People are forgetting something. All the Government is doing is removing the 'shield' from single mothers' pensions prior to July 2006. Why should a take payer pay for a mother to be a drain on the system until the youngest child turns 16yrs? The rule is that a Partnered Parenting Payment converts to Newstart when a child turns 6 or 8 if a SMP. One rule for all is better. Sometimes the Government gets it right.
A mother will still get $442/FN and because the children are at school she can earn some $$$. Looking at the rates it does trim your NS at a higher rate than the SMP for each dollar you earn plus it means a full Concession card doesn't apply for NS. Basically the Government inadvertly creates an incentive for the mother to 'diddle' NS because they'll just apply for jobs they won't get. The Gov allows $62/FN earnings and then gouges 50c in the dollar between $62 and $250 and then 60c. SMP trims 25c and 30c respectively. That's a more acceptable trimming. As the larger trimming just forces people to not work or else they end up on the extreme poverty line.
When you really look into the Parliarmentary Acts covering Centrelink payments you have a better understanding of why people stay on the dole. It's geared to encourage non participation.
Anyway, in WA you can now adopt an Asylum Seeker and get $130/week and the Gov is encouraging to adopt 2...,this scheme has fail written all over it.
