Can Australia afford welfare reform?

Does the Government choose to look at where basic needs are not being met and put better, more appropriate policies and funding in place? No - it pushes millions more of taxpayers' dollars over into the wealthy end of the private sector.

The research done in the housing area supports what renters, welfare groups and church groups have been saying for years: the private rental market is not for those on low incomes.

And on income support - again we have the research, from both here and overseas, that tells us what it takes to properly support those who are not able to look for work or who cannot find paid employment. We can look to Minnesota's Family Investment Program, Wisconsin's New Hope Project and Canada's self-sufficiency Project - which are all working well.

These programs have achieved great success in increasing the earnings of the long-term unemployed. More importantly, these programs have consolidated people in the labour markets. The programs address the impediments to employment, offering strong incentives to take up full time work with a judicious mix of direct cash incentives, individualised training, personal counselling, transport and child-care assistance.

The Federal Government's language when it comes to welfare reform is worrying. When launching the McClure Report, the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator Jocelyn Newman, stressed the need to ensure "value for taxpayers' money."

The reality is that this government is specifically and deliberately targeting the least skilled, least educated and the least powerful group in society.

Many people in this broad category suffer from undiagnosed and unacknowledged mental illnesses. Others do not have secure housing - and among other things have little hope of receiving any mail at all, let alone the letter from CentreLink. Some have drug and alcohol problems. Some are simply young kids who have left school early and do not have the necessary literacy and organisational skills - and the personal assertiveness needed to find their way through the system.

These are the most marginalised Australians and most are among the poorest members of this society. They often come from migrant or indigenous communities. And quite coincidentally, they are the group least likely to vote Liberal, if they vote at all.

About 50 per cent of young people in my home state are being 'breached' off their income support payments - in part or in full. In the past three years, under the guise of 'promotion of equity', this government, with the support of others in the Senate, has introduced the Common Youth Allowance, which resulted in the reduction or cancellation of payments to 46,000 18-to-20-year-olds.

If that is not enough the Government has also:

• increased waiting times to two years for migrants;
• stopped so-called "illegal immigrants" who have been granted temporary refugee status from accessing almost anything; and
• reduced payments to over 200,000 unemployed on a "one strike you're out" basis.

And these sanctions are not limited to younger people. In 1999/2000 Centrelink breached 4,527 people over the age of 50, and 129 over the age of 60 for minor indiscretions such as not replying to a Centrelink letter.