Obviously over the last six months, there have been an unprecedented number of
Australians needing welfare assistance from the Government thanks to the lock downs and
so on. Unfortunately, Australia’s welfare system has been described as “punitive”,
“cruel”, and “damaging”. To rub salt in the wound, the Minister for Families and Social Services Anne
Ruston revealed last week in a Senate Estimates hearing that the Government does
not use a definition of poverty. She said, “The Government doesn't have a measure of poverty,
which has been the practice of successive governments, because our payments system
is very comprehensive and specifically targeted towards providing the policy outcomes that are
defined by the particular support measures blah blah blah”. Basically that’s code for,
“If the Australian Government don’t measure poverty, then perhaps it doesn’t exist?”,
or more strongly, “Australia doesn’t have a poverty problem because the Australian Government
say so”. Of course, critics have jumped on this and said that “Australia's welfare strategy has
become more about deterring recipients and feeding bureaucracy than providing support.”
Here’s an actual letter from Centrelink, Australia’s welfare provider, dated 3 November
2020 with key information redacted to protect the identity of the individual. It states,
“Dear so-and-so, We are making the way you report your employment income
easier”. Now, keep that statement in mind when we’re reading through this.
The goal of this is to make it EASIER for the welfare recipient. It states,
“Currently, you report the amount of gross (pre-tax) income you and/or your partner
get paid or expect to be paid for the hours you have worked in your reporting period.
From 7 December 2020, this will change. You will need to report the amount of gross (pre-tax)
income you and/or your partner were paid in your reporting period. You can find this information on
your payslip or from your employer. You will still need to do this on your normal reporting day.
The gross (pre-tax) amount is what you get paid before anything is taken out.
There are no changes to how you report your hours. Keep telling us how many hours you worked in your
reporting period. How to report your income for the one reporting period that includes 7
December 2020. For this changeover, you need to report differently for the one reporting period
that includes 7 December 2020, blah blah blah. You can also work it out by: 1. adding up any
gross amounts of income you and/or your partner are paid in the reporting period that includes
7 December 2020. 2. then take off any gross (pre-tax) amounts of income you already told us on
26 November 2020. 3. this will give you the amount to report to us for this one time. Example:
My previous reporting period was on Tuesday, 1 December, where I reported income I earned,
and expected to earn, in that reporting period. This included days I had not yet been paid, which
was $100 for 1 day’s work. I work casually and get paid fortnightly, my next pay is on Thursday, 10
December. My next reporting day is Tuesday, 15 December. The full gross amount I was paid
on Thursday, 10 December, was $250. My pay included $100 that I had already reported
in the last fortnight. I will need to deduct this amount. $250 less $100 = $150. On Tuesday,
15 December I report $150, along with the hours I worked for that reporting period.
It is ok that my pay and hours I report do not match, so I do not need to worry.”
Does anybody else know what the f**k they’re talking about?
How to report your income after the changeover period. After the one off changeover report,
you will only need to report the amount of income that you and/or your partner are paid
(gross) in your reporting period. Example: My next work pay day is Thursday, 24 December and
I will report on Tuesday, 29 December. I will report the gross amount that my employer paid.
I was paid $400 gross on Thursday, 24 December. On Tuesday, 29 December I will report $400
along with my hours that I worked in that reporting period. It is ok that my pay and hours I
report do not match. More information blah blah blah. Yours sincerely, Manager Chermside.
Thank you Manager Chermside. You’ve really made that perfectly clear.
Remembering that the ostensible goal of all of this is to make things EASIER for recipients.
What I’ve learnt from reading this letter is that the Australian welfare system, is bulls**t!