UNEMPLOYMENT is one of the principal causes of poverty in Australia, and yet it is not unusual for the jobless to be treated with disdain instead of being assisted.
The harsh penalties that are imposed by Centrelink hit the least capable of finding work and drive them into further poverty.
The ACOSS report, Breaching the Safety Net, released last week identifies the way the most vulnerable are penalised while netting the Government around $250 million in savings last year.
Under the policy of mutual obligation, the Government has a responsibility to assist the poorest of our society to break the debt cycle instead of contributing to their financial difficulties through heavy-handed penalties.
