Yes Yvonne I have been there when partner became severely disabled. The welfare system is designed to give to the DESERVING poor. I couldn't cope with being judged by cretins with rather large chips on their shoulders but they have the power to process your claim or deny it. Its a rather confronting place to be, my heart goes out to you and Common.

I have had a chequered employment history over the last decade and in previous years I have been able to live in frugal comfort on $200 a week, no rent, broadband or car payments but in recent years I can't stick to a $200 week budget.

CountryGal if you had any dealings with the poor you would notice that their preference is for cake mixes rather than raw ingredients because its cheaper - less wastage.

GYM-FISH, this message below is from an interested party who contacted me, and asked me to paste this view, from Canada.

That junk food is bought because $207.00 (Canadian-the most possible) for a month can NOT buy the fruit and vegies unless we go without such foodstuffs for days.

Secondarily - How dare anyone blame tobacco.

Obviously when there is insufficient for both food and shelter discounting the toilet paper, transportation and hygienic cleaners - then people will take out their distressing duress against themselves - i.e. feel the choke physically (tobacco), as well as intellectually, emotionally, and spirituality--not to mention that a malnourished diet involving toxic processed foods spanning one meal/day and always otherwise hungry (regardless of age and health and work/educational/training potential to alter one's status) generates a laissez-faire attitude about one's health and everything else about oneself and one's community.

Over and above this - pension day - has nothing to do with welfare, which functions on a mandatory employment, totalitarian regimen (ss). You're confused with disability funding.

On welfare the punishment for lack of compliance/submission to self-harm is curtailment of subsidy. Why do you prefer to believe that lack of compliance is the victim's criminality, rather than dissent against the criminally enfeebled administering a brutal system?

Your statement is the product of ingrained, bigoted, government-sponsored propaganda inciting irrational callous indifference, fear, hate and denial against one group, which will expand to include your group tomorrow.

What goes around comes around - You're next!

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

See Upton Sinclair http://www.veoh.com/channels/selfdetermination
.

Dear miacat
My first response upon reading the load of ranting rubbish submitted under your name was to laugh out loud - then it occured to me that this Canadian amateur sociologist/psychologist and (no doubt) part time political activist meant the piece to be taken seriously. I do not propose to answer the piece in any detail -there are far too many nonsensical and irrational statements to warrant a studied response. I would however simply say that if you, and 'common', and indeed any of the many welfare recipients out there who adopt the 'poor me' mind set are influenced by the garbage put forward by our mysterious Canadian correpondant then there is little hope of ever climbing out of the poverty trap, and - even worse - those attitudes will be passed on to your children so that in turn they too will wallow in poverty and self pity. I do not propose to continue with postings to this site. I have said what I wanted to say and will leave the field to the many who will follow the Canadian with even more outrageous nonsense. Just one final comment to 'common' and others who share her position and her attitude - has it occured to you that in most countries in the world you (and your children) would be dead from starvation and disease or physical violence long before now? Australian society is generous and compassionate, and above all safe. Compared to most other places Australia is a paradise on earth. Why do you think that thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world are trying to get here? We have freedom, a host of free government services, across the board opportunity, and a guaranteed basic standard of living that allows us to avail ourselves of those opportunities. Get off your backsides and get moving!

billie, its not that I havent had any dealings with the poor - I lived my entire childhood below the poverty line. Faced having to leave school at 15 to get a job to support the family (single parent family, dad over 50 and illiterate as well as being physically hampered from severe accident) but luckily for me we managed to get by. I went to uni and lived on Austudy for a while. I am not unsympathetic. Even now on a good income I struggle to make ends meet - where 2 years ago I was saving $150-200 week, that now goes on childcare costs. I now save nothing except the bit of tax refund I get at the end of the year, which is used for presents (birthdays etc) and travelling home to see family members 1000km away. I know how expensive it is simply to live. However, I know pensioners that manage sufficiently to keep a car (albeit old) and maintain private health insurance (which I dont have enough in MY budget for). Why can some get by on very little where others struggle at $100,000?

Country Gal congratulations on your successful life.

I wasn't talking about people who can't manage on $100,000, really people in the top decile, earning over $925 per week should be able to cope,according to the latest ABS figures avaiable, 2004 see www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/1020492cfcd63696ca2568a1002477b5/5f4bb49c975c64c9ca256d6b00827adb!OpenDocument

I was talking about people who can't manage on or below the median income of $26,000 - In May 2005 an adult on median income supporting 2 or more dependants was living in poverty.

See Brotherhood of St Lawrence item 3 Poverty Line Update May 2005 at http://www.bsl.org.au/main.asp?PageId=130

Months back when Telstra announced the closing of many public telephones(1500?), there was quite some hand-wringing and commentary on diminishing public access etc. This tumult did not extend to the other issue, that the cost of a local call would rise to fifty cents. I was amazed that all commentary ignored this.
When the increase was implemented, I was left with a phone-card with some credit that was unuseable. My attempt to extract the credit failed when both the credit and the coins disappeared into the machine.
So now I pay fifty cents a local call. How much do YOU pay?

A question for the authors. Does Anglicare in it's operations, make use of people who are subject to Welfare-to-Work provisions, viz. Full time work for the dole?

A site to be promoted:

http://www.centreflunk.com/