[Australia] Welfare changes 'may cause poverty'

From Business News

SINGLE parents and people with a mental disability could be driven into poverty by the Government's new welfare changes, a Liberal backbencher says.

The Government used its majority in the House of Representatives yesterday to ram through its Welfare to Work legislation.

The Senate is expected to approve the new laws next week.

But while the Government has made several amendments to the legislation, Liberal MP Judi Moylan, who abstained from voting in the Lower House, remained disappointed.

She feared many single parents and disabled people, particularly those with a mental disability, could end up worse off.

Ms Moylan said people on disability support pensions could be $91 a week worse off under the changes, while single parents could see their disposable incomes slide by 43 per cent.

"I believe it could drive some people into a deepening spiral of poverty," she said.

"These are people who are already barely making ends meet."

Ms Moylan said the Government had an opportunity to carry out meaningful welfare reform, but the provisions to push the disabled and single parents on to the New Start allowance were disappointing.

"The difficulty is that part of this legislation is totally supportable.

"The Government wants to help people back into the workforce and I think that's commendable.

"My concern rests with the change by moving people from the current disability support pension and the parenting payment on to the New Start allowance.

"That has some very serious ramifications in terms of loss of income support."

Ms Moylan said while some people would need encouragement to move from benefits into the workforce, those with mental illnesses would find it particularly hard.

"We know that employers continue to be reluctant to employ people with a mental disorder," she said.

"We've seen it a lot with people who have epilepsy, a reluctance to employ them.

"So there are some systemic problems that need to be addressed without cutting the income support for these people."