Dear Friends,
I started this campaign because single parents like me are living below the poverty line after cuts to the government assistance that helps us feed and clothe our kids.
Will you buy vegetables for the family, pay the electricity bill, or buy the kids' school shoes? You can only afford one.
That's the choice single parent families like mine are facing, after both major parties supported a cut to the parents' allowance this year. It's now only $35 a day. It's hard to believe this is happening in Australia.
Welfare groups like Mission Australia report they are being inundated by single parents who need charity to keep their children fed and clothed because of the cuts. There are over 575,000 Aussie kids living below the poverty line, and a huge number are in single parent families.
With 68% of Australian single parents already working, these payments are not any incentive to work, but punishment for being a sole parent.
Since these draconian cuts, thousands of families have been pushed deeper into poverty. Many of those who have work find themselves in insecure, casual employment, as they are the only jobs available for those needing flexible hours for their children. Will you sign my petition for single parent families?
http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/demand-single-parent-family-support
Thank you,
Kathy Lee
Comments
What increasing Newstart is about
On 1 January 2013, the Government dealt a blow to more than 84,000 single parent families throughout Queensland.
Pushing parents onto Newstart with cuts of up to $120 per week, makes the tough choices they already face even tougher.
When these cuts kicked in January this year, many families suffered.
Sally,* a single mum with three children, wept when she heard about the changes to Newstart. She balances casual work with a government agency, studying part-time, and caring for her school-aged children. Now she needs to find more work to make ends meet, while still getting home when her 8 year old son returns from school. Or she must find and afford after school care so that she can manage to go to work.
Life is hard for many families and they need support from our government now.
You can support Queensland’s families by joining the Greens' campaign to lift the base rate of Newstart by $50 per week and an additional payment of $40 per week for single parents.
You can help this campaign by:
1) Joining your local Newstart campaign team by sending an email to campaigns@qld.greens.org.au,
2) Downloading the petition attached with this email to collect signatures and send it back to us,
3) Signing the petition online and promoting it through your network of friends and supporters - click here,
4) Promoting this petition online to your friends on Facebook - click here.
The payment rates of Newstart sit well below the poverty line. Australian Greens Senator Rachel Seiwert has two bills dedicated to making life easier for single parents. Read more about her work here: http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/single-parents
Please support the Greens’ call to help Australians out of poverty by signing our petition now on http://qld.greens.org.au/newstartpetition
Yours sincerely,
Michael Kane
QLD Greens Campaign Organiser
campaigns@qld.greens.org.au
PS: You can donate $10 or more to support the Newstart campaign by clicking here
New, independent Single Parents Party to run for Senate seats
Thanks for signing the petition to support single parents. We're delivering it to the major parties before the election - but that's not enough, and we need your help in the next 4 days.
If we really want to make a difference, we need to step up. That's why we're also starting a new, independent political party: the Single Parents Party. We will run real single parents in senate seats in the election.
The Single Parent Party will stand up for the rights of single parents and children. We will fight to improve legislation and services for all single parent families.
We will push for parenting payments for ALL single parents, more support for those working and studying, a rise in the amount you can earn before losing any of your payments, and more help with childcare placements and costs.
Please help our voice be heard and become a member at http://www.singleparentsparty.org.au
Joining is free and takes 90 seconds. You can leave any time, and there's none of the rubbish that the major parties do. No membership fees, no branch-stacking and endless arguing. Just a dedicated group of Australians with a clear message who need your support.
Kathy Lee