Comments on: In other news

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:47:22 +0000

Eva Cox at The Stump on the plan to roll out income management nation wide

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2009/11/30/the-changes-we-shouldn%e2%80%99t-be-having/

By: Fran Barlow

Fran Barlow — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:40:24 +0000

I said:

You have to laugh …

and then FDB said

Do I really?

Well you don’t have to … but it helps.

By: Fran Barlow

Fran Barlow — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:31:52 +0000

And now the latest …

Hockey to stand and the party members to have a conscience vote on the CPRS. If so Turnbull rolled and CPRS through …

By: FDB

FDB — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:29:34 +0000

“You have to laugh”

Do I really?

By: Fran Barlow

Fran Barlow — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:10:33 +0000

This just in …

Fielding wants a commission chaired by Plimer and Garnaut to check out what’s causing global warming …

You have to laugh …

Some senators hope to refer the legislation to a Senate committee today, delaying a vote on the scheme, and also denying the government a double dissolution election trigger.

But Senator Fielding, who has long called for the legislation to be delayed, said today he will not support the move unless three key demands are met.

Firstly, he wants a royal commission into climate change to be co-chaired by expert Ross Garnaut and climate change sceptic Ian Plimer, although he has yet to consult them on that call.

He wants the Productivity Commission to examine the economic impact an ETS would have on Australia if it moved unilaterally, and for other emissions trading scheme to be explored.

“Some people may laugh, but we need to get this right,” he said, adding his request was an opportunity to unite the Senate.

By: Blogreader

Blogreader — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Qualifications and experience, (for those who feel insecure about their critical skills).
I grew up reasonably poor myself, although we didn’t notice at the time as most everyone else in the commission estate was too.
And…, I’ve spent a lot of time working with disadvantaged people.
Sure, some of them are no-hopers, but so are many others at various levels of the income scale. Same goes for unrealistic sense of entitlement etc., it is not just concentrated among welfare recipients.
This micro control is just a ruse which panders to the significant proportion of voters who, if they had their way would have all the rugged and buggered in secure facilities, or even better, disposed of.
It won’t do any good, most people on welfare who really need help with income management already have it via some sector of the poverty services industry.
And money management is but one of a raft of issues that the “target group” have to grapple with in an increasingly (and unnecessarily, in my opinion) complex world. A lot of people just aren’t that smart, and our society seems to revel in making it even more difficult for this unfortunate group.
I could go on but, that’s probably enough to give you some idea of where I stand on the issue.
In my experience, if you really want to help the disadvantaged, you need to live with them in their community. It doesn’t guarantee results, but the chances of helping people to lead a reasonably dignified existence are better.

P.S. what is Kev and his gang of fixers going to do about the legendary single mum who earns her (inadequate) wage fair and square in a job and then puts puts it through the pokies. It happens, you know.

By: joe2

joe2 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:18:00 +0000

Since Spana is probably out role modeling I venture to say that it might make it a bit more exciting for the two parents, Fine.

By: Fine

Fine — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:16:54 +0000

Spana, if two parents are better than one, then is three even better again?

By: Spana

Spana — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:17:24 +0000

Furious,
Rudd and Obama are not typical. We can all find examples of the dysfunctional married couple with kids and the successful single parent kids. Of course the divide is not black and white. However, there is no doubt that for the many kids I teach who deal with dysfunction and the lack of fathers in their lives, this is a real issue. At crucial points in their lives had a stable male figure been present in there could have been very different outcomes. Not all kids from single parent families turn out to be thugs. My dad was raised in a single parent family from a young age and he is a decent well adjusted man. But combine lack of a father with a viscious street culture, sexist attitudes to women, bad relationships and gangs and that is a recipe for disaster. Two good parents remain the ideal and is what many kids from single parent families yearn for.

By: furious balancing

furious balancing — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:06:42 +0000

“There is a reluctance on the left to deal with this issue because it means admitting that just perhaps a stable mum and dad are the best setting for a kid to grow up in. ”

Yeah right, better tell that to K. Rudd and B. Obama. Those two underachievers could have done so much better for themselves if it weren’t for their family circumstances.

“Boys do need good role models and fathers in their lives.”

Those Sydney uni students with the rape facebook group sound like they need a little male guidance, I hope you’ve been railing against priveleged parents who pack their kids off to boarding schools as well. I hope their parents had their parenting payments suspended.

I’m one of 5 kids from a single parent welfare family, I’m sure my mother didn’t expect to be left on her own with 5 kids, but there you have it. I actually didn’t experience any particularly bad attitudes from my school, in fact my teachers were mostly pretty good [makes me wonder if I encountered Hannah's Dad at some time], but my mum was very heavily involved with the school and did a lot of volunteering for committees and what not. I was in also in a regional area and people can do it tough seasonally in the country and so I think there is maybe a more compassionate attitude generally about the welfare, less so about the single parent family thing. Personally, I’d say the biggest issue to child welfare is predatory adults and no amount of income quarantining will stop the attitude of some – it’s a form of entitlement, I think and it’s a damn shame that so many from safe middle class backgrounds aren’t given better guidance in these matters – I blame the parents. oh yes.

BTW: 4 of the 5 kids in my family all run successful businesses, two of us employ other people. Personally, I’m glad and proud to have grown up on welfare, it taught me extraordinary independence, resilience and a lot about setting priorities, as well as understanding that prejudice usually comes from one of two mindsets – smugness/entitlement or insecurity – neither are useful or admirable, imo. I’m happy to have been from a single parent home, although not having witnessed abuse or arguments, made it extremely strange to visit the family homes of my friends, where parental snark, misogyny and outright threats of abuse, was common and incredibly confronting to me at the time.