I realise where you are coming from & appreciate this. About a month ago I drove my elderly mother over to the Pension mob to drop off some papers she had to drop in regarding a few small investments she has. I was obsolutely amazed at how many young seeminly able bodied people were there. A guy walked past, said g'day, I realised it was a guy I hadn't seen for years, he was going outside for a smoke, I went with him for a chat, he now works for them. I asked what the go was with all the younger people there, his reply floored me. Although there were people there for different reasons the bulk were NOT working. Remember years ago before the resources boom Howard wanted to get the numbers down on the dole so he transfered many onto pensions so they didn't show up in the stats. Because he did that many people who could have worked do not because it is much harder to prove someone can work if they have already been put on a disability or whatever pension. I f these people were allowed to stay on unemployment instead of being used as a convenience we would be in a different position. He would not go into figures which I understood however he did say if it wern't for these people hidden our unemployment figures wouldn't be so rosy. I think Howard is terrified of what he & his band of ??? have done that will become public knowledge after the election. Bring it on I say.
