Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to continue relating stories about the hardships that people are suffering under the Welfare to Work reforms. In this particular instance I will tell more stories about the JET program. During the break between the last sitting period and this one, I helped to host a forum at Murdoch University on the issues affecting single mothers and the JET program. A number of mothers told their stories about the difficulties they are having combining their study and looking after their children. I will note that immediately after this forum we heard that the government had slightly relaxed the rules around JET. Before this, the rules were that not only could you only have funding for 12 months, but they would only fund you to participate in a course of study that was less than 12 months. They have changed that slightly so that you can now study a course that is longer than 12 months, but you still only get funding for 12 months. In other words: if you are doing a university course that is three or four years in length, which most university courses are, it means you can still only do one year of that course with the JET funding.

I have a number of stories to tell of the mothers who presented at the forum. This is the first one:

I am one of the mothers Peter Costello wanted for Australia. He said have one child for Daddy, one for Mummy and one for the country. I have done just that, I have given birth to three children.

I admire Dr Fiona Woods, she has contributed so much to this country and has six children. I would like to contribute to some degree. I just want a chance to contribute my potential to my country and I believe I can contribute substantially. I believe I can give the country more than just another two hands. So I have chosen to have a good, world class university education as a keystone to this contribution.

This year I commenced furthering my education at Murdoch University.

The Government asked me to contribute by mothering three Australian citizens and I have done that. What has my Government done for me? They have removed my access to JET “quietly”. JET is now only available for short courses less than 12 months and does not apply to university education.

I have done my bit as I have been asked and now I am studying to contribute to the cleverer country that Australia must become. So what has the Government done in its wisdom to make Australia a more intelligent place? They are forcing mothers to accept a non-university education qualifying them to work as second class citizens. Mothers are being forced to work as unskilled workers and semi skilled workers. So what Peter really meant is ‘woman, become a mother and that is all you will be.’

In other words what this Government has said is ‘give us your womb and we will give you second class citizenship.’

It is very difficult for a mother of three to get a tertiary education. Mature age students have to pass a STAT entrance test to gain tertiary education entry. Then there are at least 3 years of full time study load to get a basic degree.

Personally I do not have the money for child care so my potential risks being overlooked and any contribution I have to offer may eventually be imported in the form of yet more migrant workers. Last semester it cost me $5000 of my savings in child care and I don’t know where I will find the money for this semester.

It seems I have made a mistake having children first. I feel I am being punished for listening to my government and having three children. Fertility decreases rapidly with age, the mind and the will to succeed do not. It seems our current leaders are more concerned with getting elected with ill-conceived policies that are devoid of foresight.

If this country talks about equality, removing the opportunity for mothers to be educated, that is not equality. So Peter pay your bill. You asked for children for this country, now pay up.

Another mother said:

I am a single parent and I have a daughter who has just turned three. I am currently studying for a BA in Education specialising in Special Needs.

I was disappointed when I called Centrelink halfway through last year to find out that the JET payments that were once available to any single parent studying had in fact been restricted to those studying a course of 12 months duration or less.

I felt like I had been penalised for pursuing a course of study that would enable me to have a decent career. My long term commitment is to get off Parenting Payments altogether and support myself and my daughter, but what incentive does the Government offer to help me achieve my goal to be independent of financial support? Not a lot.

It seems obvious that the Government is more interested in short term solutions to unemployment and positive statistics rather than supporting those who choose to enter professions requiring higher levels of skills and qualifications.

The way I see it is by offering JET payments only to those who are studying short term courses, there is a higher turnover to those completing their courses and they enter the workforce at a much higher rate. This way the Federal Government can consistently show positive statistics in relation to the funds (ie JET) that it is pumping into unemployment and can say that it is doing its job.

The decision to restrict the JET payments is grossly short sighted and will only perpetuate the unemployment dilemma in the long term. 12 month courses and certificate 3 or 4 courses only enable people to enter jobs at a base level and don’t really give them opportunities for advancement at higher levels within that field of work, if a pre-requisite for advancement is a higher level of qualification.

The Government should also be supporting those who want to enter into occupations which require a degree.

JET payments should be available for all single parents who are studying. Why should I be discriminated against because its going to take a little longer to reach the workforce?

This is hypocrisy at its best, at a time when fields such as teaching are suffering from a shortage of qualified personnel, surely a balanced long term view would be to encourage, by any means available, those who choose to enter the profession.

To this end, JET payments would go a long way to encouraging single parents to enter the professions so desperately in need of qualified practitioners, by giving them much needed financial assistance to ensure they can afford the high cost of professional care for their children, thus enabling them to complete their course of study.

Even after receiving the 100% child care rebate, my daughters Day Care fees use up to 40% of my parenting pension. To make matters worse is the fact I can’t earn more than $70.00 a week without my parenting payments being significantly reduced ... effectively I can’t even earn more money to alleviate the child care costs while I am studying. My rent uses up 50%, leaving me with the remaining 10% to buy food and petrol which simply is not enough. I use my daughter’s child support money to pay bills and insurances. I am constantly receiving dishonour fees from my bank because my account never has enough money in it. It is such a frustrating experience, I cannot stress this enough.

I would like to reiterate, that if the Federal Government were truly committed to assisting single parents to enter the workforce, the level of qualification required, be it Certificate 4 or a degree should not be an issue. The JET payment for courses longer than 12 months in duration should never have been revoked.

This is from another mother:

I received a letter from Centrelink advising me that as I was studying a course for longer than 12 months I was no longer eligible for the ... Jobs, Education & Training Child Care Fee Assistance.

I appealed twice to Centrelink (and failed) and was told to go to the Ombudsman as a last resort and then quietly told that it was most likely that there would be no chance of my case ... being reinstated.

As a result of the cut of the JETCCFA, to courses longer than 12 months I lost 5 hours of University lecture and tutorial time per week, I had to pull out of a car pool as these hours reduced and this increased my cost by $20 per week. When my safety net/bills/emergency/medical are paid, the amount left on my budget is $40 (week)—this hurt.

So here I am 12 months later, still writing unanswered emails and letters to Ministers of Parliament, Senate, radio stations, newspapers and whichever address I can find that might remedy my situation.

I still need to cut class so I can drop and pick my 6 year old son up from school. I have moved to the metropolitan area away from my family and friends in Mandurah, which means any free babysitting help has also gone.

Thinking about next year terrifies me. In the last year of my degree I have approximately 15 weeks where I must leave home at 7.45am and not be home until about 4.45pm, this is in order to meet the professional standards of my teaching practicum. I have no one to ask to look after my son for this period of time.

These are yet further examples of how this ridiculous restriction on JET is hurting single parents, 85 per cent of whom are single mothers. If we are serious about supporting people out of welfare and into jobs, the government would now immediately reconsider this ridiculous restriction on JET. Single mothers need childcare assistance to help them study for their courses, to get a job and to move off welfare. (Time expired)