Interesting article thanks Helen.

I think Government should be doing much more to help seniors and those with a disadvantage get part time work they can cope with.

The notion that every worker must add more value to the bottom line than they are paid (much more in fact) is one of the tenets of neoconservatism adhered to by both Liberal and Labour.

It was not always so; the RED scheme of the 70's and other public works schemes of the 30's to 70's were cases in point.

The idea that worker productivity must increase never-endingly to produce more stuff that isn't needed is nonsence. About time Govt started creating jobs that are for society's physical and mental well-being. Such jobs won't return easily measured dollar returns.

PS Glad you are a member of the Liberals; hope you are getting your ideas through to them.

If governments really want to help low income seniors they could start by making a stimulus package payment to all those who did not receive either of the first two.

The criteria for the first two packages were:

(a) being a customer of centrelink

(b) actually paying tax with an income of less than 100k.

Many low income seniors did not qualify for either. They include those in low income part-time employment (not on centrelink, income too low to pay tax), those under pension age who have been retrenched and are living on capital until they receive the pension, older spouses not in the workforce, and many others.

I have never been able to get a coherent explanation from any politician as to why this group was denied a package.

Mark Latham had the right idea with MEDICARE GOLD to assist lifelong taxpaying Australian retirees being able to clode the gap for their health needs and to expand health services for them. Sad to see John Winston Howard returned. What is wrong with Australian voters? Uggh !

Long overdue disability scheme shopuld have been fully implemented during the term of the Rudd government.

The chant of 'productivity' is simply mindless because most workers are working beyond their set divisor of contractual hours, working with less colleagues around them due to redundancy and non-renewal the contracts of casual and part-time employees around core full-time workforces in many industries.

Productivity should cease being a neo-liberal economic form of Stalinism. That is, when workers produce an abundant harvest, so o speak, and then get a pittance of an increase in pay or too many hoops to jump through to get a decent bonus; reminds one of Stalin taking the grain seed ( ie motivation) away from the workers who will be less enthusiastic with each financial or calendar year.

Real benefits should be handed out without the obstacle courses and we need labor governments and unions to make this one of the fundamental reasons for their existence. No wonder union membership and the parliamentary ALP MPs at all levels are getting lower and lower primary votes.

A restoration of labour leagues is urgently needed alone the lines that former Premier Jack Lang of NSW and his contemporaries were familiar with; and an almost full replacement of our union and parliamentary representatives required in order to get full cultural, social and economic direct benefits for the alrge natural constituency out there.