The unemployment benefit isn't meant for life

THE unemployment benefit is a great and necessary safety net to help those who are out of work get back on their own two feet.

It should be there just to tide people over, not fund a lifestyle of not working.
But figures obtained by the Herald Sun reveal all too many bludgers are using the dole as a "job" for life.
The figures show that jobless Victorians who have remained on the dole for over 20 years have sucked the equivalent of more than $26 million from the pockets of hard-working taxpayers.
They reveal more than 48,000 Victorians have been unemployed for two years or more.
And it should be remembered that those on the Newstart allowance also qualify for a host of other payments, such as rent assistance and telephone allowance.
As a nation, we must find better ways of getting the unemployed - both long and short term - back into work.
That means governments, federal, state and local, doing more to help the unemployed help themselves.
The startling figures being revealed today certainly warrant an urgent review of social security laws and welfare in general.
They yesterday prompted Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to slam the long-term unemployed problem and vow to crack down on dole bludgers.
"Any day a person spends on the dole is a wasted opportunity for the nation, but to allow someone to be unemployed for 10 to 20 years or more is a national embarrassment," he said.
"We have to do more to lift people off welfare and back into work."
It is a disgrace that 105 Victorians have been unemployed for 20 years or more, with a further 8700 being unable to find work for between five and 10 years.
People should not be allowed to be paid the dole indefinitely to do nothing.
It should just go to those unemployed who genuinely want to get back into the workforce and who are prepared to re-train, re-locate and work hard at finding work.
It shouldn't go to prop up the lazy lifestyles of those who have no intention of ever working again, yet continue to see getting the dole as their right.

heraldsun.com.au 20 Aug 2012

Another propaganda article by the government's lap dog the corporate media.

Figures are manipulated that support an agenda in order to bring in new laws.

As a result there will be new policies put in place that ultimately enslave the masses.

A common payment of less than $240 per week is given to a jobseeker. 

Hardly a figure to live from yet alone provide the necessities for life.