There is a lot of stuff that I could pull apart in the postings since my last post. But that would serve no purpose; the discussion would become more elongated and would have no focus.

I for one would like to see the dole dispensed with altogether and based on the comments I don’t think I would get much resistance from either the left or the right, although the reasons would be totally different.

The gateway to the solution in my mind is the Job Guarantee, which I describe as follows:

“…The federal government should introduce a floating productivity linked universal entitlement to a reasonable living minimum national wage in return for participation for a predetermined time in a meaningful productive community enterprise that is designed and operated within defined parameters by the community… "

There would be no sit down money, most existing pensions and payments could be eliminated. Everyone will have access to a job that is adapted to individual ability by their community, achieving full employment. Imagine unemployment eliminated, with 1.4 million jobs created.

Because there is a requirement that the community controlled jobs, are meaningful and productive there would be “growth”. There would be an expectation that this would increase organically with time, education, and learned abilities.

Enterprises such as community agriculture, public housing, micro energy grids, elder care, child care, education, health care, and infrastructure would give communities purpose and drive. With the introduction of the initiative described above, private enterprise within communities would be expected to thrive and expand. Life would return to dying communities be it in the remote outback, the rural town, or the city.

As Big Nanna correctly points out “there never will be a perfect solution and that shouldn't be allowed to stymie any action”, so please for the sake of the debate, focus on the big picture not the obvious exceptions.

Mikk,

From the discussion above, even an idiot would have realised that nobody expects old age pensioners to work for their pension - but if you want to explore this side-track, go for it.

Indigenous people in remote locations don't have to work for the dole. Even on CDEP, supposedly a 'work for the dole' scheme, in my observation, nobody had to actually work: mowing their own lawns, or 'home duties', i.e. keeping their house clean, was about all they had to do, and some people were on CDEP, formally a job-training program, for more than twenty years.

When Howard ordered CDEP to be wound down, at least on southern communities, the programs' organisers there paid everybody out in holiday pay, sick pay, superannuation, etc., etc., and set the debts, $ 1-2 million, against their farming enterprises. DEEWR, as the underwriter of such debt, took all the plant, tractors, Pivot irrigation systems, and the new dairy in one case and the pump in another, leaving the communities with no means to run enterprises - and NOBODY there cared, since work was the last thing they wanted to do: the very reason for living in isolated 'communities' was to be somewhere where there was little prospect of work. My brother-in-law ran the dairy until an accident forced him to quit, and always had a lot of trouble getting any young blokes to do any milking.

A few years earlier, his sister, my dear wife, took leave from her university job to try to persuade people at her home community to enrol in university courses, she hoped to move back down there and set up a combined Study Centre/Homework Centre/Historical Centre etc., but everybody asked if they could keep getting CDEP as well as Study Grant; when she said no, not one person was interested. She was devastated.

So twelve thousand acres of good land is now running a couple of hundred beef cattle. The people there did that, with eyes wide open. Tell me about 'opportunity', Mikk.

Joe

Oh come on Producer, we've been there & done that, it's called communism.

When the Chinese tried community agriculture, called communes, was it 5 or 15 million starved to death, despite millions of tons of our wheat imported?

They tried micro steel production, with enormous waste. We've tried public housing, & know we can't afford to house all the no hopers wanting everything for free. It attracts the type of people who won't even change their own light bulb.

Just a quick look at the cost of phone calls, & the number of useless union hacks employed, but not gainfully, when our phone system was government run shows the fallacy of all those arguments.

Government employment attracts bludgers like a dead cow attracts flies, & make work employment is even worse.

For me, i will suggest self control. People should be able to control the ways they invest or spent their money on things like this.

Hi Toni Lavis.

I see you have a very good suggestion, but for me i think if a person can actually have the ability to spend in a wise way that could do more help.

Hi Producer.

You real giving a beautiful suggestion about putting heavy tax on gambling so that people can stop it, but i think there are other unhealthful things over there like drinking alcohol and smoking. don't you think a person can spend all his money on this too? I think self control is the key to stop all of it.