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Misdirected Criticism of Welfare - Again!

A seemingly very frustrated Tony Nicholson, Executive Director of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, in an op-ed piece in The Age responds to a Michelle Grattan column [in The Age on 3/5] and tackles Minister Mal Brough's approach to the plight of the Aboriginal people in communities scattered throughout the Northern Terrority.

As Nicholson says:

"But perhaps the ultimate indictment of Brough's idea is that it highlights the failure of his Government in his own portfolio area. Arguably the greatest cause of school absenteeism and poor health among Australian children is family homelessness. Last year, by the Government's own figures, more than 40,000 children accompanied their parents into services for the homeless. And, more than half a million poor Australian families are struggling to meet essential costs of living after paying rent in the private rental market."

Nicholson's piece [read it all here] details, from the perspective of a professional, and someone at the cutting edge - and not cloistered in Canberra - what the real issues are and how they ought to be dealt with. Remember too, especially on the eve of the Federal Budget, that Nicholson refers to "half a million families" - which totals how many individuals?

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