Individual, gotta say, some good ideas there. With more people actually making serious and productive comments and suggestions about improving our lot, it usually goes that good things come from comments such as these. I am heartened by the positivity and conviction demonstrated here-in.
Good work keep it up I'm finally seeing something worth reading.
C'mon guys you all must have ideas you've been nurturing for some time, well now's the time to air them and put them to the test.

ALTRAV,
cheers for that, all we need now is for GY to encourage his politician mates to take notice.
I handed a list to the PM & hinted that he consider the issues when next at the parliamentary smoko table. He said he would.

//Young unemployed people say from 18-21 should be required to work/participate in various sectors to experience work & hopefully acquire a sense of responsibility & respect that is linked to being employed.//

They already are.

//Over a period of say two years, they could work alongside Council workers, Hopital workers, aged care, soup kitchens, park clean-up gangs on so forth.//

They already do, indy. It's called work for the dole (WFTD).

//As an incentive their unemployment benefit could be raised by $100/week against those who choose not to participate.//

Yeah, that's never going to happen. The Government don't need an expensive carrot to incentivise WFTD participants, because they wield the stick of withdrawn payments for WFTD participants who don't do as they're told.

//It'd become evident very soon that people actually want to pursue employment IF an incentive is offered.//

Yeah, most of them do. For the most part the unemployed aren't unemployed because they want to be; they're unemployed because there are insufficient paying jobs to adequately cater for the number of job seekers. Some of them will necessarily have to miss out.

//The cost could be offset by minor levies from their communities.//

So raise taxes to increase benefits for the unemployed? Yeah, I can't see that going down too well with tories. They're usually firmly against that sort of thing; they prefer a model with lower taxation and the unemployed being pissed upon from a great height, hence the name 'trickle down economics'.

//If Centrelink were to be kept out of this it can work.//

But if your scheme were to go ahead it would definitely be Centrelink administering it.

//I handed a list to the PM & hinted that he consider the issues when next at the parliamentary smoko table. He said he would.//

Hah! And you actually believed him?

Look, it's not actually that bad of a scheme, although I can't see how it differs that much from WFTD and I don't think you've considered the all the practicalities. But doubt the Labor party would go for it, let alone the Libs. Imposing levies to raise unemployment benefits? Do you ever listen to anything the Liberal Party say? It ain't gonna happen, individual.

Toni Lavis,
WFTD is a massive failure in every way because it doesn't address the human factor of a sense of belonging. It merely makes some insipid, disinterested bureaucrats feel they're not guilty of not performing & their hands are washed. In my idea of a non-military National service young people would be away from home for weeks at a time which is actually the key point so as to expose them & give them the much needed experience of interaction with others. I can envisage groups for example camped out, working on the Bradfield scheme & experiencing comradeship & oudoor adventure as an alternative to loitering in the suburbs. They could experience everything from working with pick & shovel, assisting surveyors, clearing scrub. The list for experiences can be as long as the need for young people to learn & acquire a sense of responsibility, respect & belonging. Imagine how much more employable scores of young people would be simply from exposure to be part & belong. The most critical aspect in my view
is to keep out that highly devisive australian factor of competition.
There are waterways to be cleared, fences to be maintained, weeds & pests to be eradicated & on the list goes. I am certain that the majority of young people would embrace a National Service as they experience the reward of being out there, away from competition & for some time, free of insidious bureaucratic restriction. Remember, things only went wobbly after National Service was done away with.
It will never satisfy everyone but society will gain, that is certain !

To ALTRAV.

I see your point, and can only wish you good luck.

To Individual.

Those sound like good ideas. I like the idea of helping the unemployment. The problem with a benevolent dictator though is finding one. One reason people went away from kings and Roman Catholic authority was because of abuses that occurred by those in power. It's a great risk. But on the other hand, if we found one, he or she would be able to make a lot of changes without having to sort through the deal making politics that corrupts many politics and legislations; nor would he/she have to listen to corrupt politicians and let them have their way. The dream sounds good, but the risk is still terrifying if we're wrong about the person.

To Fester.

I never got your answer. I would like to know if the fear is the same as Toni's or if there is a different reason, or possibly no fear and a different explanation entirely. Personally I'm for a study of western civilization. I think it would educate people of the merits and probably some detriments that have been from western civilizations, and lead people to be proud of their heritage. Worts and all, because of what good it's done.