People on dole 'don't care about the community

[catsnknots]

I could not agree more.. I have met people up here that are thrid or fourth generation on the dole. They do nothing to interact with the community and never attend the council meetings but are the first to complain when something goes wrong. 

When I was reliant on welfare I use to volunteer and go to several events to keep up with what was going on and did my best to improve things for me and my community. I tried to give back whatever I could. I use to teach my kids that you never take welfare for granted as one day it will not be there for you. 

My 19 yr old that has left home never applied for unemployment, even when he could not find a job he went around and dropped flyers to houses as an IT person and has started his own business. He always said that wlefare was for those in real trouble and that people should always try to fend for themselves. 

We are running out of money... we cannot all expect to be supported forever... I know that we will always need some sort of welfare system, that some people will always be unemployable... but should we make them do more for that free money??? 

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/government-mp-says-people-on-dole-dont-care-ab...

An Abbott government MP has accused dole recipients of trying to "screw the system", saying they are too self-interested to bother attending community meetings.

Mr O'Dowd told a community meeting on Monday night in Capella, north-east Queensland: "You won't get anyone on the dole coming to these sort of meetings, because they don't care about the community, they care about themselves and how they can screw the system".

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The meeting was attended by about a dozen Capella residents.

In audio of the meeting heard by Fairfax Media, Mr O'Dowd also argued that too many Australians were exploiting the social security system, and that something needed to be done to stop welfare cheats. He recalled a conversation he had had recently with billionaire Gina Rinehart.

[love*today]

Lol on this thread I am LTD!!

[bluecat*dancing]

OOPS my bad, LTD.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

 thought I recognised the name Ken O'dowd MP from somewhere other than this story... I also notice some back

pedalling (No doubt at Peta's behest) on his facebook page. Note the original post about his trip and then the

qualification after the brown stuff hit the fan

search Ken O'Dowd MP on FB

http://www.kenodowd.com.au/Issues/tabid/63/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/121/ODowd-concerned-ove...


Posted on Monday, 1 August 2011

Federal Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd has again emphasised the need for stringent environmental controls over the coal seam gas industry and associated dredging in Gladstone Harbour following this week’s funding announcement for the third major  Liquified Natural Gas plant on Curtis Island.

ORIGIN Energy announced the final investment decision on its Australian Pacific LNG project (APLNG) at a total expected cost of about $20 billion.

Mr O’Dowd said he was aware of  the continuing deaths of marine animals in the harbour and concerns expressed to his office by members of the public as well as professional fishermen about the health of some mud crabs in the harbour.

“I support the coal seam gas developments and the associated LNG plants on Curtis Island, providing strict environmental controls are adhered to and landholders rights are upheld in negotiations with the gas companies,” Mr O’Dowd said.

http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/news/dredge-wont-spoil-reef/2086714/

 Environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund (Australia) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society have backed the ban, but urged the minister to apply the precedent to all developments in the future, including the decision on Abbot Point.

http://www.kenodowd.com.au/LatestNews/tabid/73/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/87/Coal-hypocrisy-d...

He confirmed yesterday he had bought 10,000 shares in East Energy Resources in May.  The company is a coal exploration and development company focussing on the Eromanga Basin in Central Australia.

While Flynn MP Ken O'Dowd welcomed the decision, he said "utilising the Port of Gladstone to its fullest potential and protecting our valuable environmental assets should not be mutually exclusive goals".


The board of the agency charged with protecting the Great Barrier Reef has failed to adopt its own experts' recommendation that it ban port developments which threaten the reef.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/reef-board-members-in-conflict-of-interest-claims/5052558

Two of the five board members have links to members of the Obeid family and are coming under scrutiny from environmentalists, who allege a conflict of interest because of their links to resource companies.

Former Townsville mayor Tony Mooney earns $250,000 a year working for a coal company, and Queensland's top public servant Jon Grayson owns a one-sixth shareholding in a company called Gasfields Water and Waste Services.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.blueenergy.com.au/

Blue Energy Limited ("Blue Energy") is an ASX listed energy Exploration Company based in Brisbane, with over 110,000 km² (net) under licence or application in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Blue Energy has exposure to exploration acreage in all the major onshore hydrocarbon producing basins in Queensland, including the premier Cooper/Eromanga, Surat, and Bowen Basins.

The portfolio also includes significant basin positions in the emerging frontier areas of the Georgina, Maryborough, Galilee and Wiso Basins. Blue Energy has exposure to both conventional and unconventional oil and gas plays across its portfolio.

http://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/03%20Senators%20and%20Members/32%20Members/Register/44p/LO/ODowdK_44P....

Blue energy shares as listed on the ASX

[i-need-a-martini]

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@catsnknots wrote:

I agreed because I have met many families that have been generations on welfare and they do not care about the community. 

I guess I also didn't get sensitive because I never wanted to be on welfare and so didn't see it as a reflection upon me... 

However, If I put myself in the place of some that may feel guilt over not being able to get a job and hate welfare like it is an embarrasment to be on it I can see why some would be upset. 

But knowing of Ken and his reputation (I live one electorate over) I know that he would not be speaking about those people either. 

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But again you are generalising by pointing the finger at "other" people.

The fact is (as shown by countless rearch papers) that very FEW people want to be reliant on welfare. Like you the vast MAJORITY are embarressed and do what they can yo get a job.

And if Ken Who-ever-he-is is not speaking about "those" people either, then he is also generalising and pointing the finger. Just like you have.

And that kind of finger pointing attitude demonises (and as you well know, demoralises) people on welfare and creates unfair stereotypes.

[izabsmiling]

How many can say that they would bother going to those meetings (mentioned in the article in the OP )  if that was the Community Attitude ?

Just like any Community environment which tends to be hostile to certain people or groups of people ....people opt out of it

Who is left attenting public Community meetings and contributing  then ?

[izabsmiling]

reading back....high unemployment in some areas was thought by some who had spoken to a lot of people to have something to do with mining tax and carbon tax affecting businesses ? Interesting ..

What's happening re the hinted at 6month limit for job seeker recipients ?

Do articles such as the one in the OP advocate a need for all ...

no mining tax, no carbon tax and perhaps toughter welfare system ?

[***super_nova***]

Many years ago I was involved with activities in our community centre, and we decided to try to get more unemployed young people to come, and  we thought we could get a scheme of getting the unemployed to help old people with some chores they are unable to do anymore; like cleaning gutters, small painting jobs etc. with the hope that it may lead to proper jobs in future.   We got the local paper to run the story and next Tuesday we got so many unemployed people we could hardly fit them in the hall.  All eager to get involved, and actually we had nowhere enough jobs to go around. 

Guess, what the local paper printed next week?

The front page, large headline  PLENTY OF JOBS, NO TAKERS and the story was total opposite to the truth.  Then in following weeks there were many appropriately nasty letter about dole bludgers.  People who needed help did not bother to contact us, and the council refused funding for trying to get it back on rails.

I actually think that the headline should be "community does not care about the unemployed & marginalised"

[i-need-a-martini]

This is for you catmad: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-fears-on-welfare-spending-not-justif...

The Liberal Party again doing its best to demonise people on welfare by making false statements like:

'We've got to ensure in the future that we're able to sustain the welfare system, otherwise we'll find ourselves in 10 or 15 years' time in the situation that some of the countries in Europe are in,'' Mr Andrews told ABC radio on Tuesday.

But in fact we spend less than any other country including the US who has an appalling track record of it's own people with social services.

The situation is actually this: figures compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show Australia's spending on welfare benefits in 2013 accounted for 8.6 per cent of national economic output, well below the OECD average of 13 per cent.

Of 34 industrialised nations for which data was available, only Iceland, which spent 7.3 per cent of GDP on payments, spent a smaller proportion of its economic output on welfare than Australia.

Four European nations - France, Italy, Belgium and Austria - were the biggest spenders, each allocating more than 19 per cent of their GDP to welfare payments, including age and disability pensions, unemployment benefits and family payments.

Britain spent 12.2 per cent of its GDP on social security payments, while the United States spent 9.7 per cent.

[bella_again]

Good post Martini.  Another issue is that since the old age pension age has increased, many more are now becoming eligible for the DSP taken into account there is only an 0.4% increase which is minimal.  The bottom line is that the majority of people on welfare give a darn sight more back to the community than most can imagine.  If it wasn't for those volunteers school canteens wouldn't be running, parents wouldn't be helping in schools, neighbour hood centres or other centres like Anglicare or even foster care etc.

Gina Rinehart wants people to work for about 2 dollars an hour  oops that was a day!! she has no compassion, she just wants to keep making billions whilst robbing our country of its resources.  Who is the government working for anyway?  The Gina Rineharts of this world?? The opinions of ministers who are not in touch with reality or the Australian people?

If we follow the 6 month rule as in some states of the US look forward to more homeless, hungry families resulting in more crime which will cost the government more.  There is no easy solution. But we can start by engaging families on welfare in our community, involving them, showing compassion and supporting back into work where possible. As for the DSP review, has anyone seen the assessment scales????  I find it hard to believe that anyone can get through that and not be genuine.

People who can work should work where possible but we need to also recognise that some people lack the skills and resources to engage in work and the community.  Good on you if you are able to overcome sickness and get back into the work place more power to you but don't be so quick to judge others unless you've walked a mile in their shoes......

This country is about fairness...