The St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia will continue its push for a major overhaul of the support payment system during Anti-Poverty Week 2011, the organisation said in a statement.
Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Falzon, says if the Government really wants to address poverty it can start by doing three things:
- Raise the Newstart Allowance by a minimum of $50 a week
- Impose a moratorium on compulsory Income Management policies
- Reassess its attitude to people living on the edges of our society.
"The St Vincent de Paul Society has long highlighted the inadequacy of the Newstart Allowance, which forces people to live on just $35 a day and condemns them to a life of poverty," Dr Falzon said.
The Society is also calling on the Government to abandon hard line welfare policies such as compulsory Income Management (IM) that constitutes a direct attack on people's dignity and self-determination.
"We strongly oppose the way IM was rolled out in the Northern Territory and hold grave concerns about the Government's plans to expand the system to other states," Dr Falzon said.
To kick start its Anti-Poverty Week 2011 campaign, the St Vincent de Paul Society has officially launched a blog blog.vinnies.org.au which is designed to engage the public on the issue of poverty.
FULL STORY
Australia has work to do - Anti-Poverty Week 2011 (Media Release)
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