Workplace

The major missing factor in debates on cutting welfare spending – as has been flagged by social services minister Kevin Andrews – is the limited and falling demand for labour. Labour market figures give the lie to the need to target working-age payment recipients as the issue.

The problem is not supply-side inadequacies but the demand for labour: there are far too few jobs on offer.

A campaign to stop planned cuts to sole parent payments is aiming at the government’s vulnerable underbelly in its bid for a UN Security Council seat. Harming Australia’s image may be justified.

This question is asked in the Benchmarks for Work and
Family Policies produced for the coming Federal election by a group of feminist academics, including myself. It raises the wider question of why existing policies are so weak in this area that we still need to construct tests against which to assess the parties’ proposals.

Media stories about possible changes to superannuation tax concessions generally focus on the “dangers” of reducing the unfair benefits of better off super contributors. Most stories come from financial journalists who voice the views of the finance industry, or offer opinion pieces from the various financial institutions that benefit substantially from the current system.