This is something I just wrote in response to a friends post about single women with kids in Australia having it easy, i am reposting it in the hopes that it enlightens people and makes them think twice about judging single parents..... I have been on the waiting list for homeswest housing since Blake was born, he turns 21 in April this year, am currently living in a shed! Despite working full time and/or studying full time since Blake was 3 weeks old, I have regularly been cut off centrelink support (even though the support alot of the time was just a healthcare card because i was earning too much to qualify for payments) for silly reasons such as not being able to attend an interview because i was at work, once I was cut off and had to wait 8 weeks with no income at all because they scheduled an appointment at Rockingham in the 2 hours i had between my final veterinary anatomy theory exam and my final veterinary anatomy prac exam and they said it was feasible for me to get to rockingham, have the appointment and get back to murdoch in time for my next exam! Child support?! Dont get me started on child support! Despite him earning way more than me, and going through the family court system, we received $0000.00 (zero dollars) for the first 10 years, $11.45 per month for the next 3 years, then he contested it and with him still earning way more than me, they dropped it to $6.11 per month for the final 5 years. Travel brochures? I am guessing you mean the yearly travel voucher given to single parents, which entitles sole parents to ONE free trip per year, for ONE person, on a bus or train anywhere within WA, not the whole of Australia and it only includes a plane trip if you live above the 26th parallel. As a single parent, i managed to use my voucher twice in 16 years, because of time and financial constraints, once we went to Kalgoolie, and the other time just to Perth (I was living in Dunsborough at the time). That is 2 holidays with my son in 16 years, because I couldnt afford the time off, nor the expense of a holiday, holidays for us were camping in the backyard! As for number 5, you need not work...... If you want to survive and create any sort of future for your kids, you have to work! As a mature age, full time veterinary student, i receive a maximum of $426.80 per fortnight in Austudy payments ($213.40 per week), which is less with every dollar i earn from my casual job. The average rent for a 2 bedroom place in Kelmscott, one of the lower socio-economic areas, is $300 per week.... I know you can do the math, but I am going to highlight it for you..... that is $86.60 a week MORE than centrelink payments, for someone who is studying full time. And that is BEFORE I put food on the table, lights in our house and petrol in the car. So tell me again how I dont need to work as a single woman with kids in Australia, even though I have a full time study load! Illicit drug supply???? Where? Please send it my way, because all the crap I have had to put up with through the years as a single mother, the stereotyping, the sneers, the lack of money despite working my arse off, the lack of respect, the judgement..... because I could sure go for an ounce or two of free crack cocaine right about now! And I sit here, with only a few hours left before my 20 year old son flies to the other side of the country to live and work, with tears in my eyes, reflecting on the very little time I had to spend with him as he grew up, the things he missed out on because I wasnt a good enough parent to be able to provide for him better and had to rely on support from the government, i realise that your whole statement is incorrect, that in fact, if you are a woman in Australia who has managed to have kids, the only thing guaranteed is that you are blessed with amazing kids..... the rest is damn hard work, and I hope that one day the future women of Australia, who may find themselves as single parents, through a multitude of differing reasons, will no longer have to put up with the crap that I had to!
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:27:16 +0000