Towards the end of , most states began rolling out "work-for-sustenance" programs where workers were paid far below basic wage rates for participating in special "make-work" projects, like laying sewerage pipes and building roads.
And miscellaneous assistance was provided by state governments through the decade, like free retraining for young teenagers. In , when the scourge of poverty had become so entrenched that an "abolish poverty" campaign had begun, the level of assistance provided for an unemployed man to support just one child was openly mocked.
Thin, listless and rickety, they quickly fall behind in games and study. The official assistance was too paltry to prevent shanty towns and unemployment camps mushrooming around the country, such as the famous "Happy Valley" in Sydney's south, where hundreds of shacks and tents were erected in the sand dunes of La Perouse in Botany Bay. Fifty years later, in , a Reserve Bank research discussion paper noted how Australia's welfare architecture had been woefully unsuitable during the Great Depression, and lessons had been learned from the experience.
Fast forward to , and we're quickly learning lessons about our own welfare architecture. At this point in the coronavirus media cycle, the Morrison Government is still planning to rely on Centrelink to provide the survival net for the hundreds of thousands potentially millions of Australians who are losing their jobs as parts of the economy are shut down to prevent the coronavirus spreading.
On Monday, after pubs and clubs, indoor entertainment venues, sporting facilities and places of worship were ordered closed , we saw how Centrelink's systems — our modern method of relieving unemployment — were overwhelmed by the rapid rise in unemployment. Government ministers couldn't believe what they were seeing as the MyGov website crashed and unemployment queues formed literally overnight. Stuart Robert, the Government Services Minister, said he failed to appreciate the scale of demand that would be placed on Centrelink by the decision to force hundreds of thousands of businesses to close this week.
But the flow-on effects from the decision to rely on Centrelink to provide the sustenance program for Australia's workers have compounded quickly. By Friday, with the economy still haemorrhaging jobs, the Government said it was considering a suite of radical measures to put affected businesses into "hibernation" somehow, so employers could see through the next six months and then re-open their businesses without much damage or debt and carry on trading.
And when recipients wake from six months on that less-than-minimum wage they won't have a job to return to. So, who will provide the custom to the businesses that survive hibernation and try to reopen and keep trading later in the year? The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Labor and the unions, the Greens and a range of economists have been asking the Government to consider a "wage subsidy" scheme to keep workers employed. When you save your survey cookies choice below, a cookie will be saved on your device to remember your choice.
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Next: Normal place of work. Published: 02 July Please rate how useful this page was to you Print this page.
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