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Welfare benefits stripped from migrants


Peach

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Newly-arrived migrants will have to wait longer before receiving a range of welfare payments under a hardline new approach expected to save $1.3 billion.

It will be three years before migrants can receive Newstart or family tax benefits, paid parental leave or carer allowances.

The push to "encourage self-sufficiency" among new migrants was one of the headline savings measures announced by Treasurer Scott Morrison in a mid-year budget outlook on Monday.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter suspects many people would be surprised to learn migrants could access some family and parental payments immediately after arriving in Australia.

 

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/welfare-payments-stripped-from-migrants

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2 hours ago, Parley said:

Fair enough I think.

Most migration is supposed to be skills based, fulfilling a need for a skill that Australia doesn't have.

Is there ant justification for migrants to come over and receive welfare when they haven't been paying tax previously ?

A skill doesn't guarantee a job though does it. 

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3 hours ago, Parley said:

Fair enough I think.

Most migration is supposed to be skills based, fulfilling a need for a skill that Australia doesn't have.

Is there ant justification for migrants to come over and receive welfare when they haven't been paying tax previously ?

Apart from the family tax credit thing, which is supposed to ensure that children don't suffer hardship, there is very little if any welfare suport for the first two years at present. You can't just swan in and claim dole etc straightaway.

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3 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Apart from the family tax credit thing, which is supposed to ensure that children don't suffer hardship, there is very little if any welfare suport for the first two years at present. You can't just swan in and claim dole etc straightaway.

I thought they were taking away the family tax credit too for migrants? Tbh I'm more worried about the uni fees as I have 3 teenagers and wouldn't be able to afford international fees upfront ???

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47 minutes ago, KangaKit said:

I thought they were taking away the family tax credit too for migrants? Tbh I'm more worried about the uni fees as I have 3 teenagers and wouldn't be able to afford international fees upfront ???

It looks like they are.taking the family credit away. I was commenting on things as they are at present, where most migrants only get the family credit anyway and have to wait two years for everything else. That article makes it sound as if migrants get all benefits straightaway!.

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All those years ago when we first came to Australia they stressed that we were on our own finances and we couldn't claim any benefits for a couple of years.  They told us that before we came and also that if you got into serious trouble with the law you would be deported back to your country of origin. That clearly doesn't happen but it should- particularly for violent crimes.

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13 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

All those years ago when we first came to Australia they stressed that we were on our own finances and we couldn't claim any benefits for a couple of years.  They told us that before we came and also that if you got into serious trouble with the law you would be deported back to your country of origin. That clearly doesn't happen but it should- particularly for violent crimes.

Yes I've listened to lots of stories from folk who migrated in the 40's, 50's and 60's.  It was tough going but work was much easier to find then too.

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On ‎18‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 20:46, Toots said:

Yes I've listened to lots of stories from folk who migrated in the 40's, 50's and 60's.  It was tough going but work was much easier to find then too.

We came in 2007 and were told the same (about not being able to claim anything), as we were both working and above the threshold we were never able to claim anything at all 

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Personally, I'd go further (and this is speaking as a PR holder, not a citizen) and preclude anyone but citizens from receiving benefits.  After four years, and demonstrating a commitment to the country by taking citizenship, then a clearer case could be argued to say that you should have an 'entitlement' if you fall on hard times.  

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5 hours ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

Personally, I'd go further (and this is speaking as a PR holder, not a citizen) and preclude anyone but citizens from receiving benefits.  After four years, and demonstrating a commitment to the country by taking citizenship, then a clearer case could be argued to say that you should have an 'entitlement' if you fall on hard times.  

Is that really fair though when not every country allows dual citizenship? 

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On Monday, December 18, 2017 at 17:15, KangaKit said:

I thought they were taking away the family tax credit too for migrants? Tbh I'm more worried about the uni fees as I have 3 teenagers and wouldn't be able to afford international fees upfront ???

They don't have to go to Uni. Tell them to get a trade and earn some money.

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On Monday, December 18, 2017 at 20:32, starlight7 said:

All those years ago when we first came to Australia they stressed that we were on our own finances and we couldn't claim any benefits for a couple of years.  They told us that before we came and also that if you got into serious trouble with the law you would be deported back to your country of origin. That clearly doesn't happen but it should- particularly for violent crimes.

That's strange 'cos when we came in 92 we got unemployment benefit, rent relief and free day care for our 2 year old whilst we went job hunting.

We didn't know we would till we got here and friends we stayed with brought us forms and told us to get to Centrlink in Freo. They were really helpful.

My wife got a job after a couple of weeks so most of it stopped though. 

Made a nice change from queuing up for dole payouts in Clay Cross, which was just like the scene from the Full Monty. 

Here we sat in a nice waiting room watching the TV till the guy interviewed us in his office and told us everyting we could claim for. We were amazed.

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7 hours ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

Personally, I'd go further (and this is speaking as a PR holder, not a citizen) and preclude anyone but citizens from receiving benefits.  After four years, and demonstrating a commitment to the country by taking citizenship, then a clearer case could be argued to say that you should have an 'entitlement' if you fall on hard times.  

 

2 hours ago, Nemesis said:

Is that really fair though when not every country allows dual citizenship? 

Have to agree with Nemesis on this one.  Also, what about case where one person is a citizen and the other isn’t?  My OH and kids are all citizens but I haven’t got citizenship yet.  Should we also be precluded from benefits?

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10 hours ago, Paul1Perth said:

They don't have to go to Uni. Tell them to get a trade and earn some money.

Maybe they don't want a trade job..they still deserve to have options ..and they want to study degrees that give them a profession rather than a not so useful degree 

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15 minutes ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

If there's a commitment to the country you've moved to, do you really need more than one citizenship?

You never know what the future is going to bring.

In my case, I never thought I would have to come home to the UK but I had to in order to stay married. If i had been forced to renounce British citizenship in order to become Australian I could not have come home without getting a spouse visa for the UK - an impossibility because of the financial requirements. 

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2 hours ago, Nemesis said:

You never know what the future is going to bring.

In my case, I never thought I would have to come home to the UK but I had to in order to stay married. If i had been forced to renounce British citizenship in order to become Australian I could not have come home without getting a spouse visa for the UK - an impossibility because of the financial requirements. 

You would have been able to reclaim your citizenship after renouncing it.

That can be done.

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9 hours ago, KangaKit said:

Maybe they don't want a trade job..they still deserve to have options ..and they want to study degrees that give them a profession rather than a not so useful degree 

They deserve to have options but only as long as you can afford it. No sense putting extra pressure on everyone.

If you can afford it, fine.

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9 hours ago, Perthbum said:

Did any of you claim any benefits when you arrived in Oz?

Read my post above PB. We didn't realise till we got here that we would be able to claim anything but the guy at centrelink (might have been called something else in 92) was most helpful and told us everyting we could get.

We would have been silly not to claim.

As it turned out we only got the max for a couple of weeks as my missus started work. We've often joked about we should just have taken a year holiday, put the youngster in day care and buzzed off down the beach.?

We were both desperate to get jobs and start our life in Aus though. Obviously we wanted a house of our own and feel settled. Took nearly a year to be in a position to move to a suburb we love and out of rental.

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