In the context of the current exchange of mutual accusations of misogyny between the Gillard government and the Abbott opposition, it is shamefully unedifying to note precisely who the perennially easy targets of the latest federal cost-cutting measures are.
At least 100,000 single parents, the vast majority of whom are single mothers, are to have their parenting payments cut, and instead will receive Newstart payments, potentially forcing them to support their families on a payment that is $130 below the poverty line for a single jobseeker with no dependants.
An ALP policy, supported by the Coalition opposition, which potentially forces single mothers into a cycle of poverty and facilitates inter-generational social disadvantage and long-term welfare dependence, all for the sake of a paltry, one-off $1.5 billion budget surplus?
"Misogynistic" is just one adjective that springs to mind.
Michelle Goldsmith,
Eaglehawk