1. Mr Smith is a widow, he is 64 owns his own home in Blaxland valued at $250 000, owns a car valued at $8000 and has personal possessions valued at $40 000 and has not worked in 4 years.

2. Frank is 19, left school at 16 and has never had a full time job. He lives with friends in Mt Druitt.

3. Fiona is 23, she is a single parent with two children aged 6 and 3; her ex-boyfriend has just kicked her out of his home. She now has nowhere to live, she hasn’t spoken to her parents since she fell pregnant with her first child and has very few friends that can accommodate her family for more than a couple of days. She works 3 nights a week when her best friend minds the children and earns $540 net a fortnight, she can’t work more or different hours and she does not have anyone else who can mind the kids. She has had no contact with the children’s father for over 2 years.

Australians pride themselves as living in “The Lucky Country,” and it is therefore only fair that we live up to this name. Sure, the government and legal systems recognise the SED, however they do not always sufficiently provide for them, nor do they make it simple for people to obtain these benefits even to those who are truly eligible. Although, there have been many recent changes to the welfare system, such as improved funding, simplifying the Family Tax Benefits and renewing the Age Pension scheme, what constantly lies underneath the glory is the black and ugly issues of poverty, hardship and simple exploitation of the SED. The legal system needs to focus on the enormous gap between rich and poor, and I am referring to people relying on the welfare system. There are people anywhere from under the poverty line, all the way to middle income earners and I do not see this as being a fair system. The legal system does recognise some needs of the SED, however it lacks to understand the ‘real’ problems faced by these people.

Under the Australian Constitution, the Federal Government has the power to make social security payments. This is done under the Social Security Act 1991 and the Veterans Entitlement Act 1986. The Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, is in charge of the Australian Social Security System. The department is responsible for income support, housing policy, community support, disability services, childcare services and various family issues. The department spends around $55 billion a year on providing its programs and services. In 1977 FaCS established Centrelink, which delivers income support payments and services on behalf of the department to nearly 7 million people.

The Commonwealth spends nearly 1/3 of its budget spending on Social Welfare and is constantly trying to improve the system. However, the following news releases give a different view of the system relate to the scenarios above. The “Increase to Family Tax Benefit a Boost for families” article posted on the Centrelink site on the 19th June 2001 links to scenario 3. The article discusses the new simplified Family Benefits Payments and the “increase of 3.1 per cent for the Family Tax Benefit from 1 July this year to help them meet the cost of raising their children.” The article states that, “The introduction of the Family Tax Benefit in July 2000 put an extra $2 billion into the pockets of Australian families.” These changes directly affected the benefits available to Fiona, and also the payments she would receive. It is encouraging to see more and more benefits for the Social Security system. It is also evidence of the recognition of the SED by the government, as it is constantly trying to reform, improve and boost funding for the system. In the article “Gap between rich and poor widens,” from The Australian 6 August, 1999, discusses the aims of the government and how they are trying to eliminate this ‘gap.’ Employment services Minister T

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