MEDIA RELEASE
23 May 2001
Mutual Obligation - Hitting Young People
"Young People are clearly being disadvantaged by the federal governments current policy of mutual obligation", said Janet Jukes, Executive Officer of the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria today.
Ms Jukes was expressing concern in regard to the government figures which reveal 70% of young job seekers lost all or part of their social security payments last financial year after breaching Centrelink requirements.
"These requirements are highly complex and unfair. Often the breaches were beyond the young person's control such as difficulties in receiving mail and other communications from Centrelink" Ms Jukes said.
Young job seekers are being financially penalised by the increasing number of complicated rules they face in order to comply with social security payments.
"What the government is doing is effectively kicking the most vulnerable when they are down. People are being breached for paperwork issues as simple as failing return a form or reply to a letter in a short time frame, or failing to get to an interview on time. Cutting people's payments off is a really drastic measure and can mean getting kicked out of rental accommodation or not having food to eat" Ms Jukes said.
Ms Jukes said, "The financial punishment for accidentally breaking these rules was having a devastating affect on the lives of many young Victorians. "
"What we have is young people who leave school or study looking forward to starting an independent adult life, they can't find a secure permanent job and then the Government says that if you don't jump through these administrative hoops then we'll cut off your financial support. It's soul destroying for many young people!"
YACVic supports an active welfare system in which every effort is made to assist young people seeking work and studying. We also support a system in which people are required to meet basic rules to maintain their benefit entitlements - but the rules must be fair, they must be fairly applied, and the punishment should fit the infringement.
YACVic supported an ACOSS statement in November last year that called
for an overhaul of the social security penalty regime. This statement
called upon the Federal Government to take immediate steps to ensure that:
Financial penalties are used only as a last resort for breaches for administrative
requirements or the Activity Test;
Penalties are reduced to levels appropriate to those on very low incomes;
and
Complex and unfair social security rules are simplified and fixed.
These measures have not been taken and we restate our call for this now.
The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, is the peak body and leading policy advocate for youth issues in Victoria. We have a membership of around 500 organisations and individuals.
Our policy platform states that young women and young men have a right to share resources, to learn, grow and make mistakes in an environment that is safe and healthy, to express and contribute in their society, and to receive the respect of their community. Provision of real options and choices are vital to a young persons transition to adulthood. Current social security arrangements do not do this.
For further media contact phone Janet Jukes Executive Officer 0411 484 428 or Meredith Grawler Young Media Spokesperson 0402 822 488
