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The adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, the appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into work and the impact of the changing nature of the labour market

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The adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, the appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into work and the impact of the changing nature of the labour market

Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Commitee

August 2012

Table of contents

1 Introduction

  1. The Australian Human Rights Commission makes this submission to the Senate
    Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee Inquiry
    into     the adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and
    others, the appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into
    work and the impact of the changing nature of the labour market.
  2. This submission is divided into two parts. Part A of this submission
    focuses on the allowance payment system as it impacts on older jobseekers and
    older carers; a growing demographic with specific requirements and challenges.
  3. Part B of this submission focuses on the impact of Newstart Allowance
    and other allowances on families with dependent children.

2 Recommendations

  1. In light of the particular challenges for older jobseekers and jobseekers
    with dependent children, the Australian Human Rights Commission makes the
    following recommendations:

    Recommendation 1: The Newstart
    Allowances and supplements should be increased so that they accurately reflect
    the costs of living, job-seeking and skill development activity.

    Recommendation 2: The earning threshold of the Newstart Allowance
    should be increased to bring it in line with the Age Pension Work Bonus
    Scheme    .

    Recommendation 3: People who have reached pension eligibility age
    should be given the choice to move to the Age Pension or remain in the
    labour-market on Newstart Allowance. (This option assumes that the Newstart
    Allowance achieves parity with the Age Pension).

    Recommendation 4: The Mature Age Participation: Job Seeker
    Assistance     program should be reviewed after 12 months to (a) consider
    its application to Newstart Allowance recipients who are aged 45 and older and
    (b) to expand its operation to all locations.

    Recommendation 5: Newstart Allowance recipients aged 45 and older
    should have access to relevant components of Jobs Services Australia Streams
    2, 3     and 4.

    Recommendation 6: A program similar to the Mature Age Participation
    – Jobseeker Assistance     program should be made available for families
    where both parents are unemployed. This should provide voluntary opportunities
    to participate in intensive support to find a job, including job-specific
    training and participation in paid work trials.

    Recommendation 7: A program similar to the Mature Age Participation
    – Job Seeker Assistance     program should be made available for families
    where the parent with primary custody of children is unemployed. This should
    provide voluntary opportunities to participate in intensive support to find a
    job, including job-specific training and participation in paid work trials. This
    should also include family support and flexibility for those with sole carer
    responsibilities.

    Recommendation 8: Newstart Allowance recipients with dependent
    children undertaking approved training and education should have access to
    fully-funded child care services for the duration of their course. This is
    particularly relevant for sole parent families, acknowledging that these parents
    are solely responsible for the care of their children.

PART A

3 Older
jobseekers

  1. Australia’s ratification of the International Covenant on Economic
    Social and Cultural Rights     (ICESCR) brings with it obligations to ensure
    that all citizens have rights to:

    • social security
    • work
    • technical and vocational guidance and training
      programmes.[1
  2. Australia has also indicated its support for the United Nations Principles for Older Persons which mirror the rights contained in ICESCR.
    They include the right of the older person to independence, participation, care,
    self-fulfilment and dignity. The Principles for Older Persons were
    developed with the support of Australian
    governments,[2] providing that:

    • Older persons should have the opportunity to work or to have access to other
      income generating opportunities.
    • Older persons should be able to participate in determining when and at what
      pace withdrawal from the labour force takes place.
    • Older persons should have access to appropriate educational and training
      programmes.[3]
  3. Australia’s labour market is ageing and as a result there is an
    emergence of a growing and vulnerable group of older jobseekers who have
    particular interactions with the tax and transfer systems.


  4. The labour force participation rates of people aged 45–64 years have
    increased steadily since the 1980s. In 1983, 56% of 45–64 year olds were
    in the labour force. By 2003, participation had increased to
    69%.[4] By June 2010, 71% of
    55–59 year olds were in the labour force and 51% of 60–64 year
    olds.[5]


  5. The proposed increase in the qualifying age for the Age Pension will expand
    the labour force participation of older workers beyond age 65. Beginning in
    2017, the qualifying pension age will increase incrementally to age 67 by 2023.
    This will increase the number and age of older Australians in the labour
    market.


  6. Currently, the high rates of insecure employment and prevailing
    discriminatory attitudes towards older workers mean that a large proportion of
    older jobseekers are finding difficulty in obtaining work and many are long-term
    unemployed.


  7. A significant number of long-term unemployed jobseekers require re-skilling
    or up-skilling in order to be competitive in the labour market. Many require
    workplace flexibility because they have caring responsibilities of older parents
    and grandchildren.


  8. The statistics show that people over 55 who are unemployed are more likely
    to be long-term unemployed than those in younger age groups. In 2010–11,
    33% of unemployed people aged 55–64 years were long-term unemployed,
    compared with 22% of those aged 35–44 and 13% of those aged
    15–24.[6]


  9. In effect, one out of three unemployed people aged between 55 and 64 years
    was long-term unemployed in
    2010–11.[7]


  10. Of the age discrimination complaints received by the Commission, 69% relate
    to employment and they are increasing. Over the last year the Commission has had
    a 44% increase in all age-related complaints.


  11. There are particular impacts of long-term unemployment on older workers.
    Research shows that unemployment can lead to a major depressive episode. A
    national survey of depression in Australia found the following:

    The
    strongest correlates for reported current major depression include being
    unemployed    , smoking, having a medical condition, followed by being in
    mid-life    , previously married, and
    female.[8] (Emphasis added)

  12. Without appropriate supports and opportunities to re-enter the workforce,
    people who are long-term unemployed may ultimately become eligible for the
    Disability Pension rather than Newstart Allowance.


  13. Many older Australians also have caring responsibilities for their elderly
    parents. In fact, nearly 46% of all carers receiving the carer’s allowance
    are aged between 50 and 65.[9] This
    sets up a complex interaction between work and family responsibilities. Caring
    responsibilities can impact on the individual’s capacity to engage with
    the workforce on a full-time basis and may limit the type and amount of work
    that a person can do.


  14. There is also evidence that older Australians are increasingly vulnerable to
    poverty.[10] The 2006 Australian
    Census shows that more than 18,000 people aged 55 or older were homeless on
    Census night in 2006.[11] People
    aged over 55 make up 17% of the homeless population of
    Australia.[12] Women make up roughly
    30% of homeless people aged over 55 with men making up the other
    70%.[13]


  15. Australia’s human rights obligations require governments to ensure
    that older people are protected from poverty by providing social security
    income. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes
    specific reference to the right of older people to an adequate standard of
    living and security in old age.[14]


  16. Governments are also required to ensure that older workers are provided with
    employment training options. ILO conventions contain provisions relating to the
    rights of all people to career guidance and training without
    discrimination.[15]


  17. In Part A of this submission, the Commission argues that the Australian
    Government should increase the overall income levels of the Newstart Allowance
    for jobseekers. The Commission also argues for initiatives to support re-entry
    into the workforce; especially in the area of re-training and up-skilling of
    older workers.


  18. Intensive support should be provided in the early stages of unemployment and
    not when older jobseekers are long-term unemployed. Pro-active, positive and
    intensive support for older jobseekers may prevent situations where older
    workers become long-term unemployed.

4 Adequacy and
appropriateness of Newstart Allowance

  1. The Commission finds that Newstart Allowance is not adequate to provide a
    reasonable standard of living for jobseekers. Article 9 of the International
    Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights    , ‘recognize(s) the
    right of everyone to social security, including social
    insurance’.[16] The current
    rate of Newstart Allowance is below the Henderson Poverty Line.


  2. The amount of Newstart Allowance available to an individual will depend on
    income and assets. The maximum amounts available, effective as of 20 March 2012
    are (fortnightly):

    • $489.40 – single, no children
    • $529.80 – single aged 60 and over after 9 month on payment
    • $442.00 – partnered (each)
    • $648.50 – single principal
      carer.[17]
  3. Newstart Allowance recipients are eligible for rent assistance on a
    case-by-case basis.


  4. People receiving the Age Pension receive a significantly higher allowance
    than people on Newstart Allowance. The Age Pension rate is $695.30 for a single
    person and $542.10 per person for couples fortnightly. The Pensioner Supplement
    is also available at a maximum of $60.20 for a single person, and $90.80 for
    couples per fortnight
    (combined).[18]


  5. Both Newstart Allowance and Age Pension are designed for cost of living
    expenses. While they serve different purposes, it seems reasonable to assume
    that there should be a level of equity in these provisions. The cost of living
    does not necessarily increase with retirement, nor do food, housing, health,
    travel and utility expenses.


  6. According to the Melbourne University Institute of Applied Economic and
    Social Research, the updated Henderson Poverty Line is as follows (per
    fortnight):

    • $762.80 for a single person, no children (including housing costs);
    • $1080.50 for a couple, no children (including housing costs);
    • $455.16 for a single person, no children (excluding housing costs);
    • $742.30 for a couple no children (excluding housing
      costs).[19]
  7. Currently the Age Pension allowances are almost at parity with the Henderson
    Poverty Line when they include the supplements. Newstart Allowance benefits are
    well below this benchmark.


  8. According to the Economic and Social Council, governments must take
    effective measures within ‘maximum available resources’ to fully
    realize the right to social security. The Economic and Social Council also finds
    that social security measures should be periodically
    revised.[20]


  9. The Economic and Social Council enumerates the core obligations of
    governments in relation to social security as being a level of benefits that
    will enable acquisition of:

    at least essential health care, basic
    shelter and housing, water and sanitation, foodstuffs, and the most basic forms
    of education.[21]

  10. The Commission acknowledges that governments operate within resource
    constraints. Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
    Cultural Rights     outlines the principle of progressive realisation,
    acknowledging that some rights may be difficult to achieve in a short time
    period and that states may be subject to resource
    constraints.[22]


  11. The Commission supports increases to Newstart Allowance so that it
    accurately reflects the cost of living and the cost of job-seeking and/or
    education and training requirements.


  12. Recommendation 1: The Newstart Allowances and supplements should be
    increased so that they accurately reflect the costs of living, job-seeking and
    skill development activity.

5 Insecure work and the
interaction with Newstart Allowance

  1. The ABS reports that that almost one quarter of all employees in Australia
    (23.9% or 2.2 million workers) are engaged in casual and/or insecure
    employment.[23]


  2. The ACTU Inquiry into Insecure Work found that casual and ad hoc
    employment has been increasing over recent decades, from 15.8% in 1984 to around
    27.7% in 2004.[24] The Inquiry found
    that insecure work is synonymous with weaker rights and entitlements, poorer
    career development opportunities and lower job satisfaction.


  3. The Inquiry also found that insecure work is a particular issue for mature
    aged workers who may need to work more flexible hours but sometimes have to
    trade their job security for additional flexibility.


  4. There is some flexibility for older jobseekers who are claiming Newstart
    Allowance. Most Newstart Allowance recipients must meet the income and assets
    tests as well as the activity test. The activity test includes job
    search, work experience and training or study. However, people aged 55 and older
    are able to undertake volunteering or part-time work, or a combination of these
    for 30 hours per fortnight to fully meet the activity test requirements.


  5. People over 55 who are participating in this ‘full time’
    volunteering/work option may elect to withdraw from other programs such as job
    search activity. The Commission commends this initiative and acknowledges that
    volunteering work contributes significantly to Australia’s workforce and
    economy. People in this age group should however be encouraged to access support
    on resume presentation and participate in relevant training.


  6. Newstart Allowance recipients can earn up to $62 per fortnight before the
    payment is affected. Income above $62 and up to $250 per fortnight reduces
    fortnightly payments by 50 cents in the dollar. Income above $250 per fortnight
    reduces payment by 60 cents in the dollar. Partner income that exceeds the
    earning thresholds also reduces payment by 60 cents in the
    dollar.[25]


  7. The extremely low earning thresholds accompanied by the high rates of tax on
    Newstart Allowance appear to be penalties rather than incentives for people to
    work. In effect, low income earners on Newstart Allowance are paying a higher
    marginal tax rate than highest income earners who pay 45 cents in the dollar.


  8. The $62 limit on ‘before tax’ earning acts as a specific
    disincentive to part-time or casual work. The administrative complexity of the
    system coupled with uncertainty about a steady income stream, may prevent
    Newstart Allowance recipients from taking up short-term or part-time work.


  9. In comparison, Age Pension recipients have an ‘income free’
    threshold for employment income of up to $250 earned each fortnight through the
    Work Bonus Scheme. The $250 earnings do not affect pension
    payments.[26]


  10. A Work Bonus Balance is also accumulated for any unused amount; between $0
    and $250 in a single fortnight. The Work Bonus Balance can accumulate to a
    maximum of $6,500, which is then used to offset any future employment income
    earned that exceeds the $250
    threshold.[27]


  11. The Work Bonus Scheme is a simpler and more generous initiative than the
    Newstart Allowance scheme. The more generous earning threshold may encourage
    people take part-time or casual work. This should be the intention of the
    Newstart Allowance scheme. Part-time and casual work can be an entry point to
    more secure or long-term employment. The current thresholds of the Newstart
    Allowance system do not encourage work participation and may in fact do the
    opposite.


  12. Recommendation 2: The earning threshold of the Newstart Allowance
    should be increased to bring it in line with the Age Pension Work Bonus
    Scheme    .

6 Interaction between
Newstart Allowance and the Age Pension

  1. To be eligible for Newstart Allowance, individuals must be under Age Pension age. Pension eligibility age for men is 65 years
    and currently 64.5 years for women who are yet to turn 65. By July 2013,
    women’s pension eligibility will align with men at age 65.


  2. The age cut off point of eligibility for Newstart Allowance may push some
    people into retirement before they are ready. Many Australians choose to remain
    in the workforce into their late 60s and beyond. While the pension age is
    necessary for many Australians who are ready to retire, there will be those
    people who would benefit from remaining in the labour market.


  3. Australian Government policy aims to keep people in the workforce for as
    long as they are willing and able. The Newstart Allowance system should mirror
    this objective and give older people every opportunity to remain in the labour
    market if they so choose. Remaining in employment is a protective factor against
    poverty.


  4. Giving people the option to claim Newstart Allowance beyond the notional
    ‘retirement age’, gives them access to the return-to-work
    initiatives that are part of the Newstart Allowance system. It may also provide
    a sense of dignity to people who want to remain working for as long as they are
    willing, fit and able.


  5. Recommendation 3: People who have reached pension eligibility age
    should be given the choice to move to the Age Pension or remain in the
    labour-market on Newstart Allowance. (This option assumes that the Newstart
    Allowance achieves parity with the Age Pension).

7 Job search assistance,
retraining and up-skilling programs

  1. According to the Treasury’s Intergenerational Report 2010,
    retraining and up-skilling mature age workers are key public policy priorities
    for Australia.[28] The Commission
    supports this position and emphasises that sufficient supports and resources
    should be available to people who require training to re-enter the workforce.
    Developing skills in job search is one component of the re-skilling process.
    Other work-specific skills may also be necessary for jobseekers.


  2. The Australian Government provides all Newstart Allowance recipients with
    assistance in job search through Job Services Australia (JSA). All jobseekers
    are eligible for Stream 1 support which includes access to resume
    services, help with job search and face-to-face progress meetings. Additional intensive support is offered through Streams 2, 3 and 4. These streams are available to people with particular requirements or
    specific barriers to work.


  3. The Commission notes that older jobseekers may not fit the eligibility
    criteria for Streams 2, 3 and 4, and therefore miss out on
    intensive job search assistance. This is of concern given that older workers are
    experiencing high levels of discrimination in recruitment processes.


  4. According to 2010 ABS data, one in five older Australians aged 55 years or
    older, who were actively looking for more hours claimed that their age was a
    major preventative factor, explaining that they were considered ‘too
    old’ by employers.[29]


  5. The ABS reports that for unemployed people aged 45 years and over, the main
    difficulty in finding work (accounting for 18% of cases) was reported as being
    ‘considered too old by
    employers’.[30]


  6. The Consultative Forum on Mature Age Participation found that private
    recruitment agencies are increasingly playing a role as intermediaries between
    jobseekers and employers.[31]


  7. Private recruitment agencies operate under contractual arrangements with
    individual employers and are driven by targets, timeframes and parameters. In
    some instances, recruitment agencies are reluctant to put older workers forward
    to employers, especially if they have pressing targets. In other instances, the
    employer may specify a preference for younger recruits.


  8. Evidence of these practices is not well-documented, but they are reflected
    in the complaints received by the Australian Human Rights Commission.


  9. The Commission commends the Australian Government for the development of the Experience+ initiative. Most of the focus of this strategy is to assist
    older workers who are already employed or to provide incentives for employers to
    take on older workers. Part of the initiative includes a payment of $1000 to
    employers who offer an ongoing employment opportunity to an eligible job seeker
    aged 50 or over.[32]


  10. One strand of Experience + provides intensive support for jobseekers
    over 55 years. This is the Mature Age Participation: Job Seeker Assistance
    Program    . From 1 January 2013, the new program will provide eligible
    jobseekers aged 55 and over with a peer-based environment in which to develop
    their IT skills, undertake job-specific training and prepare for work. This
    program provides ‘intensive support’, and it is the only strand of
    the initiative that provides training for older jobseekers.


  11. At this stage, the Mature Age Participation: Job Seeker Assistance
    Program     is only available in targeted locations and these are yet to be
    determined.[33] Given the
    difficulties that older jobseekers are experiencing in recruitment processes, it
    may be necessary to extend the program to all locations.


  12. It may also be necessary to expand the program to people aged 45 and older
    as evidence suggests that discrimination begins for people in their 40s. People
    in their 40s may need training in digital technologies, especially if their
    previous employment role did not require these skills.


  13. Training opportunities should not be limited if people already have a level
    of qualification. Job-seekers may have to develop skills to meet the
    requirements of different industries. For example, there has been a contraction
    in the manufacturing industries, but an expansion in mining and associated
    industries. Therefore, job-specific training should be available to all Newstart
    Allowance recipients regardless of their previous education.


  14. Recommendation 4: The Mature Age Participation: Job Seeker
    Assistance     program should be reviewed after 12 months to (a) consider
    its application to Newstart Allowance recipients who are aged 45 and older and
    (b) to expand its operation to all locations.


  15. Recommendation 5: Newstart Allowance recipients aged 45 and older
    should have access to relevant components of Jobs Services Australia Streams
    2, 3     and 4.

PART B

8 Newstart and families
with children

  1. Part B of this submission focuses on the effects of the Newstart Allowance
    payment system on families with dependent children. The Commission’s
    recommendation that Newstart Allowances and supplements should be increased is
    particularly relevant for families with children. The Commission makes
    particular reference to these recipients because of the compound disadvantage
    that unemployment bestows on their dependent children. The Commission also notes
    that Australia has one of the highest rates of family unemployment amongst the
    world’s wealthy
    nations.[34]


  2. The Commission acknowledges that individuals and families with dependent
    children are eligible for the Family Tax Benefit and Rent Assistance in addition
    to Newstart Allowance. These additional forms of assistance go some way towards
    alleviating the financial burden on families with children.


  3. However, the financial and emotional burden is particularly acute in
    situations of couple families where both parents are unemployed and for single
    parent families headed by an unemployed parent. In these situations, children
    may experience increased vulnerability and are more at risk of reduced life
    opportunities.


  4. In 2007, Australia had the fourth highest proportion of children under the
    age of 15 living in unemployed families in the Organisation of Economic
    Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, behind the United Kingdom, New
    Zealand and Turkey.[35] The
    proportion of children growing up in unemployed families is widely regarded by
    the OECD as a key indicator of the wellbeing of societies because of the risk of
    poverty to children in these
    families.[36]


  5. Over 2009–10, there were 667,000 dependent children (12%) living in
    families without an employed resident parent, with 568,000 dependent children
    (11%) living in a household where no one was
    employed.[37] In Australia, almost
    70% of poor children live in jobless families – the highest share in the
    OECD.[38] These data demonstrate
    that lack of paid employment is a primary cause of child poverty in
    Australia.


  6. According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies:

    The
    personal and social impacts of unemployment in families include poverty and
    financial hardship, debt, homelessness or housing stress, family tensions and
    breakdown, boredom, alienation, shame and stigma, increased isolation, crime,
    erosion of confidence and self-esteem, the atrophy of work skills, and ill
    health. The Life Chances Study found that in families where there was no
    employed parent, mothers reported poorer health of their young children, serious
    health problems for themselves, serious disagreements with a partner, serious
    financial problems, and serious problems with housing, more often than mothers
    in families who had an employed
    parent.[39]

  7. Evidence suggests that when families have no parent employed for a long
    period of time, the compounding disadvantage leads to multiple and entrenched
    barriers to employment.[40]


  8. The long-term impact of family unemployment is said to further include the
    intergenerational transmission of welfare dependence and overall diminished life
    outcomes.[41] This disadvantage can
    continue, and become exacerbated, into adulthood and can be reflected in
    intergenerational unemployment and diminished life
    chances.[42] Many of these risk
    factors are mutually reinforcing and circular, such as poor health leading to
    poor work outcomes, and poor work outcomes leading to poor
    health.[43] This would suggest that
    the negative effects of unemployment are experienced by children in both the
    short and longer term.


  9. Australia’s human rights obligations specifically require that the
    social security system is adequate and accessible for
    everyone,[44] with a particular
    emphasis on the rights of children to social
    security.[45]


  10. Australia’s human rights obligations further require that special
    attention be given to individuals and groups who traditionally face difficulties
    in exercising the right to social security, ‘in particular women, the
    unemployed ... [and]
    children’.[46] The Economic
    and Social Council has stated that benefits for families are crucial for
    realising the rights of
    children.[47]


  11. It is clear that the right to social security is interrelated and
    interdependent with other economic, social and cultural rights. In particular,
    family unemployment has significant impacts on the achievement of the right to
    an adequate standard of living, including the right to food and the right to
    housing, the right to work, and the right to protection of the family.


  12. Part B of this submission argues that the Australian Government should make
    specific provisions to address the difficulties faced by families with dependent
    children. This includes adequate and appropriate allowances and intensive
    support initiatives to assist parents to re-enter the workforce; especially
    re-training and up-skilling, and carer support.

9 Focused intervention
for families with dual unemployment

  1. The Commission has particular concern regarding the inadequacy of the
    Newstart Allowance for families where both parents are unemployed and reliant on
    government benefits. Many of these individuals are also long-term unemployed. In
    2010, 52% of all unemployed families had been unemployed for three years or
    more. Once families are unemployed for one year, about half of them remain
    unemployed over the next two
    years.[48]


  2. Long-term, dual unemployment of family breadwinners puts at risk the futures
    of the children affected and heightens their vulnerability to compounding and
    intersecting forms of long-term disadvantage. Many of these children will
    experience long periods of financial deprivation, as well as long periods
    without a direct role model in employment. For many of these children, their
    education will suffer and impact on their future employment prospects. An
    intergenerational dynamic is thus created where the educationally disadvantaged
    children of the currently unemployed will themselves be disadvantaged on
    entering the labour force.[49]


  3. The Commission acknowledges the additional support available for the
    long-term unemployed, including the Connections Interviews initiative and job
    seeker workshops. However, it is clear that more intensive assistance is needed
    which addresses the particular difficulties faced by families experiencing dual
    unemployment.


  4. Recommendation 6: A program similar to the Mature Age
    Participation – Jobseeker Assistance     program should be made available
    for families where both parents are unemployed. This should provide voluntary
    opportunities to participate in intensive support to find a job, including
    job-specific training and participation in paid work trials.

10 Support for
unemployed single parent heads of families

  1. In Australia, poverty rates among unemployed single parents are ten times
    higher than for lone parents in paid
    work.[50] This indicates that the
    risks of poverty are much higher in single parent families headed by an
    unemployed parent.


  2. It is also the case that single parent headed families make up a large
    proportion of the long term unemployed. In 2007, 20% of lone mother families
    were unemployed for five years, and close to 30% of children in lone mother
    households experienced family unemployment during all five
    years.[51]


  3. Compared to employed single parent families, unemployed single parent
    families are much more likely to be headed by a parent under the age of 30, have
    no post school qualifications and/or have Year 10 or below as their highest
    level of school education.


  4. Recommendation 7: A program similar to the Mature Age
    Participation – Job Seeker Assistance     program should be made available
    for families where the parent with primary custody of children is unemployed.
    This should provide voluntary opportunities to participate in intensive support
    to find a job, including job-specific training and participation in paid work
    trials. This should also include family support and flexibility for those with
    sole carer responsibilities.

11 Additional support
for unemployed families where adults are recipients of financial
benefits

  1. Statistics show that families with children face difficulties accessing
    child care services where either or both parents are unemployed. This has
    obvious impacts on the capacity of parents with caring responsibilities to
    obtain regular and consistent employment.


  2. According to the Henry review, ‘assistance with child care costs
    recognises that child care is a cost of employment and thereby reduces the
    disincentives to participate that are created by the tax and transfer system.
    Access to quality child care also plays a role in early childhood development,
    particularly of children from families experiencing, or at risk of, social
    exclusion.’[52]


  3. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australia has an
    obligation to provide appropriate assistance to parents in the performance of
    their child-rearing
    responsibilities.[53]


  4. Recommendation 8: Newstart Allowance recipients with dependent
    children undertaking approved training and education should have access to
    fully-funded child care services for the duration of their course. This is
    particularly relevant for sole parent families, acknowledging that these parents
    are solely responsible for the care of their children.

[1] International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966, art 6(1)(2) and art 9.

[2] Human Rights Law Centre, National Human Rights Action Plan, 2011. At http://www.humanrightsactionplan.org.au/nhrap/focus-area/older-people (viewed 7 August 2012).

[3] United Nations Principles for Older Persons. Adopted by General Assembly
resolution 46/91 of 16 December 1991, arts 2-4.

[4] Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 6105.0 – Australian Labour Market Statistics, Oct 2004 (October 2004). At http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/6105.0Feature%20Article11Oct%202004?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6105.0&issue=Oct%202004&num=&view=
(viewed 3 August 2012).

[5] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Older People and the Labour
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