My 19 year old step daughter, who had a pretty troubled period in her mid teens, but has now settled down to life as a single mother on welfare (trust me, it could have been ALOT worse there for a while) has enough money to rent a new apartment in a beachside suburb, buy all new stuff for her baby born in December, go to the gym 4 days a week, pay day care while she is at the gym, and borrow money for a car. She comes from a couple of generations of welfare dependent people (no wonder my husband's marriage to her mother didn't work out – he likes to work for a living). She can afford to buy new clothes, new furniture and appliances. I remember when my husband and I first started out, I shopped in Vinnies for our clothes, picked up furniture off the side of the road, didn't have enough money to buy cheese, went to a fruit and veg wholesaler and picked through the rotten stuff to get fruit and veg (and I grew some). We had some really tough times. And this was only the mid to late 90's, not the 60's or anything. And we were working for a living. What has happened? No wonder these kids don't want to go to work. Why the h*ll should they when they have such a high standard of living on welfare. Just wanted to have a whinge.
Hi Shales,
I come from this generation and i just wanted to say that not all of us are the same. Im just about to turn 19, have saved over 30k with my partner in one year and i own all of my furniture, car etc. I moved out of home from the age of 16 to be closer to school, worked part time while doing my hsc and came out at the end with uai in the 90's. I have never turned to welfare, although its quite tempting. It gets on my nerve hearing about all these bludges. We apparently have one of the best systems in the world compared to countries like america who have to find a job within 8 weeks( i think).
Why is our generation so lazy? Can we blame the previous geneneration? Is it that money is so easy to get these days. Perhaps thats why the world is in such a state. I was brought up to believe that if you dont have the money to buy something then go without.
I hope i didnt go off the subject to much..Well, well done Lizzie. It is nice to see someone your age doing all the right things. You were obviously brought up with some good financial principlies. If you want to blame someone, blame the government for making welfare so lucrative. We do need a welfare system, as some people genuinely need help, despite their best efforts. But the idea that someone who has never worked in their life can have such a lifestyle on welfare is ridiculous.
SSHales,
I have a daughter unmarried with a child and I can relate to your frustration.
She does go to work and can save money etc but only because she lives with us and we help a lot. She is saving for a house but does get lots of help from the government. I wish we had so much money etc when we started out.The problem is there is no real answer.
1. If the government didn't help them. You would get a whole lot of poor people with poor kids and thus create social problems for them and the rest of society.
2. When the government gives them too much. They don't need to work , get everything for free, creating a state of wealthfare dependent people.How do we get it just right – every person is different and everyone has different background, different ideas and dreams, different financial knowledge.
I think the answer is in the too hard basket. People who have worked hard all their lives see it as too generous, people on wealthfare see it as not enough. We all get to vote and each person only gets one vote, what a pity. …
This baby bonus and welfare is doing just that. Look at all these low income earners having children to receive this grant. The government is breeding a generation of bludgers. After all that's the only way these children are going to know…turn to the government when its time to get a job.
It is very frustrating. I think that the government does give them too much money. My stepdaughter asked if there was any way we could help her to buy this car she wants. I said we were a bit strapped for cash. Working people like us already fund her lifestyle 100%. What makes these people think we are willing to give them money, on top of the taxes we already pay, to buy more stuff when they can't even be bothered to try to work, and we have worked hard for the last 18 years to build what we have from scratch, with no handouts (not even FHOG, though I think we got a reduction in stamp duty). Two months ago she had a baby and got a $5000 baby bonus. Why didn't she then buy a car? Now she wants us to "help her out". No way. And there was even a bit of emotional blackmail about how if we didn't, she'd go to a dodgy finance company that lends to welfare recipients at 40% interest. Too bad. She can go her hardest.
I was very polite and said that we were a little strapped for cash at the moment and that all I could help her with was some advice and a plan about how to save a deposit (she doesn't even have a deposit), and apply for a small loan through a more reputable finance provider that won't charge her 40%. No, can't save. Can't wait. Been offered a car for $3000, but if she's going to borrow money she'll buy the nice $7K one in the car yard…. Arghhh. And we, the tax payer will pay every cent while she drives the car the tax payer bought her, to the gym the tax payer funds, and drops her daughter off at daycare for the morning (all paid by us idiots) 4 TIMES A WEEK, and then goes shopping in Supre (probably) and Target, Meanwhile smoking like a chimney… and hanging around with a group of friends who live on the same planet as her, and they are all happy as bleeding larry, with their comfy lives.
I wish I could show her a good reason to work, but I'm stuffed if I know. With life this good, and the only option for a job for her being something very very basic, bottom rung on the ladder sort of stuff, how would it improve her life? This is how she was brought up, she is emulating the parents she lived with exactly. Even down to throwing the alcholic partner out until he gets some help (I guess that's good). She doesn't know anything else. She does know that we have money, and thinks nothing of asking us for a hand out… But I think we're just going to say 'no'. Unless she got a job and saved up some money, then maybe I'd be ok about contributing. Sorry very frustrated. It's not all her fault. She's just a normal human being, working the system she has been brought up in.
Ive seen extremely good condition EB Fairmonts with only 200k on the clock sell for $200
! Luxury cars !, They look a million dollars and have power windows, keyless entry, climate control !
Cars in as good condition as this one http://i3.ebayimg.com/05/i/001/25/30/8eac_1.JPG?set_id=800005007
I know the exact story, Because it was my ex GF, The battery went flat so she didnt want the car anymore and sold it for $200, She then went out and bought a new car on finance for 20k
What is everyones problem ? Why are people so stupid ?
Sad, very sad.
But, we've"made our own nest voting these idiots in that are happy to provide all the handouts. It's no different in NZ, just slightly racially skewed, but no different.
How sad, the children being born to these people really have absolutely NO chance.
Vicky
Don't worry, there is a fair difference in handouts to indigenous people here too. I didn't vote the idiots in. Trouble is too many idiots have the right to vote.
I don't know where you get off thinking your step daughter has an easy life. There she is, saddled with the raising of a child single-handedly before she has even had a chance to put her toe into the workforce. She should be working, hanging with girlfriends and boyfriends and clubbing and having a fun and discovering herself, Instead she's had to grow up and take responsibility for another human being.
People seem to think welfare payments provide a luxury lifestyle. Well you should try it for a while. Let me tell you than any gov't handout is a subsistance. I was one of those single mums raising 4 kids and living on welfare. '4 kids' you say… I must've been rolling in it eh? HUH!When my husb died leaving me with 4 boys under 8 and a mortgage I was grateful for welfare payments but I soon realised that it didn't stretch to luxuries like birthday parties, movies, new clothes, fast food or any other treats that other kids took for granted. I'm not suggesting that welfare SHOULD be more than subsistance but we need to look after these people because you never know when it might just be you down at the welfare office.
I know you talk about the sacrifices you made early in your marriage but you had a goal. You worked together, doing it tough for your goal of owning and paying off your home.All credit to you but that sort of goal isn't even in the radar for someone like your stepdaughter. She smokes…yes and it is an unfortunate fact that those who can least afford it have this addiction (stress?). Anyway the government now provides parenting payment only up until the child goes to school. I don't believe in childcare 5 days a week, 9 or 10hrs a day. In another age or culture it could be seen as abuse to separate mother from child for that length of time. After the youngest child goes to school the parent then goes on unemployment benefits with all the obligations for finding work that is required.
One other thought though………..Many economists are predicting rising unemployment. So if there is to be high unemployment anyway, why not leave those that are happy living in poverty alone and concentrate on providing jobs for those who find themselves retrenched,family to support,highly in debt, with thoughts of suicide.
Milly,
I'm so very sorry to hear about your husband, and your difficult personal circumstances. Yours is a story that illustrates exactly WHY we DO need welfare.As to why I think my step daughter has an easy life – she tells me herself that she does. She told me that her daughter has so many brand new unworn baby clothes being packed away as she outgrows them. She told me that this is because she just LOVES baby girl clothes and simply "can't help myself". SHE tells me that she puts her daughter in daycare 4 mornings a week so she can go to the gym. SHE told me that she got $5000 cash in one lump sum from the government, and there is nothing of it left. Her home is full of BRAND NEW appliances. I agree she should be working, hanging around with freinds and discovering herself, but SHE rejected working in favour of partying on welfare YEARS ago. The ONLY time she has worked is when we found her a job that she stuck with for a little while, then she took off back to the life she knows only too well. Welfare, parties, sleeping in until 12noon and getting up and having a litre of coke and a smoke for breakfast.
MY HEART BREAKS for her. I am VERY frustrated with the situation. But I know it's not her fault. She is a product of her upbringing (which we were not allowed to participate in until she was 12 and her Mum lost control of her, and by then it was pretty much too late to change her personal ideals). She will NEVER know the satisfaction that comes from having a goal and working hard towards it and achieving it. Her MOTHER has 6 kids and has raised them all on welfare. None of them wear second hand clothes (except hand me downs from each other). Her mother also puts the youngest one in day care and goes to the gym 4 days a week. They live in a lovely chamferboard home, in a provincial QLD city, and they have an almost idyllic lifestyle. Stress? I don't think so. They have nothing to loose. They get everything for free. The smoking comes from her mother, and it is typical of people in this class of society. When my husbands ex wife was hospitalised with a lung disease after smoking for 30 years, I couldn't convice my stepdaughter that it had anything to do with smoking. The mother smoked through all of her pregnancies, and my stepdaughter does the same thing.
I don't know where you live. I don't know much about welfare either, but I believe it is pretty much the same amount of $ wherever you live. This means people on welfare in provincial cities have better cash flow, because their rent is cheaper, and the cost of living in a small town is often less. (depends where you are, but in a fruit and veg growing region, and a small town where you have very little travelling costs, it can be alot less). I can well understand that living on welfare with 4 kids and paying off a mortgage would have been an enormous battle for you. Perhaps you live in a city. Perhaps you were accostomed to a different cash flow before your husband passed away. Can you understand that some people have been brought up with no other goal in life than to live on the dole and pop out kids, live in a renter, with a brand new big plasma tv and brand new clothes and never have a job. Can you understand how FRUSTRATING that can be for someone on the outside, with a different set of priorities. How SAD it is for this girl, that she will probably never own her own home and have that satisfaction. That she will still be wearing teen fashions when she is overweight and in her late 30's. That she will spend thousands and thousands of dollars of tax payer money on smokes. That she will bring up her children to be exactly the same. This is a tragic cycle. Poverty? No. Not unless poverty is living in a brand new beach suburb apartment, with brand new clothes and appliances, a flat screen tv, a computer, microwave, washing machine, and new furniture. Not unless poverty includes being able to afford going to the gym 4 times a week, smoking, using day care facilities, having enough money for food to buy TV dinners or eat out, rather than preparing your own food.
While I respect your own personal struggle, I find your contempt and simplified view of this situation a little insulting. You know nothing of me, my husband or mystepdaughter, and choose, rather than giving me the benefit of the doubt as an intelligent and caring human being, to condemn my views as those of the judgemental and withholding stepmother. You know nothing of the years of heartache and numerous attempts that we have made to help this girl. You know nothing of how shattered her father is about certain aspects of her past. You know nothing of how much I would be prepared to give, to help, if I thought it would help. Get off your soapbox. Not every story is as genuine as yours. There are plenty of people out there just like this girl. Simply, they are products of our society. It is not there fault. The system sucks.
SHales,
Good on you for being so caring, unfortunately, the system is against you.Looking through my weekend papers, I started to feel the urge to cut out adverts that had been placed by the government offering money, grants, welfare, free training…… It was a slightly insane urge. What was I goind to do with all these cuts outs? Cut out individual letters and write a letter to someone? Anyway, there were quite a few of these advertisements. I'm still trying to work out how my business can qualify for the $5K – $15K grant for improving work flexibility for our employees (me and my husband). Perhaps it could go towards a housekeeper a couple of days a week so I can get more work done?
F*cking ridiculous.
Hi, SHales
If you ever watch the show Idiocracy (an Amercian show produced in 2007), it will scare you even more.
I highly recommend you watch it.
Regards
Daniel LeeSorry Danielle,
too busy drafting my application for a $100000 prize from the QLD govt for improving the WH&S of our small business.
I'll watch out for that one. Hardly need any more fuel on this fire, personally, though.
cheers
SShales
Where is the the father of your stepdaughters child in all this???He was there for the birth, and for a month or so afterwards. They had a 2 year relationship. She kicked him out because he has some issues with alcohol and she decided she doesn't want him until he has had them resolved. She hopes that he'll get the help that he needs and then they can reunite. Sounds pretty grown up of her.
He was a first class loser, though, by the sound of things. He didn't work either. Just rode around on his motorbike and got injured every couple of weeks and consequently couldn't hold a job. When my stepdaughter came home from hospital with their first baby, he coudn't even help out by cooking tea. They ate toast for about 3 weeks because she was too exhuasted (the baby didn't sleep much at all for several weeks) and he was too busy being drunk and unemployed to help by throwing together a nutritous meal for his breastfeeding partner caring for a very demanding newborn.
I understand Shales' frustration. 10 yrs ago with 2 primary aged boys, my divorced friend on pension with 3 boys (and a financially responsible ex) had money to shop in Myer when I struggled to buy a coffee and muffin on hubby's not great wage and my part time one.
Different stage of life, different frustration.
22yo son just started Uni, been living out of home for 4 yrs. Can get $249pw from Govt, but if he earns more than $120pw, he starts to lose $$. Rent $250pw(Cheapest available), fuel, books, internet, oh, and he still has to eat.
Similarly, 20yo son started apprenticeship recently, living at home. Struggling to pay off ute on $350pw, but happy to do what he wants. Fair enough, he works most Saturdays to pay his bills and allow a bit over.
Thankfully, we are able to help them out. What about the ones who can't afford a new pair of work boots, for TAFE?My Mum was 64, not as strong as she had been, but couldn't afford to go to part time work as she'd only ever get her super as a part-timer. (Despite full time work for many yrs.)
I would like to see more incentive for people to help themselves… ie income more than $369 when living independently before being penalised. Obviously, time is important so he doesn't lose too much study time, but couldn't he work 16hrs/wk or about %320 pw?
My Mum's situation was similar (in economic climate 10 yrs ago with low unemployment) that she had only 2 choices, retire or full time. Why not encourage people to keep working longer, part time, especially in areas of skill shortage?
Anyone who knows Mr Rudd, please tell him my opinion!
quickchick
This is how the system works!
The welfare system is designed to keep you in a welfare dependent state.As soon as your step daughter tries to get back into the work force by working part time as required by new rules when the youngest child gets to school age. The Welfare payments will be reduced while at the same time your step daughter will have the costs of child care rise as she will lose some of the child care benefit as well. If she is in a housing commission house her rent goes up also. If she buys an investment house that is negatively geared the loss if deemed as income so as to guarantee she can never get out of Welfare dependency. If she decides to run a home business she has to also fill out another form stating her profit or loss so as to have her benefits reduced.
What would you do in this situation if you were her. Have another child when the youngest gets to Four years of age ?
Absolutely. She may have one sooner, though if she needs another $5K. The system sucks.
S
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