Australian Reforms

Single Parents
From July 2006 Australian single parents who were new applicants for welfare and whose youngest child was 8 or older, were no longer eligible for the Parenting Payment but would qualify for the unemployment benefit (Newstart Allowance) for unemployed people actively looking for work.
Currently those on the Parenting Payment whose youngest child turns 6 are expected to look for work. When that child turns 8 the beneficiary is transferred to the unemployment benefit. The numbers of people receiving the Parenting Payment have dropped 22 percent to 339,000 but some of this reduction will be simply transfer to the unemployment benefit.

Disability Pensions
Also under the Howard government new applicants for the disability pension deemed capable of working 15 hours a week were similarly put on the Newstart allowance and work-tested. The numbers on a Disability Pension have continued to rise and at July 2009 stand at 757,000.

(At March 2010 there is no work-test on New Zealand’s domestic purposes sickness or invalid benefits.)

Benefit Quarantining
A process of quarantining benefits has been developed and is being extended to other non-Aboriginal communities. Quarantining involves part payment of benefit in cash and the remainder via a SmartCard which can only be used to buy essentials. The reduction in cash protects the beneficiary from theft and the SmartCard means that children, in particular, are being fed and clothed adequately. The potential for benefit money to be misspent is reduced.