Dom Post on Welfare

The Dom Post says:

For too many beneficiaries the question asked by policy makers and officials has become “What grounds are there for this person not to work?” rather than “What can be done to assist this person to get a job?” …

Of course there are many individuals who, through no fault of their own, are unable to support themselves or their families. Society has an obligation to look after them.

However, the working group’s report highlights some alarming trends that are not easily explainable.

In 1960, 2 per cent of the working age population was dependent upon benefits. Today 13 per cent of the working age population is dependent on a benefit.

And remember that remaining 87% of the working age population also has to fund those not of working age – whether they are under 18 or over 65. More and more people are going to be dependant on relatively fewer and fewer taxayers.

Whether through misplaced altruism or inept policy-making, officials and politicians have created an environment that has convinced some they have no obligation to try to support themselves, and others who have manageable medical conditions that they are completely unfit for work.

The deeper these misplaced ideas take root, the more damage they do. Children are now being born into families in which neither parents nor grandparents have worked for a living.

And this is the worst aspect of what happens. Far too many kids grow up in a household where work is a foreign concept.