As a single parent, Jobseeker is brutal. Government should come up with a better 'Placesaver' to help me into my next job

Advocacy, Lived experiencePower to Persuade24 April 2024welfare conditionality, welfare reform

To whom it "should" concern: unsuccessfully applying for the Disability Support Pension in Australia

Policy and governance, AdvocacyPower to Persuade27 February 2024Disability, welfare reform

Just stay positive

Antipoverty CentrePower to Persuade17 October 2023welfare-to-work, welfare conditionality, welfare reform

Understanding the Feelings of Poverty: Shame, Anger, and Hope

Being poor isn't just about lacking material resources; it's also an emotional experience involving shame, anger and hope, explain Rose-Marie Stambe and Cameron Parsell from the UQ School of Social Science.

IssuesPower to Persuade29 September 2023Poverty, welfare conditionality, welfare reform

Alone Australian or collaboration for the nation we want?

Dr Millie Rooney, co-director of Australia Remade and long-time contributor here at Power to Persuade, has had some great ideas for new reality TV shows, following the success of ‘Alone Australia’. The question is - do we have contestants going it alone to survive, or a team effort to re-imagine a way for everyone to thrive?

Governments of Australia, consider this your debt notice

Today’s post from the Australian Unemployed Worker’s Union discusses the report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt scheme released on 7 July 2023. AUWU describes the Royal Commission as “the most significant and damning investigation into our welfare system in decades” and pledges to “stand with victims and fight to extract justice for the mass abuse and denigration inflicted on the poor.”

The society keeps the score: (Re)framing trauma as a political experience

In today’s blog, Suralini Fernando from Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodShepANZ) explores the link between social security policy and childhood trauma and attachment. Suralini is a social inclusion advocate and yoga facilitator of South Asian heritage, who has an abiding interest in the connections between embodiment, relational safety and belonging.

If it walks and talks like credit: behind the regulation of Buy Now Pay Later

In today’s post, Emma O’Neill of Good Shepherd (@GoodShepANZ) explores the potential impacts of the Government’s proposed regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later Products. Emma is a Senior Policy & Advocacy Advisor with a particular interest in women’s economic security, gender and climate change, and the impacts of marketisation on social equity.

First Nation Perspectives on a Universal Basic Income

As the inquiry into Robodebt reveals the depth of Australia’s shame over its treatment of welfare recipients, Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng, Wakka Wakka Wulli Wulli woman, academic, unionist, former public servant and proud grandmother, answers the question: ‘What opportunities and challenges does a universal basic income (UBI) present for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities?

Summer reading from Power to Persuade / the Women’s Policy Action Tank

2022 saw a lot of movement in the policy space, including a change in the Federal government and the largest number of independent candidates elected to office. There are many policy-related issues that are currently in flux, as indicated by royal commissions, law suits, the question of Indigenous Voice to Parliament, responses to climate change, continued management of COVID-19 and the economic reset that it caused, inflation, reforming the safety net, and fundamental questions about how government governs and is held accountable.

"It feels like I'm being held hostage by what is supposed to be a support net"

In today’s post, CR Byrne draws on her experience to explore how Australia’s welfare system creates barriers to support for people with chronic illness and disability. CR Byrne is an activist and photographer.

Why we need to shame-proof social security

Policy and governancePower to Persuade15 December 2022Disability, welfare reform, welfare conditionality

Stretching ourselves beyond reason to deliver government savings: a response to the Albanese’s first budget – part 3

In the wake of the budget, the Antipoverty Centre asked people on Centrelink payments – the real social policy experts – for their reactions. A contributor shared how he and other carers performing unpaid labour save the government money, and another describes the devastating impact of the failure to raise the JobSeeker rate on welfare recipients.

Welfare recipients feeling our government would prefer us dead: a response to the Albanese’s first budget – part 2

In the wake of the budget, the Antipoverty Centre asked people on Centrelink payments – the real social policy experts – for their reactions. One said “This budget is democide. This is social murder. They cannot claim ignorance of the deaths that keeping the welfare rate below the poverty line will cause. A number of them have even said during parliament that the rate is far too low to survive on, but when it comes time to change it they chose not to.

From welfare recipients to Labor without love: a response to the Albanese government’s first budget - part 1

After the 2022 Federal Government budget, The Antipoverty Centre asked people on Centrelink payments – the real social policy experts – for their reactions. One example: “This budget is an exercise in austerity & cruelty for the poorest, most vulnerable Australians, but for the wealthiest Australians it's an exercise in government handouts.’

Break the Poverty Machine: the voices of Australia’s poor (part 2)

Aeryn Brown is a JobSeeker recipient from Tasmania. They authored the below open letter to social security minister Amanda Rishworth as part of the Break the Poverty Machine week of action, which will be held to mark the International Day to Eradicate Poverty on 17 October – one week ahead of the federal budget. People on low incomes and supporters can get more information and register to participate in the #BTPM protest (either online or in person in Adelaide) here: btpm2022.eventbrite.com.au

Reducing poverty and improving wellbeing: Children’s role in transformational thinking

Children and young people continue to be sidelined in policy making, even as calls grow for their views and experience to be included. Sharon Bessel, director of the Children’s Policy Centre, and of the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at the ANU, takes us through how children should be central to the move to a wellbeing budget and addressing poverty.

The barriers just keep coming: Poor diagnosis and support for victim-survivors of family violence with brain injuries

Victim-survivors of family violence often sustain undiagnosed brain injuries which have a profound impact on psycho-social health and overall cognitive function. In today’s analysis, Phoebe Nagorcka-Smith of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) details how acquired brain injuries (ABIs) too often go undiagnosed, and even when they are diagnosed accessing required support remains out of reach for many women.

Reimagining welfare to mitigate violence against women

Family violence has been on the government agenda for several years now, but one issue that is seldom raised is the role of financial insecurity as a driver of violence. In today’s analysis, Phoebe Nagorca-Smith of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) explains how the gendered experience of the welfare system increases women’s risk of violence.

Evidence for welfare reform: Generosity may have unforeseen benefits for women and children

The newly-elected Labor government announced during the campaign that they would not be looking at welfare reform in the near term. In today’s analysis, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy), Elise Klein (@EliseJKlein) of ANU, Policy Whisperer Kay Cook (@KayCookPhD) of Swinburne University, and Kelly Bowey of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (@CFECFW) share a summary of their research that indicates raising the rate and removing compliance requirements would support women to increase their productivity, both in their paid and unpaid work. This article is drawn from a paper entitled Gendered impacts of changing social security payments during COVID-19 lockdowns: An exploratory study.

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