Let me check this - so removign the incentive to just sit on the dole instead of engaging with work, our kids will become TERRORISTS?

Your Abbott666 hatred is warping your brains.

I live in an area in the Kimberley that has high youth unemployment. Yet fast food outlets and fruit growers need to employ backpackers. Last year Coles had so many Chinese checkout girls I sometimes wondered if I was still in Australia..
In the eastern states fruit growers import 457 workers to pick fruit.
As I see it, the problem is not so much lack of work, but lack of willingness to do any form of job that seems menial, or physically hard. I really like the new government proposal that pushes young people to areas of better employment chances than rot on the dole in an area of high unemployment.
In the case of fruit and vegetable picking in particular, the issue is made easier because the farmer provides accomodation. It might not be 5 star but certainly better than the conditions some people in remote areas have to live in.
Welfare has destroyed the motivation and work ethic of at least two generations of Australians. It is going to take a lot of resolve to bring it back.

Looks like we voters in September 2013 created a monster.

Thomas Hobbes spoke sense when he wrote of savage societies in which groups of people were constantly in a state of war.

The nature of these societies was "ugly, brutish, and short". Abbott and his men are now revealing themselves to be ugly and brutish.

May their government be short.

As a teenager, I moved thousands of miles, chasing well rewarded work, some of which was very hard, and for around 14 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Today, some of the work I did alone now requires 5 able-bodied men!
I concentrated on bridge and culvert building, which just needed strong backs, weak minds and perpetually dirty hands.
There was also accommodation and meals thrown in as part of the contract, and the wages, or money that could be earned, three times the average weekly pay, and whats more, nowhere to spend it.
I could earn/save as much in three months as others could in nine!
And then I could make a living wage cutting grass during weekends and or evenings!
Fortunately, the winter months were mostly dry, and the summer nights were long, and indeed, when it rained, perfect time to catch up on studies.
Moreover, I never put employers off with nose furniture, [some of which just looks like dried on snot,] or rainbow colored hair, or off-putting tats!
All of which scream/shout, I don't want a real job!
I just want to bludge on the dole!
Well if there's just one thing I can agree with big Smokin Joe on, it is that the age of that entitlement is over!
I'm not asking anyone else, for something I haven't already done, or led by example!
Rhrosty.

Hey Big Nana, I think you will find Kellie is a bit worried some of these changes will limit the income of her fellow Chardonnay socialists.

A huge number are employed at very nice salaries catering to these kids. The earn or learn is likely to see a huge reduction in the number of these in favor of education professionals.

Oh Rhrosty

You're such a Real Man mate.

Can I give Conchita Wurst your address?

Stop all the crap, push for a non military national service for people aged 19-21. Solve a huge part of the present problem caused by dumbed down educated. The reason the lefties denounce a national service is because they're worried the young might actually have some sense that can't be educated out of them.

I'm with Big Nana, only instead of living in the Kimberleys, I live in Alice Springs.
A regular sight is able bodied young and old men and women walking around town day in and day out like unregistered dogs.
They do nothing.
They play the guilt card.
They often express racist attitudes.
They contribute nothing.
They collect the dole as if it is their destiny.
And this has been going on for a few decades now.
It's not the birth of a lost generation. It's the birth of another lost generation.
If Abbott and Hockey can turn this around, then more power to them.
What's happening down south is beyond my ken, but what's happening, and what has been happening, in the Centre is criminal.

Its funny how you lot above are so anti-Conservative on Ukraine but so RSL like on youth unemployment. Your ideas are stuffed.

National Service would mean all the thousands of Public Servants being sacked in Canberra would need to be rehired to administer a National Service Scheme.

Pink Batts Two here we come.

Kellie has hit the nail on the head here. If you ignore the outliers such as fruit pickers and 'all those Asians' taking 'our jobs', then this is shaping up to be a very nasty intergenerational bun fight. Ryan Heath is fairly hardline but makes some good points:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/upping-pension-age-is-the-clear-way-forward-20140515-zrd7b.html

and he is not alone.

There are nowhere near enough jobs for people 18-26, yet many of these have also been saddled with large HECS debts. Getting more degrees doesn't help because then you're 'over qualified'.

The economic conditions which sustained the Boomers (even with stagflation and two recessions) can not compare to the levels of surveyed and hidden youth and young adult unemployment. The ongoing structural changes in the workforce are excluding those we should be embracing. There will be tears - big time.

'The government also fails to understand that schools aren't responsible for the transition of young people into work. Their role is to provide education: curriculum delivery and academic outcomes. Successfully implementing programs in schools to develop employability skills in our young people – communication skills, personal presentation skills, the attitude to work, the ability to work as part of a team – '

Err no developing employability skills is what happens in work. Schools should teach our kids how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, read, write and comprehend. If they then show ability to advance to higher education after flourishing at those skills then well and good. Otherwise they will have at the very least developed the necessary ability to develop suitable employability skills while in a first menial job or apprenticeship
What Kel!ie is is advocating is the current practice be continued and it is precisely that huplus too higher starting wages that have cruelled the employability of our youngsters.

Our education policies at the State level need encourage a focus on the basics to year nine.

A great secondary step is to allow competition within our unis and limit funding for research. Our unis will soon dump dumbed down useless degrees and funding stupidities in environment and climate change research.

That's the post of the day ChrisPer: "Abbott666" :-)

rehired to administer a National Service Scheme.
plantagenet,
No, it doesn't need another horde of bureaucrats to administer. National service recruits can do that. They can be taught how to be accountable whilst they're serving.

Malcolm, I am not at all concerned with "Asians taking our jobs". My concern is "why are our young kids not applying for those jobs".
I understand that not all youth are academically gifted. Not all are able to complete a degree or even an apprenticeship. But even someone with a minimal IQ can stack shelves and collect trolleys.
I was in the company of one of my granddaughters when she put a resume into Coles. Firstly, I was amazed at the number of backpacker application that were on file. Secondly, very appreciative that a staff member took my granddaughters details, marked her resume with the word "local" and put it on the top of the heap.
I also noticed there were very few "local" resumes in the heap.
And the complaint from many youth that they cannot get a job without experience? Have they never considers volunteering for a local small business or charity? This would give not only experience, but the much needed work reference. Not to mention the immense help it would be to a struggling small business. This is a solution I suggest to all my grand kids.

Oh dear, poor Kellie has had a real character assesssment! Lawyers are the worst of the worst. Capable of such corruption that they overwhelmed their own insurance scheme in the 1970's and now only accountable to their own. Then Miss Tranter has the hide to complain?
She should ensure her fellow lawyers pay their fair share of tax first. One Barrister has been bankrupt six times each time to the Tax commissioner.
Fair point that perhaps the Tax Commissioner should take a break from prosecuting low paid workers and actually do his job.
Let's get serious here. Reduce wages to half of the present of the executives in the tax department and advise other departments are under scrutiny. Oh yes Kellie go out and get a real job and make a real contribution and stop bludging off the rest of us.

Think our education system is working well?

Just take a look at the unthinking chanting morons in our unis who disrupt the lectures of those they disagree with. Why don't the act the way the marchers in March and May behaved?

Our egalitarianism condemns displays of unmitigated arrogance. We believe everyone has the right to be respected and heard when expressing their opinion, regardless of position or wealth.

Why are these disrespectful disruptive fools not condemned by every one?

They haven't been educated. They've been brainwashed to believe in entitlement and nobody is allowed to criticise their ignorance.

Are you proud of supporting this way of 'educating' our youngsters and the way it has corrupted them. How would such behaviour be treated in our courts Kellie. It would be censured... severely. It is not our way. We quietly and sometimes loudly exchange and express our differences but always in an accepted civil manner.

How about you condemning it too instead of condemning a government that has taken the first steps to change our education system back to focusing on our values instead of the corrupt influence of imported ideologies and the more obvious stupidities of non traditional cultures including the more stupid traits of the European ones.

Now before anyone sinks to a personal attack and tries to side track from my points, I am a supporter of multiculturalism and my belief is on the public record.

The only misdirection is Kellie Tranter's inability to distinguish between harsh reality & her own personal wants of feeling warm n'fozzy by engaging in something she has no will nor ability to see reality, the reality that some people will not take any initiative whatsoever to attempt to even try to help themselves.
She is simply an ignorant academic who believes wasting other peoples' money on wasters will result in an overnight Nirvana.
I have spent most of my working life juggling idiotic decisions & designs by so-called educated people for people who are lost within their own lazyness. Needless to say the whole show is nothing short of a hopeless society being brainwashed into hopelessness by hopelessly moronic & selfish bureaucrats who packed themselves feet & snout into the trough.
I expected the Coalition Governmets state & federal to weed out out these disgusting weasels but no, instead they're trying to emulate the even more disgusting ALP.
Meanwhile decent citizens' lives are ruined.

The naivete of the usual gaggle of 'I did it my way' rubbish that tumbles out into every commentary section of every online article written on the critical need to protect our safety net is as mind boggling as it is predictable.

Of course these too-tough dudes and Marlborough Men are blissfully ignorant of their own overblown sense of self-importance and genuinely baffled that the rest of the world can't seem to understand that it's all about them, them, them.

Their arguments are full of dubious anecdotes of how the universe amply rewarded them for their spirited entrepreneurial workaholism, as well as equally dubious anecdotes of encountering ubiquitous hoards of work-shy no-hopers jumping out at them from every tree and alley-way, everyday of their lives.

Underlying all this righteous bravado is a deep-rooted fear of weakness and vulnerability, one that is manipulated and exploited by the rich and powerful in order to recruit them into being moral policemen and overseers, whipping and shaming the masses into submission and obedience.

There is nothing much you can do about these righteous village idiots. They exist in every generation and have helped to create and maintain the grossly unequal world that compassionate people despair of. Thankfully, most people are not like them, and if enough of us can make our compassionate voices heard, they can’t impose their selfish agenda on the rest of society.

Kelpie, you will never get 'common sense' from many contributors to this forum.
Individual goes one step further and states "She is simply an ignorant academic who believes wasting other peoples' money on wasters will result in an overnight Nirvana."

How nasty and small minded is that comment Individual ?
You think all people who have had more education than you are 'ignorant academics', and all people who are younger than you should be dragged off to 'military camps' so they can learn to think more like you?
What rubbish!

As far as the issues re young unemployed people, I hope the 6 months without welfare payments for people under 30 will never come to pass, or we will see a massive rise in crime from some of these desperate people.

I agree we shouldn't pay the dole to able-bodied people who don't try to find work , but I am also aware there are people out there who will NEVER be able to pick up or hold down a job.
Australia can afford to pay for welfare payments for these few.
It's either that, or we pay for more jails....

Killarny - Well said, I totally agree with everything you said ! Bellicose ego based people with their stories of great victories over far superior obstacles than the average mere mortal could possibly handle advising others to follow in their very large footsteps ! But I ask myself how is it possible to follow the lead of such a superhuman being when most of us are just your average normal human being with all the average frailties it entails ! All I can say is be thankful for all the breaks you get in life even with your superhuman prowess and show some compassion to those who try but don't quite succeed !

Killarney,
My Irish Great Grandmother, died just a few months after I was born.
My mother recounted how she'd lived through the depression, and two world wars, to which she lost seven boys!
She, not too uncommon in those days, being around twenty years younger, survived her husband by around two decades.
And given a widowed daughter, who worked as a barmaid; and three grand children, she worked around the house and the yard until well into her eighties.
My mother told me how she would be out in the yard with a shovel, at 85, digging with a prolapsed womb, preparing a garden bed for the spuds, that was more or less their staple diet.
And as she dragged her old tried body back inside, barely able to walk, or drag the shovel, she was so tired.
My mother, who was extremely fond of Gran, often remarked, you shouldn't work so hard Nan, it'll kill you!
To which Her Grandmother would invariably reply, to be sure, hard work never killed anyone, just the want of it.
We have a generation of kids/young people, who have become soft, for want of a little hard work.
And would be better and less demanding, if they were toughened up a bit, or worked for their (free) money.
My father and Uncles, those who survived, worked for the dole, grubbing out noxious weeds, that couldn't be controlled by any other means!
And then even that relief work petered out after six months!
When I was a teenager, dole money was only enough for a few papers, a few stamps and some tram money, to get you to the job interview.
We could very easily be facing another even worse Great Depression, with its soup kitchens, tent cities and mile long dole queues.
Those who have been toughened up and made more self reliant, with some real if at times, very menial work, will be the never quit, never beaten ones, who not only survive, but eventually earn a decent living, or realize their dreams!
Rhrosty.

You think all people who have had more education than you are 'ignorant academics',
Suseonline,
What else should people who are hanging off our apron & don't make sense be called ? Dis I say all People ? No ! I said those who are ignorant. Stop twisting my words.

dragged off to 'military camps' What don't you understand by non military national service ?
Are you so devoid of integrity that you even feel forced to twist those words also ? Are you so devoid of integrity that you fight tooth & nail for our society not to get better by asking people to put some effort into becoming better citizens by helping them to a healthier mentality rather than your mentality of gimme, gimme, gimme ? you remind me of a nurse I once worked with, she always waffled on about the good work nurses do but if the pay was one hour out she spent all day chasing those few dollars whilst the patients were calling for her. That's not a caring nature at all, that's doing something just for money.

Fine Kilarney
Then you'll be able create your great socialist utopia without our money and industry.

Make you are quite simple minded and tell us how much of my money you get each year?
Bludger.

Trapie you like all you dopey socialist miss the point.

My success, and I am very proud of it, isn't built on chance or fortunate opportunity.

And how do you know I'm not gay, you presumptious little squirt.?

My success was not built on machoism nor disregard for those who worked for me. Again you presumptious little squirt.

It was built on the simple fact I worked so hard. Today I have employees who also work hard. They earn well above award and value all the opportunites that are opening up for them.

That you see my pride in my own achievements as something to be ridiculed and denigrated with personal invective shows two things.
One you are envious of the rewards earned by of those who choose to work hard.
Two you will never be prepared to nor expect others to do as I have done.

Those things mean you lack aspiration and don't want others to aspire either.

You dunce, today it is very easy for anyone to work hard and attain the same rewards I did.It is simpletons like you who think it isn't possible and make excuses for those lazy grizzlers who have conned you, that are ensuring many youngsters don't have to try and will be consigned to sucking from an ever diminishing public tit.

Look at Spain and Greece. That is where your attitudes will lead them. And mate I don't have a uni degree. I bet you have and sit on your arse in some unpreductive job earning more than you are worth. I probably fund that as well.

Individual, I don't need to twist your words at all, I know exactly what you mean.
You are having a go at nurses, so what job do you do?
Let's hope this dreadful budget doesn't adversely affect you....

Suseonline,
I'm not having a go at nurses I'm merely pointing out that this holier than thou feigning doesn't wash with the thinkers. I do know good nurses & a few good Doctors as well but they usually get kicked out for treading on bureaucrats' toes.
If my pay is worth 50 dollars less because of the budget then so be it but I would certainly not describe it as adverse.
We're definitely into the second generation of useless citizens now & i can not think of a better way of arresting this dreadful trend any other way than a non military national service from 19 to 21 for everyone, including boat people. The cost would be no more if not less than what's being wasted on hare brained schemes & their administration now. The 16,000 public service positions that are being done away with could probably safely be doubled if we were serious about weeding out incompetent & expensive bureaucrats who could be demoted to their level of competence. Savings all round & those savings could be pooled for a fund to compensate victims of crime.

I think Kellie is running a protection racket. Unless the taxpayers keep shovelling the money into the pockets of Labor voters, well gee, they could get desperate. They might run around robbing and doing all sorts of things to you taxpayers. They may assault a government Minister, or take over a TV panel show and scream at the audience.

You have to keep funding the needle exchanges, the surfers at Byron Bay, the hippies at Nimbin, the aborigines, the ethnic ghettoes with high levels of crime and welfare dependence, the refugees, the boat people, the housing commission inhabitants who own rental properties, the public servants the social workers, the single mums who have become pregnant numerous times and don't know who the fathers are, the rich students at uni who want a free tertiary education, and any other Labor voter with their begging bowls out.