Hallelujah bum again
Hallelujah give us a hand out to revive us again……..
This song from the Great Depression days is guaranteed to send an economic rationalist into a dither. Welfare, we'll all be 'ruuined' from all this welfare. Really?
Hallelujah! I'm a bum and I have experienced unemployment and the effects of it at various stages of my life. I have been unemployed and have lived in communities decimated by unemployment.
During the early eighties if you were out of work there existed various government initiatives to assist the unemployed maintain themselves through their period of unemployment. The Community Youth Support Scheme provided a meeting place, camaraderie between people stuck in the same barb wired canoe, resources to put together a resume and expertise to assist in looking for work and part-time work. Government provided work support schemes, where work experience and training were gained. During this period it was the Community Employment Program. Many people were able to move into full time work from these experiences. I was one of those people and my working life has in fact been built upon the early experiences gained through these programs.
During the nineties, as a community development worker, the employment and training programs offered by government were an important avenue for the funding to train and employ youth in community development. These initiatives were directed by the wuut manth thayan (seniour custodians) of the Wik nations in areas of concern to the community rather than in a top down approach by government. They were successful and provided important community resources.
These events occurred and were not theoretical in nature. Strange that the rhetoric from government, OECD and right-wing think tanks such as Institute of Public Affairs is that work programs were a waste of time and public money. They lie for reasons of their own. The market is the best mechanism to determine the availability of work. The invisible hand of the market is to my mind a case of witches at black masses. The dogma preached by neoliberals is born of their narrow perception and a world view based upon economic rationalism. Work programs offer people experience, networking, training, self-esteem, comradre and a living wage. They also prevent a downward spiral into anti social behaviour or self-abuse that some people experience from long term unemployment. Also importantly from a regional perspective these programs offer regional development initiatives and economic activity in regional areas.
The dole is designed for short periods of unemployment, some three months. Payments are not designed to purchase recurrent expenditure such as clothing or cover expenses such as vehicle registration. Currently government initiatives are of a 'poor bugga' nature. Government will purchase work cloths and boots and you can work for the dole. A return to the days of the coupon - the unemployed can't be trusted to purchase their own gear for work through the provision of money in their dole cheque. Paternalism is now the norm of government and citizenship rights are a thing of the past.
One of the ways that we show respect is to take the interests of others seriously. Currently the unemployed and other disadvantaged groups are treated with contempt. An aggressive culture has been developed around policy and patronage of the less well off in society. These people are viewed often through a social Darwinism perspective where they are seen as the undeserving poor rather than victims of social and technological change. Their interests are dismissed and they are looked down upon as lesser people.
Government was responsible for employment from 1945 to 1975, this being accepted by both the government and community. Since this period we have embarked on the economic rationalist perspective to work. Those out of work are the problem and bugger them. It's their fault and we'll all be 'ruuined'.
Australian society requires a renewed sense of the political, social and cultural consequences of the actions and rhetoric of government. It is time to call government and their departments to account for their action, inaction, misinformation and rhetorical abuse of the disadvantaged. The author Alan Marshall (author of I can jump puddles) characters stated that 'When you're out of work it certainly makes you stop and think.' Perhaps it is time to see politicians and their advisers out of work and economists from IPA unemployed. Such an outcome will provide them the time necessary to reflect upon the relationship of unemployment, government initiatives and the individual.
It is time to end the political decay in the Australian psyche. The disadvantaged have citizenship rights and initiatives to assist people during periods of hardship is a role of government. Conservation, land and natural resources management are key areas where employment and training initiatives produce beneficial outcomes for society, the environment and the disadvantaged. As environmentalists we must make the connection between environmental management and human rights. They are interconnected and interdependent. Who knows who will require assistance through periods of hardship. It can be any one of us.
-Gary