Shellharbour teenage parents to be forced into work or study or risk losing benefits

By Nicole Hasham
Updated November 6 2012 - 2:19am, first published May 10 2011 - 4:10am
Shellharbour teenage parents to be forced into work or study or risk losing benefits
Shellharbour teenage parents to be forced into work or study or risk losing benefits

Teenage parents in Shellharbour will be forced into work or study from January next year or risk losing their welfare payments.The move forms part of the Federal Government’s ‘‘tough love’’ budget measures aimed at getting people into work in the nation’s most disadvantaged communities.The Shellharbour local government area is among ten across the nation singled out for the controversial $47 million four-year trial.

  • Nation's budget only stretches so far Parents in Shellharbour who have been on income support for more than two years, or who are under 23 and not working or studying full time, will also be subject to new, stricter welfare conditions, including meeting with Centrelink more regularly.Pension payments will be cut to those who do not comply.The budget measures aim to smooth out what Treasurer Wayne Swan described as Australia’s ‘‘patchwork economy’’ and to put growing economic opportunities within reach of more Australians.‘‘For some, talk of an investment boom seems divorced from reality,’’ Mr Swan said last night.‘‘Wages are growing, yet many people live pay cheque to pay cheque. Not every region prospers.’’The Shellharbour workforce investment was the highlight in what was otherwise a tight-fisted budget which offered slim pickings for the Illawarra.The region will be eligible for a slice of $4.3 billion that Regional Australia minister Simon Crean said was designed to ‘‘[build] the infrastructure that regional Australia needs to be modern, prosperous and capable.’’Big ticket capital works projects were few and far between in last night’s budget - with notable exceptions in the electorates of independent MPs Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott.The notorious Princes Hwy missed out on much-needed funds, but could be eligible for safety works under the Federal Government’s Black Spot program which has been topped up to the tune of $74.5 million in 2011-12.Business groups who had been calling for funding to complete the long awaited Maldon Dombarton rail line will be disappointed, however $24 million has been set aside to build three double track passing loops near Maldon, Moss Vale and Glenlee.As expected, the budget’s forward estimates did not include details of the Gillard Government’s proposed carbon tax, an omission which Gilmore MP Joanna Gash earlier this week claimed would lead to further uncertainty for trade-exposed manufacturers such as BlueScope Steel.The port of Port Kembla will share in $205.6 million over three years from 2012-13 to maintain enhanced quarantine screening.The Government will also fast track the first instalment of $536.6 million worth of council financial assistance grants. The payments will be issued this financial year so councils can put the funds to work immediately.The budget also included $55 million worth of levies to compensate investors across the country devastated by the Trio Capital fund collapse. Wollongong investors who were in self managed super funds will not be eligible, but around 600 investors from the region will be compensated.
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