CATHOLIC Social Services Australia (CSSA) has rejected as “offensive and shortsighted” a suggestion for welfare payments to some parents on low incomes to be garnished in order to provide for their children.
Commenting on the proposal by Federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough during a speech he made in the Hunter Valley in NSW on April 28, CSSA executive director Frank Quinlan said there was a dangerous trend toward blaming low income earners and people on welfare payments for their own circumstances.
Mr Quinlan said low income earners faced very real poverty traps.
He said the same low income earners that seemed to be the target of the minister’s proposals were waiting up to 12 months for assistance through programs like the Personal Support Program.
“If this proposal was really about the welfare of children, why would different rules apply to welfare recipients and low income earners?” he said.
“We acknowledge the sad fact that there are children at risk in our communities, but the minister’s plan offers no real help or long-term solutions to the problems faced by some families.
“Addressing the poverty traps would go a long way to ensuring children got the care they deserve,” Mr Quinlan said.
