Welfare Australian-style

The Australian Centre for Independent Studies has expanded its operations to encompass New Zealand. Muriel Newman's website features an article from them about Australia's latest welfare reforms and what NZ can learn.

The reforms are tame.

But maybe if CIS continues to publicise their welfare reform efforts our national fervour for beating the Aussies may be usefully provoked. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The government’s preferred answer (to single parent dependency) was to require new Parenting Payment claimants to work part-time once their youngest child turned six years of age (as with the DSP changes, the new rules would not apply retrospectively to existing claimants). However, this proposal met with predictable uproar with single parent groups, welfare groups and opposition parties all howling about the unfairness of expecting single parents to work part-time while their children are in school.

Just how unfair is it to expect single parents to work when their children are at school?

NZ and Australia have the lowest employment rates for single mothers, respectively 32 and 30 percent. The employment rates for married mothers are 53 and 48. When did you last hear welfare groups and opposition parties "howling" about the unfairness of married mothers working?

By the way, because of the protests the age of the youngest dependent child was revised to eight. And still no mention of time-limits. If the mother doesn't want to work for a living and the youngest is approaching eight, she'll know what to do.