O brethren!

What a spiritual time we are all having this Christmas! - first it's Brother Kevin's call to arms for the disabled (his government will help those who help themselves, or else.), And now, the Brethren are back.

Who'dda thought it? Back in the 60's when DH was a schoolgirl, the Exclusive Brethren were regularly denounced in screaming headlines in Brisbane's Sunday Tabloid for the evil sect that they were, for their bizarre practises primarily the isolation and destruction of dissenting families.

Extraordinary to think how much more progressive the tabloids were in those days. DH looked in vain today for the Daily Telegraph to cash in on the hot story of the Brethren pedophile coverup reported in today's SMH.

Nor do we hear John Howard, that champion of women's liberation from un-Australian practises denouncing his campaign contributors for their anti-family, un-Australian behaviour.

DH thought the Brethren had gone. But it seems they merely went underground to clone and breed silently and amass fortunes for manipulating our democracy for their own sick ends.

And Howard allows this bizarre cult to feed from his private school education funding slush!

Brother Kevin, consider the lilies, for God's sake!

Kevin Rudd, who has made much of the traditional Christian virtues, announced yesterday that Labor will keep Howard's tough Welfare-to-Workhouse criteria for the disabled

Consider the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do the spin, but Solomon, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew, 6:28)

Consider the disabled, who must now toil and spin at least 15 to 30 hours a week for 48 weeks a year!

Consider low income workers, who for whatever reason, lack the drive, the genes, the energy or the IQ, to amass money, who must spend a lifetime from 16 to 65 being frogmarched through a compulsory work regime, only 4 weeks reprieve a year, controlled and disciplined, condemned to producing all kinds of baubles and trash, for the out-of-control consumption of those more fortunate.

Consider that the only escape these (virtually) indentured labourers may have from the relentless round of exploitation for scant reward is when they finally crack up, get depressed, get injured, injure themselves and go on the pitifully inadequate disability pension.

And now you want to stuff them willy-nilly back into the system???

Consider whether anyone is to be allowed to rest, ever, no matter how bereaved, how crippled, how maimed, how troubled, how weary.

Oh, brother!

Consider, too, global warming and the carbon costs of these baubles, of getting workers to and from the workplace to manufacture the baubles, and the paper generated by the bureaucracies that get them there.

Consider all this, and awake up to thyself, brother, lest even thou failest to pass through the eye of the needle when Judgment Day is upon thee.

Consider by all means, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and be inspired by his martyrdom, but don't forget the source of it all, the Protestant Work Ethic which brought us both the joys and evils of Capitalism, and its logical extension... Arbeit Macht Frei.

Work sets you free

(not).

Sign on the Gates of Auschwitz

A Christmas Carol for Our Times

or, What the Dickens is this country coming to?

Mummy, who are the Merry Gentlemen in the picture?
Hush darling and eat your Christmas gruel.

But mummy, why do the gentlemen look so merry?
Because they have a Monopoly of the Government which means they can do whatever they want.

Can they stay up as late as they want and never have to go to sleep?
Hush now darling, and let me tuck you in. Mummy has to go to work now.

But Mummy, it's Christmas!
Yes, darling, but Mummy traded away her Christmas holiday to buy you your lovely gruel, remember?

B-b-but mummy, I don't like my gruel anymore.
Yes darling I know, but after Mummy paid the mean landlord from the D'oH 30% of her wages, plus 30% to the ATO, plus 6% to HECS and 4% to repay her Austudy Supplement Loan, and on top of that because she is a contractor, 9% of her wage to fund her own super, she had to spend the rest of her wages on buying your drinking water, so she didnt have any money left over to buy turnips this year.

Mummy, will we have turnips for Christmas next year, do you think, if I am very, very good?
Yes sweetie, because Mummy has joined a Union, and they will fight for our right to eat turnips every year!

What's a Union, Mummy?
Well, once upon a time, long long ago, when the land was flowing with latte and honey, before everyone worked 60 hours a week with no overtime or penalty rates, for $3.50 an hour, Unions used to fight for our Rights.

What are "Rights", Mummy?
SHH!!! Don't ask so many questions! Someone might hear us! And anyway, mummy can't remember anymore

But how did the unions fight for our Rights, Mummy?
Well darling they used to go out on this thing called a strike.

Could we go out on a stwike, Mummy?
No darling, we would have to pay a big big fine, like a billion zillion trillion dollars, and the mean men could put us in jail.

Don't worry mummy. I'm going to SHOOT those mean men with my GREAT BIG BLASTERATOR, and I'm going to buy you as many turnips as you can eat EVERY Christmas!

Suddenly, a mighty crashing and banging is heard from the chimney:

And then, in a twinkling, was heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of many a hoof,
As mother and child were turning around,
Down the chimney a figure leapt out with a bound

EVERYBODY FREEZE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!

We have reason to believe that you have been spreading SEDITION and inciting a minor to call the Prime Minister a "Nasty Little Meanie". And I'll take that Blasterator, Sonny. One more stwike and you're out!

As for you, valued Centrelink Customer, No. CRN 125 904 038, it has come to our attention that you do not have a Treating Practitioners Report in triplicate explaining why you are late for work. Therefore the terms of your individual contract are now void.

Thanks to Government Reforms making Australia Fairer,
You're Breached!

And with that, the SAS storm trooper tore the workhouse ID tag off the Mummy's ankle, and smashed his way out through the front door.

I'm scared Mummy.
Don't worry darling. We'll go down to Vinnies, and we might be able to convince the nice old 12 Step Veterans down there to give us some yummy tins of recycled beetroot and creamed corn, some No Frills tuna in bilge, and if we're very lucky, even some instant mashed potato flakes!!!! Now wont that be fun?!

Season's Greetings
One and All

This is Australia,
2007

Grub calling the kettle Schwarts?

All it takes is a couple of grubs to give tenants a bad name. (Rob Schwarten, Qld Housing Minister).

DH is shocked to think that Rob Schwarten could be so uncomradely as to call his fellow State Housing Ministers "grubs". Just because a couple of them like to lead the charge when it comes to bad-mouthing their tenants is no excuse for calling them names!

And anyway, look who's talking! If DH was game to flout libel laws, the rumours she could pass on about this pillar of respectability's behaviour when he's at home!!! Suffice it to opine that what we see here is a low Labor populist, a traitor to the values of the party he represents and the people who fought for them. Another politician determined to hang in there by Beattying the sh*t out of anyone who looks like they might get between him and the next election result.

Schwarten might like to consider that hoarding rubbish is a symptom of mental illness. And the more that public housing fills up with people with mental illnesses, in the absence of decent mental health policies, the "grubbier" its going to get. We already have 100, 000 homeless people in Australia sleeping out every night.

Great mental health policy, Robby!

DH loves the extract from the article below, viz. the tenants "managed to avoid the department for 5 years". In her experience, it's the department, under the instructions of its ministers, who manage to avoid the tenants, and manage very well.

And a nice touch from the workers' party, pitting the weak against the weak in some kind of vicious class warfare cock-fight, "Given the collapse of the private rental market and the number of people on the social housing list looking for assistance, I am sure that we could find people willing to threat their public housing property with respect."

At least Schwarten has admitted the collapse of the private rental market. Now wouldnt you think a creative government would be doing something constructive about that, instead of kicking the dogs that are down.

_____________________________________________________

MINISTER'S TOUGH TALK ON HOMES

By Kerrie-Ann Hobbs
Saturday, 16 December, 2006
ABC News Online

Neighbours have been urged to dob-in public housing tenants who trash their homes.

Housing Minister Robert Schwarten vowed to evict residents damaging their State-owned homes or harassing neighbours.

The Minister's tough talk follows The Cairns Post's expose on how some tenants were ignoring requests for inspections and turning their homes and yards into rubbish dumps.

"There is no excuse for wilful damage or bad behaviour and it will not be tolerated, and Department of Housing staff have my full backing in evicting anyone who does not treat social housing with the respect it deserves", Mr Schwarten said.

"We expect a high level of responsibility from all our tenants and all it takes is a couple of grubs to give the rest of social housing tenants a bad name.

"Given the collapse of the private rental market and the number of people on the social housing list looking for assistance, I am sure that we could find people willing to threat their public housing property with respect."

Earlier this week, Bentley Park real-estate told the Cairns Post they were disgusted with the condition of a public house in Lady Penrhyn Close.

They told how the former tenants had managed to avoid government inspections for the past 5 years.

Posted By DH to Diary of a Desperate Houso at 12/19/2006 01:26:00 AM

Kafkalink strikes again

Just for the record, DH's last visit to Kafkalink on the very straightforward matter of handing in a medical certificate once again totalled the system.

As usual, supervisors, trainers, and assorted experts had to be called in and soon a small crowd of Centrelink functionaries had collected around the computer, like a gaggle of confused chooks, desperately pecking at the keyboard, clicking their tongues, breaking into subgroups for hushed confabulations, calling in further reinforcements, scratching their heads and still the system resolutely refused to yield up its secrets.

It's a joy to watch, and DH can heartily recommend this form of comic entertainment laid on free for the masses, which beats paying $11 for some of the bilge pouring out of Hollywood.

But all good things must end, and eventually DH sorted it out for them, by tracing the problem back to (see November 27th ) the failure of Kafkalink's invitation to Work Capacity Test to advise her to bring a medical certificate, which meant that the work capacity tester could not make a recommendation., which meant that ... oh, life is too short. The system is completely arse over gizzard and nothing makes sense. Pity the poor buggers who work there.

Footprint Rights for All Australians

What are the chances of all Australian residents having the right to occupy their own footprint without being moved on? We dont want a MacMansion. Just a a pair of waterproof insole shaped to fit will do, perhaps with an umbrella thrown in.

Consider

• the last hope for permanence gone for the working class and the unemployed as Public Housing becomes Public Temporary Accommodation
• Aspirational public housing tenants discouraged from working due to the threat of loss of permanence
• Community Housing rumoured to be subject to "Reshaping Public Housing" anytime soon
• 100,000 people going homeless every night (Read this and weep). And no, they are not all drunk old blokes either. Kevin Rudd's family was once amongst them.
• 70,000 on the waiting list for public housing in NSW alone
• The Howard Govt being so comatose on the issue that even the Property Council of Australia is beginning to look like the Socialist Alliance by comparison

Consider that serfs in the dark ages had permanent tenure and only had to pay 10% of their output for the privelige

The trouble with John Howard is he is just not delivering SerfChoices fast enough. Perhaps we've all misjudged the man, he's a visionary after all, rearview mirror notwithstanding.

Merry Xmas, your home is being demolished. Cheers, Your Housing Minister

The letter sent to tenants at Lilyfield has found its way to DH, straight from the Brutalist School of Correspondence with the Lower Classes.

Charming, innit? ... No velvet gloves, polite phrases or Noble Lies need be wasted on the underclasses. No "Your tenancy is important to us. Terribly sorry for inconveniencing you "somewhat(!)". It must have left some tenants guessing how soon is "not immediately".

Just plain rude.

November 2006

Dear XXX

In order to provide improved public housing, the Department of Housing has decided to redevelop the property you are currently living in. I am writing to provide you with some initial information about what this means for you. You will not have to move immediately. The Department will meet with you to discuss your circumstances and make alternative arrangements for you.

Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to: •
· Move temporarily and return after the redevelopment is complete, or •
· Move permanently to another dwelling (in this or another area of your choice)

Client service staff from your local office will be in touch with you during the next two weeks to arrange to meet with you to discuss your specific needs. The Department aims to provide you with accommodation which is at least equal to the type and amenity of your current dwelling, taking your current circumstances into account. We would ask that you discuss any specific needs you may have with the staff member who meets with you.

The Department will pay for all reasonable relocation costs. I appreciate that the relocation process may cause you some inconvenience and disruption, and for this reason the Department
will be as flexible as is reasonably possible to find alternative accommodation which meets your present wishes and lifestyle. I am therefore confident that we will be able to provide you with accommodation which meets your needs.

It is the Department’s intention that you will not be financially disadvantaged by this relocation. All reasonable re-establishment costs will be paid for by the Department, and this includes: •
· Removalist costs •
· Telephone reconnection •
· Electricity reconnection •
· Gas reconnection •
· Mail redirection for 3 months.

In some instances, reimbursement for permanent improvements (which have been approved by the Department), and window coverings and light fittings will be approved (up to a reasonable amount), if not provided at the alternative accommodation. You should discuss any of these requests with the staff member who meets with you regarding your needs.

Necessary maintenance will continue to be carried out to your home. You should continue to request urgent maintenance from the Housing Contact Centre on 131571.

In order to commence the redevelopment, the Department may require access to the external areas of your property from time to time and your cooperation in this regard is appreciated. We will liaise with you when this is required. Access to the inside of your home is not likely to be
required.

I hope I have addressed some of your initial concerns, however if you have any further questions after today, you should contact your Client Service Officer in the first instance.


Yours sincerely …

etc…

Snooping around Lilyfield

The first DH heard about the proposed Lilyfield redevelopment was from someone at the Greens' stall at the Glebe Fair. The rather over-excited buzz was that the letters from the Ministers had gone out, the bulldozers were poised, the tenants were devastated, and some of them would be out before Christmas. DH had a moment of scepticism... hey that can't happen here, surely ... and sure enough, on closer questioning, it turned out that the letter hadn't quite said that, but the "person who delivered the letter" had, something a lot less verifiable.

Now DH did not want to go down in history as the Pastor Niemoller of Public Housing ... "When they came for Minto, I stayed silent, because I'm not a Westie, when they came for Bonnyrig, I stayed silent because I wasn't sure if Minto and Bonnyrig were the same place, when they came for Dubbo, I stayed silent because I'm not an Aboriginal, when they came for the Block the issues were too complex for my poor brain etc etc" , but Lilyfield was getting just a little bit close to home. Clearly what was needed was some research at ground zero, and thus it was that DH cd be spotted shortly thereafter snooping around the estate, taking pictures of what at first glance is a typical red brick 50's travesty. But a closer look reveals an unexpected and quite lovely oasis hidden away at the centre of the block.

More later about what she found out from the residents she managed to waylay, local politicians, and housing activists.

Snooping around Lilyfield, cont...

DH managed to speak to about 5 residents while prowling about. With 40 units slated for redevelopment, this in no way implies a valid sample of feeling on the estate as a whole.
However, of those 5, only 1 said they had any particular attachment to the place, or desire to return, and even that person was saying, "unless of course the temporary placement is better".

Housos are as rational as any other punters when it comes to real estate, and quite rightly are jockeying for the best home they can get for themeselves or their families. The others were keen to leave but only because their flats badly need maintenance. In the general climate of mistrust around razor-gang governments, property deals, and bungled policy, it is not surprising that there is a question hanging in the air: "Was the estate deliberately allowed to run down, so that the only option was to send in the bulldozers?". DH is not competent to judge, furthermore she is not lacking in trust, does not belong to that infantile brigade who profess to feel superior to "all pollies" from the comfort of their armchairs while making no attempt to test out their own unimpeachable ideals. ... Now seems like as good time as any to confess that she is a card-carrying member of the ALP, not because she is a true believer in "my party right or wrong" but because democracy relies on the active participation of its citizens.

That said, on with the fait accompli!

It seems that when Cherie Burton sent out her Big Announcement, she omitted to inform either the sitting member, Sandra Nori, or Verity Firth the incumbent candidate for the new seat of Balmain. Another less than impressive act from a Minister who is not making herself popular with her constituents. As a result, Verity Firth has been forced into damage control, door-knocking the distressed residents, doing her best to minimise their anxiety with the news that the Ministers' "oversight" put VF in a good bargaining position to extract a written guarantee that all who wanted to return could do so.

Can we trust her?

The activist brigade say, "Look at Minto. What good were written guarantees there? Dont be too trusting. The devil is in the detail. For instance, in Minto, yes, the stocks will be replenished, but they will be one bedroomers, so families can never return. Look for the hidden traps."

PURPLE ALERT!

Shameless editorialising follows. Enter at own peril.

DH thinks that is irrelevant. Times are going to get tougher for obvious reasons. Oil, weather, economics, the falling $USD, a horrid climate of resentment and downward envy, fomented by our Crypto-Darwinist-In-Chief, John Howard, who has turned too many of us into a nation of individualists, struggling each against each and devil-take-the-hindmost.

There are no guarantees apart from what tenants can collectively work towards ourselves.

There is only one thing tenants can trust in and that is in building our own strong and trusting communities. By getting involved with the political process, by continuing to inform ourselves and broaden our understanding, in the spirit of "expecting the best and preparing for the worst", we can support our politicians to be the best representatives they can be. This applies to almost everyone. The majority of tenants innately have the intelligence, even if it's buried under years of disempowerment. Give the right seeds, they can lift their game. And most politicians go into the game out of a genuine desire to do good. An active citizenry can help them to keep on track.

In the meantime, as far as DH has been able to find out, while the demolition plans are out, to date no design plan exists for rebuilding...

Entrapment; or, Come and see this property, said the spider to the fly...

DH has a friend with 2 disabled boys in a 2 bedroom D'oH unit.
She has been sleeping in the lounge room for 5 years, and has been on a priority list for rehousing within the same area for 7 years.
She lives in an area with some notorious DoH badlands, and she is afraid to go there, especially with her 2 very vulnerable boys. She has made clear that she wants to stay in her immediate locality.
This has never been questioned by the Dept.
Recently the department has contacted her, saying, "Look, there is nothing much in this area, why not come and have a look at Badlands Ave. We promise you won't be under any obligation". Reluctantly she agreed. But when she turned up and saw the teen gang smoking outside the front door of the dilapidated estate, she refused to go in.
Next week, she gets another offer in the same area. She explains again that she has been promised she is not under obligation to go out of area, and declines.
Next step. You guessed it. She gets a letter saying that as she has refused 2 offers, she will be knocked off the rehousing list and has to go to the end of the queue, unless she has a medical certificate...
Well, DH hears you say, "Tough. We're all doing it tough. She should be grateful she has a roof over her head at all."
And that is the attitude we had to have after 10 years of John Howard. This is the Australia that we had to have, according to Public Tenant No 1, John Howard, who has robbed to poor to give to the rich. Example du jour. transferring public moneys to private landlords via the Rental Assistance scheme/
The story gets worse, but its too damn complex for DH to find the time, and she's just plain disspirited...

DH undergoes Work Capacity Testing

FAQ

 

Q: Why is DH taking the trouble to write this lengthy blow-by-blow?

 

A1: Her biggest ambition in life is to be a footnote in a Social History of the Noughties, detailing the decline of the Welfare State

 

A2: She is quite possibly permanently mentally ill, and should immediately be certified by her Work Capacity Tester as only required to seek 15 hrs a week employment.

 

---

 

The Story So Far

 

The story so far: When DH first signed up for Newstart, the nice young girl (NYG) at her appointment, thinking to make her life easier, marked her down for a "Work Capacity Test", based on knowing that DH was under carer's stress.

 

But the NYG either didn't realise the implications of this within the byzantine social security process, or didn't think to explain this to DH. She didnt even tell DH she had marked her down. This led to great fun and games later, and managed to confuse a whole generation of poorly trained C'link counter staff further down the track. See September 2006.

 

Basically, since the NYG had earmarked her for a WTC, the computer system did not automatically cough up a Job Network Referral. Without a Job Network referral, DH cd not get any job assistance, and also there was confusion about her payments. But the poorly trained CSO' cd not figure out what had gone wrong, thus delaying her payments.

 

---

 

So get to the point already!!!

 

ANYHOW ....

 

After 4 months, the Big Day finally arrived.

 

DH showed up nervously clutching .... nothing ... , as she had not been told in the letter to bring any documentation. Thus began the CentreLink Bungle du Jour.

 

She had actually visited her GP the day before, because she had been told by C'link counter staff, that she needed a medical certificate which all GP's were required to have, and her GP would know what it was.

 

OF COURSE, you all guessed it. Her GP had no idea....

 

Well, so there's DH, and as soon as she walks in, ready to eye the psychologist at the independant assessment service as a potential scab, lackey, class traitor, running dog of Welfare-to-Work

 

But the assessor is only another NYG (Nice Young Girl) doing Howard's punitive protestant ethic dirty work for him.

 

So anyhow DH is struggling to control her emotions, but straight way she gets thrust at her a form which asks her for her permission to hand out all  the sensitive details of all her health problems to about 7 or 8 government departments.

 

"And what if I refuse", she asks, "I suppose I can do without any pension at all?".

 

DH gets it in one, so she knuckles down and signs, trying not to take out her vexation on the poor innocent NYG.

 

Anyhow, DH now gripes copiously and at length about all her health issues, which frankly is quite a pleasure, as she has come to an age where her only pleasure in life is complaining about her aches and pains.

 

So anyway, time comes for the NYG to make her recommendations.

 

But guess what? Since DH did not bring documentation, because her letter of appointment failed to tell her that she had to, the NYG couldnt make a recommendation!!!!!

 

Now whether the NYG would have thought to tell DH what the system was if she hadnt asked, we'll never know.

 

But here it is in all it's glory...

 

Wait for it....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you believe it? Work Capacity Test

Here are the 3 recommendations possible from Centrelink's Work Capacity Test

 

1. The client has a permanent disability* and is required to find 15+ hrs work per week
   
   * The condition is diagnosed, controlled, and does not require further medical intervention.
   
   
2. The client has a temporary disability* and is required to find 30+ hrs work per week
   
   * The condition is not controlled etc and requires further medical intervention
   
   
3. Other*
   *This means the client did not bring a medical certificate because the letter of appointment didn't tell them to, thus the whole system is stalled....

 

HUH?

 

Why is a person with an uncontrolled condition required to work full time??? The answer is that with a medical certificate they can get time off!

 

Perhaps this explains why the 16 year old boy who was dying of cancer was required to seek full-time work, as clearly his condition was only temporary? See The poster boy for Howard's "Family Values" (October)

 

 

Minister still silent

Tenants are still waiting with bated breath to find out from the Minister how it is fair to halt the proceedings of an independant selection committee before all the shortlisted candidates had been interviewed, and why to this day, some of the applicants have not been contacted with either an apology or explanation, for having had their time, enthusiasm and energy wasted.

Citizen rubber stamps, please witness this,

D'oH does not give out reference numbers for phone transactions.

Tenants have been burned when they have reported income, the record goes missing, and it looks for all the world like they are trying to cheat.

DH has had a week's casual income. She rang up to report this, and was told that the Department doesnt worry if it's just a week here or there.

DH thinks this is great as she is sure the administrative overhead of collecting a week's rent would exceed whatever extra rent the department would get.

However, on past experience with government departments, which clearly do not invest much in training their overstretched staff, DH has had too many experiences of different staff giving completely different rulings, and she doesn't want to get into trouble.

So please note that on Thursday the 23rd Nov 2006, DH rang the Department of Housing to notify them of a week's casual work and that she was told not to worry, unless it became regular work.

If you feel like being a Citizen Rubber Stamp, send her a receipt and drop her a line at desperate.houso@gmail.com

TACky Ministerial silence while rumours abound

[Rumour alert! This post is a compendium of old and new rumours floating around in the absence of any statements from the Minister.]

If half of them are true, Cherie Burton might need some training in Management, HR and Ethics. And possibly some therapy to raise her EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quota). But perhaps she's not fully recovered from the trauma of being torn away at a tender age from the public housing home she loved by an untimely lottery win. (Or so rumour has it)

DH has heard from a usually reliable source that the Minister sees no problem with the interview process for the Tenant's Advisory Council because the last interviews "weren't required", and none of the short-listed candidates would be disadvantaged. Tell this to at least one poor woman who was reputedly in tears, having prepared for the interview, and been expecting to show her stuff. Not exactly conducive to raising the self-esteem of tenants who are already ground down enough.

DH is quite happy to accept that so far all this is pure rumour. But wouldn't you think that a Minister with even a shred of nous or character would at the very least write a personal letter of explanation or apology to the tenants concerned? Without any explanation forthcoming, is it any wonder that the logical conclusion amongst tenants is that corruption must be the explanation, with a minister attempting to foist her own choice onto an independant, competent, and principled committee.

Or is it that the Minister is plain incompetent ... if it's true that she is presiding over a sell-off at Miller's Point at 1/3 of market value?

And finally Cherie Burton's silence and lack of explanation has made it impossible for any tenant of integrity to accept a post on TAC, as tenants will draw their their own conclusions about anyone who does accept.

TACky Ministerial intervention

Tenants' circles have been buzzing with the news that the Housing Minister suddenly aborted the selection process for a 6 member Tenants' Advisory Council midway through the proceedings. The TAC was intended to replace a much larger tenants' representative body, the Public Housing Customer Council, which was itself summarily dismissed for reasons that have never been made clear.

Yesterday's Question on Notice from the Greens' excellent Senator Sylvia Hale may shed some light on potentially murky waters. Apart from the implications of a Minister undermining due process, what about the poor souls who spent days writing up their applications, and worse, those who after all their efforts, never even got interviewed, thus being placed at a disadvantage cf those who had a chance to make an impression. Not to mention people who for all we will ever know sacrificed their time to be there. DH has heard of one applicant who was in tears of disappointment.

Ms SYLVIA HALE: I direct my question to the Minister representing the Minister the Housing. Is it the case that the Minister for Housing recently set up a selection panel to receive applications, then to shortlist and interview tenants for a tenant advisory committee? Is it the case that, in the last month, the Minister instructed the selection panel to accept an application, which had not been submitted in the proper manner, and implied that this applicant should be appointed? Is it the case that, when the panel declined, the Minister dismissed the panel and has herself taken over the process of appointing tenants to the advisory committee? Will the Minister table the recent email sent from the Minister for Housing to Department of Housing staff telling them about the change in procedure for appointing the tenant advisory committee

Free-range psychiatric hospitals: the future of public housing?

If public housing estates become concentrators of people with mental illness/ dual diagnoses, won't the result be free-range psych hospitals minus facilities? We'd better hope that the Housing and Human Services Accord, which is intended to underpin "Reshaping Public Housing" by guaranteeing that housing estates are supplied with appropriate services for people with high support needs, otherwise the remaining able-bodied/minded tenants will find themselves being defacto psych nurses. Hmm - cd be a career path there for single mother carers of disabled kids, who DH suspects may be the major remnant of the able-bodied on our estates. Wd be ideal, as this is a cohort that are already used to carrying the world on their shoulders for peanuts.

Centrelink Raiders

You know how John Howard has taken to popping out unexpectedly from DH's linen closet in the hope of catching her out in Un-Australian activities?

You know how "he likes to watch", via the All-Seeing Eye of Centrelink?

Isn't all this, plus the delights of Janet, plus the mistress that the Canberra press gallery all swear (off-record) that our "Prime Exemplar of Family Values" is keeping down in our nation's capital, (oh, can you imagine the disciplines this reputedly Senior Bureaucrat subjects our leader to in his leisure moments! Well, someone must be teaching him how to grovel so exquisitely before the Bush), ... so, anyway, isn't all this enough for our saucy PM???

It seems Chairman John no longer gets off on these simple pleasures, and now requires ever greater levels of titillation. Apparently now nothing less than catching the lower orders out, in flagrante delicto, will do. To this end, the Leader now wants to deploy flying squads of Centrelink Bristows to raid the homes of Centrelink beneficiaries. They hope to photograph illicit toothbrushes cohabiting, take DNA samples of mattress stains, examine the contents of laundry baskets, and catch opposite sexes out in the act of making eye contact.

And all on the offchance of saving "The Taxpayer" $130 a week.

Gee whiz, what other forms of entertainment are left to people living off $50 per week after rent, supplemented by a few EPA vouchers and tinned corn and beetroot from the Salvos? Not much left in the entertainment budget after that.

Bush whacked!

This is the sweetest news of all. And what a coincidence that today of all days the Libs finally start to get a conscience about that poor misguided little bugger David Hicks.


But the sweetest thing of all would be to see John Howard exeunt with his tail between his legs, hard on the heel of his master.

The "Cain't get Mah Rental Subsidy Form" Blues

DH is worried that some of her fans in the D'oH might be feeling neglected because they haven't copped a mention in months.
It's simple. The system works well as long as tenants are unemployed, the money circulates quite happily via direct debits between Centrelink and the D'oH, without any need for the middleman, the tenant.

D'oH has no problems with people being unemployed. It's when someone gets a job that the department goes into fibrillation, especially if that job involves income that varies from week to week.

As the appalling prospect of employment looms for DH, her wishlist from the Department is

• a speedy online and/or telephone income reporting system: report now and document later
• quick response on the new rent payable to avoid a backlog of rent arrears
• finding a way of not "outing" public housing tenants to their new employers

instead of the current 30 Point Plan (based on a compilation of everything that has happened to DH this year).

See next pos for this simple plan:

DOH's Simple 30 Step Plan for Income Reporting

1. Tenant rings D'oH to to notify them of new employment
2. The call centre promises to put the appropriate form, the Rental Subsidy Form into the mail.
3. Next day, the form does not arrive.
4. A week later, tenant who is busy trying to impress employers in new job and doesnt have time to keep ringing DOH, rings again to enquire "Where is my Rental Subsidy form?".
5. Go to Step 2. Keep going to step two until several weeks pass.
6. Form finally arrives.
7. Form now lies mouldering in bottom of tenant's handbag while s/he is distracted by demands of new job
8. Tenant smites forehead, having just noticed crumb-encrusted form at bottom of handbag.
9. Feeling reluctant to out herself as a houso when her new employer still thinks she's a pillar of the community, decides she might just wait a bit.
10. Tenant bites bullet and is referred to company accountant, who is invariably on leave for another 2 weeks, and has more important things to catch up with when they get back than worry about about some houso's pathetic form.
11. Tenant hassles accountant for another week until form finally rubber stamped
12. Form now lies mouldering in handbag for another week, because tenant is out of habit of using snail mail.
13. Plus, let us be perfectly frank, tenant has just started work after a period of barely subsistence income. Tenant needs new work clothes, has lost transport and medication subsidies, the creditors have all come home to roost, the tenant has a bit of money in her hands, and is in no hurry to be pushed back to a level of disposable income that's only a few dollars more than s/he on the carer's pension. For those of you in the know, TEIS, the Tenant Employment Incentive Scheme has not kicked in because this is not the tenant's first short-term contract this year. So tenant uses the system in the same way as the rich guys, and hope that when the rent bill catches up with her some deus-ex-machina will save her
14. Tenant finally posts the form to DoH
15. Tenant waits longer than seems reasonable for a response from Department
16. Still no word from Department
17. Tenant rings up Department
18. Department is required by law to have lost any record of tenants ever calling them on any matter
19. Department promises to pass on urgent message to team leader who is "out visiting sites".
20. Team leader doesn't call back. (Repeat steps 15 thru 16 n times, or till patience wears out)
21. Eventually another form is accquired by circuitous means: try influence peddling, weeping, threatening self-harm, contacting local member,
22. Go through rigmarole with employer's accountant again (Go to step 6)
23. Finally hand deliver the form to DOH just to be on the safe side
24. DOH takes another surprisingly long time to work out new rent
25. Start paying rent plus arrears, unless a particularly zealous CSO, acting on new slash-and-burn ministerial directive, decides its time the tenant was taught a lesson and has 'em hauled before the CTT (The Tribunal)
26. Tenant realises that the rent calculation was wrong. D'oH calculates the rent 3 different ways, and it never comes out the same.
27. After much head-scratching and whispered background consulting with superiors, the correct formula is negotiated over the next couple of days.
28. By this time, tenant's contract has ended and s/he is unemployed again.
    But now, she must pay rent on an income s/he is no longer earning, having already spent the rent money on the items listed in point 12.
29. Get next job, hopefully soon.
30. Go straight to Step 1. Do not collect Rental Subsidy form, that comes much later ...

Centrelink administrative chaos

DH's simple query: "How many hours am I required to work given my age?" coupled with being a week late with her diary due to a date mix-up, almost melted down Centrelink's computer system. Alright so she's exaggerating a weeeeeeeeeeeee bit, but this query resulted in a frenzy of clicking - she kids you not, the CSO, brows furrowed,  clicked thru and backwards and forwards between 10 and 20 unintelligible screens - DH's life in numbers, and after all that a supervisor had to be called to sort it out. Both staff were really nice, no worries about that, but you have to feel sorry for them, sitting almost alone in a dingy cavernous deserted office, with obviously no training. DH notes that of the staff, the only long term one she recognises clearly has a social disability, This is far from intended to mock: DH has social disability in the family as readers of this blog are aware. It raises the question in her mind: is the government exploiting employees with disabilities who may feel that they have to put up with terribly conditions because they have nowhere else to go.

 

DH may be completely wrong about all her assumptions of course. She is just going on her instincts and the fact that the staff do not seem to understand the byzantine rules of a liberal government that's supposed to be about less bureacracy. Less bureacracy should begin with less red tape, not less workers. Instead the liberals have steadily increased the red tape to bind us all, slashed the workers, and hope it all works out somehow. It doesn't, but what do the MacMansion brigade care? Until it's their turn...

We're not all billionaire property developers: from reffo to houso in just half a century

DH celebrates 50 years of (ever-diminishing) freedom

Korneuburg Refugee Camp, near Vienna
Spring, 1957


Here's DH and family snapped a short time after absconding from Hungary with just 2 shopping bags containing the family photos and all the clothes they could wear on their backs.


Note in the background, one of the cattle wagons that were such a handy policy tool for disposing of unwanted populations in 20th century Europe.
Hmmm ... cd still work ... wonder how our Federal and State policymakers let this obvious solution slip under their radar?


How differently Australia treated refugees then!

You may be asking, how come DH's family became housos instead of property developers like the rest of their countrymen? They look fit and healthy, why didn't they work harder? Sadly, it's a tale of hidden disability and despair. Suffice it to say that DH's father worked a 6 day week till he dropped, for wages that barely paid for the rent on a 2 bedroom flat and the old bomb that got him to work.

DH's mother's disability made her unemployable, but nobody realised she had a disability. They just thought she chose to be "wierd" and "lazy" and wasn't trying hard enough. The poor bloody woman applied for literally 100's of jobs, and always got knocked back. The poor thing never understood why, or how others saw her. She tried so hard, and the heartbreak was endless. The penny only dropped when DH's daughter was diagnosed with the same hereditary condition. The family's greatest sorrow was that they had not put in for public housing when it was a normal pathway for hard-working migrants to establish themselves.

And, so in old age, DH's parents found themselves regularly being forced to pack at short notice, shunted around at the whim of landlords and property speculators.

DH's father, one of the best of men, loving, generous, hard-working, devoted, and with a wicked sense of humour that DH can only dream of emulating, died at 69, overwhelmed by grief at a lifetime of hard labour that left the family with nothing.

DH's passion for housing justice springs from this legacy.

And as a reffo, DH is old enough to recall a time and a place when the possession of a slip of rubber-stamped paper could mean life or death. Tha'ts why she worries about incursions on our civil liberties with increasing surveillance from the ominously named Centrelink.

Watch out Australia.

When it comes to freedom from tyranny, you were on a good thing.

Don't blow it!

Bad News (un)Limited

Murdoch gets the prize. A stake in the only half-way decent news source we have, the SMH. DH recommends that in future, since all the news we'll have is bad news, come straight to her.

And oy, does she have bad news for you today! Centrelink didnt pay her this fortnight (she got her dates mixed up).

Result:

Bank balance: $16 DR

Bank dishonour fee: $35

And this is only the beginning of the fortnight.

There won't be another pay till Wednesday week!

DH is in meltdown!

How much canned tuna, corn and beetroot can she eat,

which is the kind of fare you get from our charities
And beside's she's a NESBie and doesn't like Vegemite

John Howard (emerging unexpectedly from the linen cupboard, as he does): Shut up and eat your vegemite, or it's Christmas Island for you.

DH (wailing): But why? What's the charge?

John Howard: Un-Australian, mateship-denying FoodChoices! Take her away! (Jogs off)

Baby rent payers

DH had thought she had heard it all. But here's a new one.

 

At a forum organised by the Greens in Glebe last Saturday, she heard from a woman whose daughter had been hit with rental arrears for her new baby backdated to his birthdate. Just when you need more money for all your new needs.

 

Maybe Peter Costello, who asked us to have one more for our country, could think about the country reimbursing a fraction of the costs of our contribution, at least till they're old enough to be cannon fodder for the homeland.

 

Talking about which, DH viewed a 4 Corners report on our new caring sharing army. DH is not a pacifist, but it is heartbreaking to see such lovely young people training to kill and be killed.

 

 

The poster boy for Howard's "Family Values"

Mal Brough is desperately trying to put damage control on this, but here's the picture of Howard's real family values.

The Liberals paint themselves as "Christians" in a cynical grab for the religious right's vote, but they are the very embodiment of Darwinism.

Their every policy single-mindedly promotes the survival of the fittest in the open market, (read, jungle).

And yet the troglodytes of the bible belt, whose analytical capacities don't go beyond stampeding at the crudest symbolism, fall for it every time.

What has Howard done to our beautiful country?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cancer-boy-ruled-not-sick-enough/2006/10/12/1160246262816.html

Quick! Hide the plasma TV! Vinnies pays a visit.

Just kidding. Of course DH doesnt own a plasma TV. But she feels as guilty as if she did. She doesn't look as poor as she is, and you would never guess from a first look at her place that she doesnt own a single item of furniture worth more than $60. The TV is eight years old, and the last time she bought a HiFi was in 1976. But it's amazing what you can do with 2 brightly coloured cushions, and a little Lack, Billy, and Klackbo. (And if you dont know what she's talkin' bout, you're clearly a traitor to Western values).

 

Why does she feel guilty? Well, she feels so sorry for the poor volunteers of St Vincents who are  being shamelessly exploited by the 3 Scrooges, Howard, Abbott and Costello, These poor people,  in their naivete. imagine that by giving up their precious hours after work, taking time away from their families, and wasting petrol to drive over with some electricity vouchers,  they are doing Christlike service for the poor, when in fact their main service is to make Costello look good on budget night, by doing for free what the Commonwealth Employment Service once did for award pay.

 

And in turn, people like DH have to play their part, and look suitably miserable, humble, contrite, and grateful.

 

Once the unemployed had rights. THeir benefits were enough to cover the utilities. Now they must beg.  They know the vouchers are out there, but they must needs open their homes to all comers for the privilege of getting a $30 voucher. (Actually come to think of it electricity is a State matter. You mean, Labor set up this appalling arrangement with the churches???)  

 

Well, DH;s place looks good and cheerful, and she wouldnt be caught dead in grubby trackie-daks. So she found herself feeling she had to do something to make her visitors feel the trip was worth the effort. And before you knew it, she was whining and carrying on as if she was in the confessional booth, forgive me father, for I spent $12 on the cushions, but the keyboard is not mine, and anyway its broken, and dont be fooled by the speakers, I picked them up at cleanup day, and and and

 

BTW for the benefit of the downwardly envious, DH does have some part-time work. But most of it will go in Govt clawbacks, and as for the Dept of Housing, she's afraid they'll go into fibrillations when they have to work out her new rent based on a variable hour casual short term contract.

 

 

 

 

The Heart of Chairman John

What a dog's breakfast for us elites. There we were, up bright and early, Chairman Howard's Little Teal and Orange Work Book already filled in, ready to stream off with the begging bowl to earn a few cents towards our daily latte, and what do we find when when we open our favorite paper? That prancing dominatrix, that shameless hussy, Mistress Miranda Divine, strutting over our prone bodies, her stiletto heel grinding our faces in the dirt, giving us all a wide-open view of her brains.

But our Miranda is a versatile lass: not only can she can dish it out and whip the paying customers into a frenzy, she also knows how to crawl on all fours, grovelling before the stern magisterial figure of her Prime Minister. Oh the exquisite pleasure it must have given her to write this:

Unusually for the Prime Minister, he did not speak off the cuff but read a prepared speech typed on 15 cream-coloured A4 pages, with paragraphs scratched out and typos corrected with his own black pen. He wrote the first draft, which was then polished by his economics adviser and speechwriter,

His Own Black Pen! O my Goodness! What a clever Prime Minister! And all his own work too, no doubt, except for just the teensiest bit of help from his speech-writer!

And thank god our PM keeps us mindful still of the perils of the cold war... the spectre once again haunts Australia, the spectre of Knopfles and Santamaria. Note to self. Forget Centrelink appointment today - hide under bed till danger passes!

But oh, Miranda, the unkindest cutlet of all!

The consensus after the dinner of beef carpaccio and roast lamb (no vegans invited) was that the Prime Minister's speech was perhaps his finest ...

Devil house the hindmost:

Some "Newstart", when your family can't afford a flat in any capital city in Oz!

According to the Rental Housing Affordability Bulletin, of the Tenants Union of Victoria, a survey of rental housing conducted last Thursday for job seekers and singles on the minimum wage, found

For job seekers receiving Newstart allowance there are no affordable flats in any capital city anywhere in Australia. Sharing doesn't help, with only three affordable properties available in Melbourne, three in Adelaide and none everywhere else. Two parent, two child families (seeking work) had very scant prospects also, with fewer than 10 properties available in every city except Melbourne, where there were 24. Nothing affordable was available for families in the ACT or Perth.

(adapted from a Press Release from Shadow Minister for Housing, Sen Kim Carr)

And the culprit?

Public Tenant No. 1

... as usual ...

Howard and Co have slashed $3.2 billion out of public housing over 10 years
so devil, or your friendly local slum landlord, take the hindmost!

Jeremiad on a looming breach.

DH has failed to apply for the full 8 jobs this fortnight. She couldn't force herself. She could not satisfy that dour and socially disconnected male deity, the Protestant Suit-God Melocha, and his representative here on earth, that puling, creeping piece of banality-of-minor-evil, John Howard

Here is what she did over the last 2 weeks, and what the life of a real flesh and blood woman and carer looks like, unlike some bloodless unit of production in the mind of some H R Nicholls Society dweeb, to be shunted around like some robot. Try shoehorning this into a desk job, or, here's a good idea, why not make DH stand at the checkout at Woolies for a 6 hour shift to redeem her debt to society. How about it? Is what follows not worth $125 a week?

7 amateur musical performances over the weekends, bake cakes as gift to cast members, bump out the production, sleep off the accumulated exhaustion, coping with post-production blues, of self and especially daughter, struggling with her own conscience to defend a disabled person with a neurological disorder from hell from the bullying of her exasperated fellow cast members, risk being tarred with the same brush, have mixed results, feel like a failure, deal with the emotional fallout and depression, spend several hours on the phone dissecting the micro-economics of bullying and power with other mothers within the disability community, doing after all women's "work" of binding community together in a network of talk and analysis, accompanying friend who has just discovered newborn daughter has a neurological disorder to Westmead to hear the prognosis, support her through the emotional fallout of that, attend the final day of a course on computer graphics, and spend another day practising her new skills lest she forget them, doing 2 hours paid work, and spending 7 unpaid hours brushing up her skills to do it, , sleeping off a viral infection after weeks of coughing, and aching joints, and no, damned if she's going to go begging to some gate-keeping son of a doctor's mother, to get a certificate, wake several nights weeping over unrequited loves, console herself with some timely advice from Germaine Greer, attend meeting with a social worker trying to help her daughter move out of a life of almost complete isolation, and arrange action plan, accompany daughter on long trip to distant TAFE which has a suitable course for her, attend inaugural meeting of her local community's "Ways and Means" committee, take minutes, babysit and adore new goddaughter, attend community-building workshop run by local council, attend party political meetings, clean the house, tear hair out at inability to create a system that works with all the goddam paperwork (see picture), try and find time for at least one good latte and chatter, visit mother at nursing home, spend 1/2 hour each day on phone to mother, tear hair out at constantly losing keys and glasses and inability ever to find ringing mobile in handbag shell game, wage bitter political battle, and lose, in group she helped found, deal with emotional fallout of that, and of course, exercise, cook, clean, shop, garden, worry about money, including feeling rich on counting up the contents of the silver coin jar, and finding still have $11 left till pension day 5 days hence, which augmented by $25 food voucher, and approx $30 overlimit credit she might will just about get her through, upgrade her resume (a day's work in itself), register with seek.com, apply for several jobs, each of which take at least an hour and more, ring around, do tax returns, build Aussie Mateship social capital by smiling benevolently on trainful of yobbos from Qld come for the NRL grand final and pretending to give a damn about who wins, and of course, working on this blog, which is DH's work of art after all, and attempt to speak for other sole parent housos who are struggling to have some kind of a life with their kids, and stay afloat under the punitive depredations of Howard and co's "Workchoices" which are no choices at all.

What more can they ask of any human being?

Welfare to Workhouse: Howard's "Deadbeat Dad" state abuses the bride and abandons the kids

DH has been reading a new report Poverty and Family Life under Welfare-to-Work: The Continuing Failure of Welfare Policy. (Helen Cameron, University of Sth Australia)

It's a great kick-ass report even if it does state the bleedin' obvious. After years in the big filing cabinet for human creativity called University, DH has been browbeaten into accepting that we need this kind of work to stick it to policy wonks in language they can't turn their noses up at. And, of course, preparing this kind of study does keep the middle classes off the streets and feeling important. DH is not knocking it - she may well end up being tidied up into something similar again soon. She's not about to turn her nose up at the last boat out of under-class stigma, marginalisation, and lack of status.

Though give DH a good cartoonist anytime to say the same thing without the verbiage.

But for those of you who get off on this kind of earnest thing, here are some great quotes.

The welfare-to-work "solution" can be thought of as a match made in hell. It puts poor mothers who need the most support and flexibility into jobs in the low-wage labor market which often are the most inflexible [and] have the least family-necessary benefits (Albelda 2000, p.32).

Meahan (2005) notes the ‘precarious positions of single parent families’ under Workchoice policy and about this pushing parents into an underpaying labour market without any beneficial impacts on their life chances or those of their children

[We should avoid ...] any approach that further demonises these families through suggesting they are responsible for their circumstances. ... our silence about poverty[... is] part of a social redefinition that dampens empathy and blocks any transformation of the circumstances of the poor. These parents are raising the next generation however and any processes that further limit these families’ life chances is an act against the future.

Read the whole thing at

http://www.uq.edu.au/swahs/welfaretowork/HelenCameronPaper.pdf

Welfare Bermuda Triangle

Can the Bermuda Triangle migrate in the manner of the hole in the ozone layer? If so, it's hovering right over DH"s place.

Consider all that has gone missing lately

• Letter from Centrelink promised Wed Sep 13 (see below) advising DH of her work capacity test appointment (without which she has been told she cannot join Job Network
• Response from D'oH to job application sent several months ago. (DH just rang to inquire, but was advised that decision was made ages ago and she didnt get the job. However no courtesy letter saying yay or nay has been rec'd from our ever efficient department)
• Application form for another position in D'oH promised 5 days ago
• One charity volunteer supposed to bring Electricity Vouchers (great move from Howard. Charity means never having to say "We're accountable", on the ground that it's charity and recipients should be grateful)
• Food vouchers from charity. (see previous point on accountability). "Oops, we forgot to bring them, but never mind, we'll send them tomorrow with our other volunteer" (see previous point on missing volunteer ).
  That was a week ago. Just as well DH borrowed money from elsewhere to tide her over
  
• And last but not least, D'oH contract tradespeople are notorious for disappearing without trace on the appointed day

OTOH, this theory breaks down somewhat when you consider the deluge of paperwork that arrives from Centrelink - see the little beaudies on the right...