Dear Senator I believe the social services bill is to be debated in Parliament this week. I hope and pray my email finds you in time before you vote on these important policies. Ive written to you on several occasions in regards to sole parent issues and Ive stated the facts prior, so I dont believe I need to state them again. I will however remind you again of why sole parent policies where put in place: As you know, recently our former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam passed away. He had a vision for women. He believed women needed support post relationship breakdown, passing of a partner or that unexpected pregnancy. He believed in women equality and he didnt judge women for whatever circumstance life threw at them. Instead he gave them the dignity they deserved. Since Howard started moving sole parents and their children off Parenting Payment in 2006 and then Gillard in 2013 sole parents have lost the safety net provided to them for the last 40 years. In this current job climate, sole parents more than ever need their safety nets back!!! I run a Facebook group with numbers heading towards the 3000 mark. I have asked the sole parents in my group to provide feedback of their financial statuses. Cost of rent was the biggest expense with payments of up to 90% of their allowance. This left as little as 10% allowance, plus their Family Tax Benefits to survive on which is to pay for their food, utilities, travel costs, clothes etc. Can you picture how they will survive if you take their FTB safety net away or freeze the payments while living costs increase month by month? I was extremely disappointed when the School Kids Bonus, Low Income Support Bonus and Superannuation Contribution payments were agreed to be phased out after December 2016. These payments have been heavily relied upon by sole parents. I hope these will be considered at the next election to be reinstated again. Adam Bandt did the Newstart challenge and he showed how inadequate Newstart is and how people living on it can only go in one direction and that is backwards. We dont need Income Management. We know how to budget. What we need is a support payment that keeps us in stead while we are unable to work, or for those of us lucky enough to have employment - a top up that helps us to keep our heads above water. Please dont introduce the Welfare Card. We want to be able to give our kids money at a tuck-shop on the odd occasion in which to spoil them, or for them to take that coin into school for their fundraiser. We want to shop at 2 dollar shops where there are minimum limits to eftpos. We want to go to garage sales and fetes and be able to buy things that you can not use eftpos for. Senators when you vote this week for these very important bills, please picture the women (plus 10% men) and children in your electorates that are struggling under the poverty line on Newstart. Removing their FTB payments and freezing the indexation could be the difference of them living in a home or not. Please think of the many that are without work through no fault of their own. Please think of those that have lost so much already. Please listen to your conscience when it tells you that cutting payments does NOT encourage sole parents into work, it entrenches them further into poverty. Be the change for sole parents. Say NO to FTB cuts and freezes. Say NO to single parent poverty entrenchment. Give sole parents and their children a hand up, not harsh demeaning, controlling policies. Give them their dignity back. Thank you for your time, Kind regards Kerry Arch
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 13:04:09 +0000
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