Who voted for these people?

Today the Abbot and Costello government is pushing its welfare to work legislation through the upper house.

 

And in their arrogance, they are guillotining the motion through - ie gagging debate and spitting in the eye of democracy.

 

Some of the charming provisions of this bill.

• Under the Government’s welfare changes the income support paid to a single mother with two children will be cut by nearly $1,500 a year as a way of somehow ‘encouraging’ her to seek work and give up full-time care of her children as young as eight years old. That is over $28 a week less to feed her children, even if she meets the Government’s new work search test.

  At the same time, the non-working partners of millionaires are eligible to receive up to $3,300 in welfare in return for them not seeking work and instead staying at home to care for their children.

• According to the latest Brotherhood of St Laurence report, there are now 10-15% of Australian children living in poverty. Nice one for an economy that Peter Costello continues to grin about as never having been "stronger".  Well now the mothers of these children will have $28 less a week to feed them. 

• The 708000 people on Disability Support pensions will get no additional support for training. If they are pushed from the Disability Support Pension onto Newstart, they will suffer a $46 per week cut in benefits. Welcome to America! And we all know how they treat their poor.

• Lets not even mention how those who do get work and are in public housing will find themselves paying over 30% of their income in rent for largely ill-designed substandard housing, so that they can't possibly hope to save a cent, and then being asked to give up their homes despite having no savings with which to make the move. NICE ONE, NSW Labour!

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? AND WHO VOTED FOR THEM?