On the Disability Support Pension

Marcus L’Estrange writes:  Re. “Disability support plummets as government turns up heat on the vulnerable” (Tuesday) 

One flaw with Jeremy’s analysis: he didn’t explain how, why, the horrible situation described in his story came about. In 2013, the ALP heavies (Gillard, Macklin, Shorten, Carr, Albo, Swann, Plibersek, plus others) supported, in Cabinet and in Caucus, a non-increase of the value of the dole — which hasn’t changed for 25 years and is one of the lowest in the developed world (how many MPs would wait 25 years for a pay increase?). The massive tightening up of the Disability Support Pension requirements and actually Bill Shorten moved the legislation in parliament necessary to off load sole parents from their pension onto the dole when their child turned eight. Some sole parents, mainly women, then had to couch surf, sleep in their cars, work in massage parlors and some committed suicide, according to Centrelink. On this, the then and current ALP, plus the Coalition, have their blood on their hands with suicides still occurring. At the same time, 2013, of course, the then ALP leadership class supported a 35% pay increase for MPs.

No wonder there is poverty then and now — not among MPs of course. Many in the ALP ruling class, particularly those in the MPs defined benefits super scheme, (Comrade Rudd receives 600,000 pa pension) have $6 million plus in their super scheme so it’s clear why they had/have no interest in those on welfare. They all knew that the real unemployment figures, according to statements by Julia Gillard and Penny Wong, myself and Roy Morgan and Co, showed the real unemployment figure of two million unemployed chasing around 150,000 vacancies or one vacancy for every twenty unemployed but plowed on putting their class boot into those on welfare, particularly those on the dole. The Coalition didn’t really have to do much when they got into office. After all, the ‘workers party’, the ALP,  had already set the bar so low when it comes to being cruel to those on welfare so why change things?  

The Gillard Government in 2013 moved 80,000 sole parents from their sole parent pension onto the dole or Newstart, cutting their income by $85 per week. Currently, 3 million Australians live in poverty, 731,000 of them are children, despite Bob Hawke’s promise some years ago.  What ever the official unemployment statistics say, the work force has been slowly crumbling for decades, papered over by labour market programs (Labor’s Working Nation, the coalition’s Job Active program) that keeps people out of the jobless statistics. 

Politicians are horrified that the plebs will come to see how really parlous the situation really is. That’s why they come up with schemes such as drug testing, Job Active and making life hell for those on welfare, when they should be creating jobs, not ‘bread and circus’ nonsense such as welfare hoops for claimants to jump through.

On Malcolm Turnbull and Theresa May

Bill Hilliger writes: Re. “Turnbull, May and the politics of incompetence” (Wednesday)

The Turnbull legacy: a fucked up NBN…oh yes I forgot, its da Labor Party fault for starting the NBN as a national infrastructure project with fibre to the premises in the first instance. Then only to see Tony Abbott with support from Turnbull change and nobble the project (some say out of spite) to the abysmal level of performance it is today.

And yes the, Australian voting sheeples voted for the LNP government that gave us this third world class NBN system, not once, but twice. We Aussie voting sheeples still love ya Malfeasance Turnbull.