JourneyOnline
UnitingCare Australia National Director and ACOSS President, Lin Hatfield Dodds said she was pleased with the overall direction of the Federal Budget.
“This Budget is a down payment on social inclusion,” she said.
“We are pleased that low income and disadvantaged people were spared from most of the Budget cuts
“We welcome the changes made to the Job Network to provide more support for highly disadvantaged jobseekers including a greater emphasis on training and more flexibility and the decreased compliance regime.
“It has been good to see that the eight weeks lost of payment penalty is a last resort and we believe that having participation requirements developed in consultation is a good move. These changes are an important step in the right direction and we have fought hard for them in the community sector.
“We will need to monitor the effects of the overall reduction in spending, however. The benchmark will be assessing whether the overall package actually targets disadvantaged job seekers and increases their workforce participation and social inclusion.
However, she it was disappointing to see the Government delivered the tax cuts and that it appeared to make no provision for capacity building in the community sector to address the very serious workforce and funding issues it faced.
Photo : UnitingCare Australia National Director Lin Hatfield Dodds
