According to data released recently by the Australian Welfare Agency (Centrelink), the number of teenage parents receiving relief has plummeted by 13 percent, suggesting that the welfare policy reforms introduced by the Federal goverment have worked. But welfare groups point out that the change is linked to a sharp decline in teenage pregnancy rates.
Parents of adolescents receiving relief plummet
, Unionparty government has carried out radical reforms to Australia's welfare policy since taking office, such as the introduction of the "go-to-work" (Earn or Learn) program, which has made it more difficult for young people to apply for relief, the Australian wide Network reported on the 21st. At the same time, there is a higher demand for recipients of benefits. Federal Social Services Secretary Porter (Christian Porter) said recently that welfare policy reforms have begun to really work.
According to figures released by the Australian Welfare Department, the number of parents of 19-year-olds and under receiving income subsidies fell to 27,940 in 2016 from about 32,000 in 2013.
Porter said that while there is no way to be sure, there are signs that many teenage parents have found jobs to feed their families on their own hands. "this is a very positive signal that welfare policy reform is not only a better result for adolescent parents, but it also means about 2 billion yuan in taxpayer savings," he said.
New deal promotes youth self-reliance
Goldie (Cassandra Goldie) of (Australian Council of Social Service), Australia's Social Services Council, said the reduction in the number of parents receiving relief for adolescents was "very significant". She also said she would like to know more about the teenage parents' withdrawal from the welfare system, such as whether their lives are getting better.
"We need more information to determine whether this is good news or whether we should invest more attention," she said. "after all, income subsidies for young parents in need of help have been eliminated." In addition, she cited a set of data to illustrate that, for example, the number of pregnant girls fell to 8574 in 2015, from 11,240 in 2012.
However, Porter points out that the reform of the welfare system is not simply a tightening of welfare policy, it can also change the perception that if some people become parents at a young age, And that doesn't mean they can't be self-reliant through paid work.
Unemployment benefit students sharply reduced
In fact, the number of students receiving relief fell even higher. In 2016, the number of students receiving unemployment benefits directly after graduation fell 10 percent from the previous year to about 4850.
The federal goverment is particularly concerned about the two groups, as a detailed analysis of the welfare system found that the two groups, together with newcomers, were most likely to become long-term dependants of the welfare system. According to analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an accounting firm, young students have relied on the welfare system for an average of 37 years, compared with 45 years for teenage parents.
However, the elimination of parental benefits for adolescents is a complex task. The majority of these teenage parents are single parents, more than half of whom have not completed 12th grade and about 14 per cent are victims of domestic abuse. This is why the federal goverment has reformed the welfare system in order to provide early intervention to these "high-risk" groups and to address the problems they face in a timely manner.
