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Articles on Welfare reform

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Former Minister for Human Services Stuart Robert during hearings for the robodebt royal commission. Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme/AAP

‘The culmination of years of suffering’: what can we expect from the robodebt royal commission’s final report?

Beware those who offer ‘cultural’ fixes and non-binding reassurances. The government shouldn’t fall back on the very institutions that never fully acted until a royal commission.
President Biden and Vice President Harris met on Feb. 12, 2021, with governors and mayors to discuss supporting them in the fight against COVID-19. Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images

The Trump administration feuded with state and local leaders over pandemic response – now the Biden administration is trying to turn back a page in history

People can die when the federal government doesn’t work well with state and local governments – the COVID-19 crisis showed that. But the Biden administration has signaled an openness to collaboration.
Grants were found to help improve the health, including mental health, of women. EFE-EPA/Aaron Ufumeli

Landmark study shows how child grants empower women in Brazil and South Africa

Findings show that income transfer programmes must operate in deliberate coordination with ancillary social service institutions to deliver the maximum benefits for women’s empowerment.
One of the recommendations by a welfare advisory group was to raise benefit levels by up top 47%, but the government has rejected it, for now. from www.shutterstock.com

Why New Zealand’s government cannot ignore major welfare reform report

Ardern’s coalition government promised to overhaul New Zealand’s welfare system, but its response to a comprehensive report by an expert advisory group has been disappointing at best.
Volunteers prepare food parcels for vulnerable individuals and families at the Black Country Food Bank. David Jones/PA Archive/PA Images

Food banks are becoming institutionalised in the UK

Food banks should not be “normal” and yet they are rapidly becoming an accepted substitute for welfare in the UK.
Women of the Peppimenarti community, about 320 km south-west of Darwin. The statistics suggest Indigenous households in remote and very remote areas are more effective at managing money to avoid hardship. AAP Image/Dan Peled

Traditional culture may help Indigenous households manage money better

We decided to dig into the statistics and compare the experience of financial stress in Indigenous and non-Indigenous households. Our findings surprised us.
The Department of Human Services approach to social security fraud prosecutions has become less punitive in recent years. Julian Smith/AAP

Why prosecutions for welfare fraud have declined in Australia

Despite a public focus on punitive approaches to welfare fraud, the number of social security fraud prosecutions has fallen in recent years.
When an ageing person is forced to move out of their family home, that can trigger a host of problems that policy is doing little to prevent. Diego Cervo/Shutterstock

For Australians to have the choice of growing old at home, here is what needs to change

Millions of older Australians live in houses that don’t safely meet their needs, but they’re not ready for a nursing home. Lack of suitable housing and the moving costs leave them with nowhere to go.
At present, 15% of Australians experience food insecurity while 40% of food is discarded before it reaches the market. reuters

Hunger in the lucky country – charities step in where government fails

Despite Australia being considered the ‘lucky country’, 15% of us still experience food insecurity. Meanwhile, 40% of edible food is thrown away before it even reaches the market.
When President Bill Cllinton officially ended welfare as we knew it, he was flanked by women who had received Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Reuters/Stephen Jaffee

Welfare as we know it now: 6 questions answered

Trump’s rationale for cutting the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program rests on a myth at odds with contemporary data.

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