was not the hardships of single parents, or the detriment to kids and society of not having responsible parents taking care of children. Anyone with a brain or a child who cares to look at the situation can see these issues, and I am sure many people will share those stories with us today.
What I wanted to talk
about was the ACTUAL cost of these cuts. The problems and costs it brings to
the economy and society of Australia, and the saving of 700 million on paper
for the Gillard government’s coming budgets, will in fact cost the government
and society a lot more in other areas of the economy.
It is a statistical fact that people living in poverty are more likely to serve jail time, in fact according to soundvision’s statistics 12.7% are more likely to serve considerable jail time. (Source: www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/
It is a statistical fact that people living in poverty are more likely to serve jail time, in fact according to soundvision’s statistics 12.7% are more likely to serve considerable jail time. (Source: www.soundvision.com/Info/poor/
Keeping this in mind
in Australia it costs on average $269 a day to house inmates in Australian
detention facilities or $98,185 per inmate, per year.
(Source: Civil Liberties Australia, Report on Government Services, 2009, quoting Productivity Commission figures for 2007-8, see figure 8.13)
That equates to feeding and housing 4 single parent families under the parenting payment, 4 adults and 8 children who are now 12.7 % more likely to offend and be placed in jail. That in itself is almost 4 billion dollars a year.
Now this only takes into consideration those who do actual prison time, nothing about juvenile detention, extra child protection services needed for neglected and abused children, government funded legal aid, court time or the cost of extra police presence that is needed when you have a greater influx of poverty in your streets.
Of course not all poor people will turn to drug pushing, stealing, or murder, but this doesn’t mean their poverty will not cause extra financial stress on our government and society. There is also the greater need for health services for people who are under nourished and homeless. With rising costs in the health care industry this would equate to millions if not billions of dollars, 100,000 families just this year, being thrown into poverty, let alone the ones from now on that will be put there every year by this new cost saving measure.
There is also the huge fear that children being left without adult supervision for large hours everyday will become more accessible to child abusers and pedophiles, and there is a huge number of each living in every community in Australia. Truancy will increase dramatically, lowering greatly the literacy standard of impoverished children, thus making it harder for them to get a job as they get older and become productive members of society.
Now for me the most important economic point to be made on this whole absurd policy is the actual SAVING of over 700million dollars. A saving from what? Do single parents hoard their money in Swiss bank accounts or spend it on overseas houses, holidays and property?
That 700 million goes directly into local communities schools and businesses, there is no saving for Australia’s economy with this policy. Every single cent of that money went straight into OUR LOCAL economy. That money keeps the economy rolling, something only one prime minister in the past 20 years seems to have understood, when he gave poorer and low income singles and families money to stimulate our economy and keep us out of the huge global recession. Now what I want to know is, how then can the same party, under different leadership, totally ignore the economics that kept us out of a global financial crisis? Australia kept their head above water with these measures, while countries like England and America fell deep into recession by taking from the poor and bailing out the rich, just as The Gillard Labor government has begun to do.
How about taking from the rich? MP Jenny Macklin stated that she and her political friends could live off $35 a day. WHY NOT LET THEM? If we put current state and federal politicians on $35 a day we would save more over 4 years than a measly 700milion dollars and only 857 people would be under the poverty line instead of 100,000.
The low income and poorer Australians are the roots and soil of the economic tree of Australia, without feeding and nourishing them the leaves begin to die, followed by the branches and then the tree. Most industry takes from Australia, leaving their noxious waste behind, taking the money and produce from our shores. This will only set us, as AUSTRALIANS, up to be hit harder financially in the future.
This is BAD HUMANITARIAN POLICY, this is BAD SOCIAL POLICY and it is very, very BAD ECONOMIC POLICY.
(Source: Civil Liberties Australia, Report on Government Services, 2009, quoting Productivity Commission figures for 2007-8, see figure 8.13)
That equates to feeding and housing 4 single parent families under the parenting payment, 4 adults and 8 children who are now 12.7 % more likely to offend and be placed in jail. That in itself is almost 4 billion dollars a year.
Now this only takes into consideration those who do actual prison time, nothing about juvenile detention, extra child protection services needed for neglected and abused children, government funded legal aid, court time or the cost of extra police presence that is needed when you have a greater influx of poverty in your streets.
Of course not all poor people will turn to drug pushing, stealing, or murder, but this doesn’t mean their poverty will not cause extra financial stress on our government and society. There is also the greater need for health services for people who are under nourished and homeless. With rising costs in the health care industry this would equate to millions if not billions of dollars, 100,000 families just this year, being thrown into poverty, let alone the ones from now on that will be put there every year by this new cost saving measure.
There is also the huge fear that children being left without adult supervision for large hours everyday will become more accessible to child abusers and pedophiles, and there is a huge number of each living in every community in Australia. Truancy will increase dramatically, lowering greatly the literacy standard of impoverished children, thus making it harder for them to get a job as they get older and become productive members of society.
Now for me the most important economic point to be made on this whole absurd policy is the actual SAVING of over 700million dollars. A saving from what? Do single parents hoard their money in Swiss bank accounts or spend it on overseas houses, holidays and property?
That 700 million goes directly into local communities schools and businesses, there is no saving for Australia’s economy with this policy. Every single cent of that money went straight into OUR LOCAL economy. That money keeps the economy rolling, something only one prime minister in the past 20 years seems to have understood, when he gave poorer and low income singles and families money to stimulate our economy and keep us out of the huge global recession. Now what I want to know is, how then can the same party, under different leadership, totally ignore the economics that kept us out of a global financial crisis? Australia kept their head above water with these measures, while countries like England and America fell deep into recession by taking from the poor and bailing out the rich, just as The Gillard Labor government has begun to do.
How about taking from the rich? MP Jenny Macklin stated that she and her political friends could live off $35 a day. WHY NOT LET THEM? If we put current state and federal politicians on $35 a day we would save more over 4 years than a measly 700milion dollars and only 857 people would be under the poverty line instead of 100,000.
The low income and poorer Australians are the roots and soil of the economic tree of Australia, without feeding and nourishing them the leaves begin to die, followed by the branches and then the tree. Most industry takes from Australia, leaving their noxious waste behind, taking the money and produce from our shores. This will only set us, as AUSTRALIANS, up to be hit harder financially in the future.
This is BAD HUMANITARIAN POLICY, this is BAD SOCIAL POLICY and it is very, very BAD ECONOMIC POLICY.
POVERTY COSTS the
government, the economy and eventually all Australians in one form or another.
those payments provide the most basic physiological need of a human, and that is food, water, and shelter, if a human does not have this then they die.
ReplyDeleteWow! What great speech Miranda Grealy. In depth analysis of issues that do not see the light of day in Australia's current Media malaise, a rarity indeed.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out with regards to child abuse, the ongoing costs both socially and economically are enormous and ongoing, often for a lifetime. There can be much suffering for many associated with abuse, whether either directly or indirectly involved with those abuse inflicted beings.
Also, Ms.Gillard's 'lecture' to the opposition leader on misogyny the very same day that the Single parents payments were cut, says all we need to know about the way in which current politicians go about deceiving the mainstream. Well time to get rid of the mainstream parties of Labor and Coalition once and for all.