It's such a loaded word but "welfare" helps so many in this country, Australia and in my opinion that’s exactly how it should be. I'm currently home with Covid so the social media scroll has been filling quite a lot of my time, and the comments that still come up on news articles or stories about people doing it tough are often really disappointing. Inter-generational welfare is a thing, I'll grant you, but that's not where the majority of government payment recipients fall. Also, inter-generational welfare has been linked to a distrust in social and political institutions, low education, youth unemploymentt, Indigeneity, geographic location and mental health issues - All systemic issues that are largely ignored by our governments which then exacerbate the issue. So where does the money actually go?
39% ($76.4 billion) for older people
26% ($50.3 billion) for people with disability
20% ($38.1 billion) for families and children
9.5% ($18.5 billion) for unemployed people
The remaining 6.3%, or $12.4 billion, was for other groups, including Indigenous people and people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Money goes to those who are on the aged pension, most who have worked their whole lives paying into Australia's tax coffers. I wonder if people realise that mandatory super contributions made by employers weren’t always a thing? Up until the late 1980’s superannuation was generally limited to public servants and white collar employees of large corporations. I was born in 1980, yes I know ancient for some, but there are people of retirement age right now that did not have a nest egg of super to rely on. How about all of those stay at home mums? People bang on about the good old days when a parent could stay home looking after the family, yes usually mum, while one parent worked, but can we just connect the dots for a minute? Staying at home looking after your family may be very rewarding in its own way but there’s no payment for it. Is it any wonder that women over the age of 55 are one of the biggest growing groups facing homelessness without any financial backup?! Do you really resent people drawing an aged pension? Do you know how little money it actually is? $944.30 per fortnight or $24,552 per year for a single or $1,423.60 per fortnight or $37,014 per year for couples. You do the math. Even if they are lucky enough to own their own home, the cost of living is ever increasing. How do you think you'd go living on $944.30 a fortnight? Would you be able to live the same lifestyle you are today?
Then there are disability payments and carers payments, you can find how much by clicking the links (it's not much). I’m sure you’ve read the stories about people fighting to get help when they are unable to work due to sickness or disability. I've even read about families that have had to provide proof of their child's congenital condition more than once. I can't imagine how disheartening and frustrating that would be. The constant hoop jumping in order to receive a payment in order to have some sort of a decent life would be simply exhausting. And when I say decent I mean a roof over your head and food on the table, no extravagances. Carers in Australia actually save this country money. Do you know that the replacement value of unpaid care in Australia has risen to $77.9 billion per year? They go above and beyond to provide their loved ones with the care, respect and dignity they need and deserve. No one starts out in life thinking, gee I can’t wait to coast along on a disability payment. I can’t wait to get money for having to be the everything for my loved one who is unable to look after themselves, constantly sacrificing and striving to make their lives more comfortable/accessible/fulfilling while battling a society that makes accessibility a struggle at every turn.
Then of course we have the single mothers. Single mothers who may be widowed or have left domestic violence situations or who have realised their worth and won’t be in a miserable relationship or who have been abandoned by a partner who simply didn’t want to stick around. Do people realise that many single mums are working or studying while they receive a pension? No, they are not double dipping, they have to report their income every fortnight and it reduces the payment they receive considerably in correlation. Well why don’t they work more I hear you ask? That opens up another discussion about childcare. Not everyone works “office hours” and not everyone has a strong support network of friends and family who can just watch the kids all the time. Kids are starting high school in year 7 now in South Australia and that puts my oldest at just 11 years old when he starts. There will be no after school care for him, it’s not available for high school aged children. While it's not illegal to leave a child of that age alone at home without supervision in South Australia, I don't think I would be comfortable leaving my 11 year old at home for hours by themselves at night in order to do a shift at work. So what’s the solution? Should we provide help with a government payment for the years these women need it so they can get back into the workforce gradually? Pay them while they study, readying themselves to enter the workforce when their kids are old enough to be more independent? Of course we should. How else do you expect them to do it? This goes for all primary carers of children of course but I use mothers as an example because we far outnumber the fathers when it comes to being the primary carer for young children.
People lose jobs. Should the unemployed not receive a payment? In the recent years it’s been factory closures due to manufacturing moving offshore, new technologies changing roles in various industries and of course the pandemic. Redundancies and being stood down from your place of work over the last couple of years has been rife. There needs to be safety nets so people who are already down don’t end up without hope and no way of getting themselves back up. I've been in the position where I have needed to rely on an unemployment payment for a brief period between jobs and without it I would not have been able to pay my rent. For that I am very grateful.
All of this is inter-sectional of course. Single parents who are carers, who have lost their job or are underemployed. Older working Australian's who become unwell and need help navigating healthcare. Seniors who find themselves now caring for grandchildren as primary carers after family breakdown. Someone who is injured at work and is unable to go back to fulfill the same role they once had, earning less and therefore putting away less super. The fact is life throws us curve balls. If you are lucky enough that you haven’t needed a welfare payment to help you, great. But you don’t know what’s around the corner for you or the people closest to you. Not having to have relied on a government payment doesn't make you superior, it means that so far life hasn't been cruel to you or dealt you an unforeseen blow. How about a little compassion and empathy? How about giving others some respect and grace for doing the best they can given their situation? There will always be those that say “well I struggled and never got any help” and to that I say when we can do better we should. Perhaps you should have had more help than you received but does that mean you now resent those that need help and are getting it? You can tell a lot about a person when it comes down to how they treat those less fortunate than themselves, just as you can judge a country/government by the way they treat the most vulnerable in society.
Lumping everyone who receives welfare as "slack"or just wanting a handout is judgemental, unfair and so very privileged. Welfare should not be dirty word, but instead a word that makes us seek to be more compassionate for those that need some assistance.
All photos from pexels - linked on individual pics.
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