Charity withdraws from welfare-to-work scheme : Melbourne Indymedia

A leading charitable organisation has withdrawn from the Federal Government's welfare-to-work financial case management scheme.

Catholic Social Services Australia, which took part in the plan through its Centacare offices, says it is no longer happy to be a part of the program because the Government has not delivered on assurances that vulnerable people would be protected.

The organisation says vulnerable people are not protected under the program, which imposes eight-week no-pay periods for those who have lost their jobs without reason or failed to turn up to interviews.

Catholic Services executive director Frank Quinlan has told the ABC's Investigative Unit the scheme is not in keeping with his organisation's reputation as a compassionate one.

"We believe that our participation in this program may have compromised that direct relationship which we have with with those who are most in need, because we'd be increasingly seen as policemen and administrators of a harsh government policy," Mr Quinlan said.

The president of the National Welfare Rights Network, Michael Raper, has welcomed the Catholic Social Services decision.

"It's a flawed system, I'm glad to see people are finally pulling out," Mr Raper said.

"Because if the Government felt the need to have a system to back up, a safety net to cover up the real damage to those people who would get those eight-week penalties, then Centrelink should be the organisation that does the government's dirty work, not the community welfare sector."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1717677.htm

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A report by the charity group Brotherhood of St Laurence finds about one in five young people lives below the poverty line.

The Youth Barometer finds the traditional idea of 'coming of age' has changed in the last generation.

It shows that young people are staying at home longer, studying more and getting a job later.

But those opportunities are not there for everyone.

The brotherhood's Paul Smyth says about 16 per cent of teenagers live below the poverty line and the situation has not improved in over a decade.

"Twenty-five per cent of early school leavers originate in only 5 per cent of our postcodes," he said.

"So there are new horizons for some, but what we are urging at the brotherhood is that these new horizons be available to all.

"We don't want it open just for the elites."

The report finds teenagers from poorer backgrounds are half as likely to have a computer than the general population, and that makes education and socialising more difficult.

The Federal Opposition says a key agency's decision to withdraw from the Government's welfare-to-work management scheme proves the program unfairly punishes vulnerable Australians.