Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Intro music]
[Intro music]
Even though you were told I don't think you realised the significant of it 'til
it happened. So as from the first of January ***, that just...
your money just went. As of first of January
I would be $176 dollars less off. $270 dollars a fortnight.
$250 dollars. $130 dollars a week.
$120 dollars a fortnight. I cried my whole
child's eighth birthday. I cried for the whole day.
I don't usually raise my voice and cry in Centrelink but
on my, the day after my son's birthday I did
and I'm glad the police weren't called.
I actually couldn't even afford, you know Christmas coming up everything like that,
my brother bought presents for her -
um, I was really quite devastated because I knew that I couldn't even work
full time until the end of the school holidays which is the end of January.
A bit low - you know, you're on this low status
I'm angry about it - I'm angry about it because what they're doing is they're breeding
the poor. When I think on a world scale we've been condemned by the UN
I feel like I've been slumped into
someone's.. in a in a position where I'm looked at as being
a bludger, I'm looked at as being a leech,
I'm looked at as having a good life and living off someone else's dollar.
With Newstart I couldn't
There just wasn't enough? Wasn't enough. Rent, bills, groceries, four boys? Yes, it wasn't enough.
By myself I have to go to school
to learn English. Weekends I go to clean people's house
to get the extra money and that's how I fufilled
my children's needs.
I couldn't buy my sons' school books,
school uniforms, school shoes
My son, my youngest son here Ewen,
he's got cystic fibrosis and I had him swimming
twice a week. I've cut that down to one.
And it's really hard -
you have to tell people about your financial situation which is really hard
to be able to, you know, get behind and let them understand that you pay it...
It's quite - it can be quite demoralizing.
So he was going to gymnastics - we can't do that now.
It was only $14 every Saturday. Um, so now we're lucky to have to $2
left after rent and grocery shopping and $20 bucks petrol
is paid out of the Newstart. You know
he's seem me crying and he's seen me
totally lose my ***! There might be a school excursion form,
a levy from, that's being kept in their school bag or hidden.
They don't want to stress me out with the burden and the stresses of having
to send them to these activities.
I suppose they have just been that many times now that I've had to say no
that she knows we're poor now and she actually says things sometimes about
you know what kind of clothes we have and
you know whether we can get new ones because she doesn't want to look poor
at school.
I also wrecked my car in February and I couldn't replace it.
I just didn't have the capacity to do that so we're still without a car which made
winter in Melbourne
very interesting - to and from school.
Sometimes I run out of washing powder - you know it's that basic.
The kids will go to bed, you're sitting there on your own,
and, what... oh...
and then you'll look in the wallet and you'll think OK, what can we do
you know. And God love my boys, you know they'll ask people
would you like me to mow your lawn or, you know. But I don't want them doing that either
because they're too young to be doing jobs like that.
They're men's jobs, not kids jobs. Within saying that
I actually do that here as well - I mow lawns
to get - that was how I got my extra hours - I mow lawns,
I got reception and I also, as from next week I'll be running a playgroup.
So I'm a variety - and I work in a coffee shop. So it's not like I do one job! It's all
But it's only different, like a few hours every day, so...
There are a lot of things that kids miss out on, you know, being
in a sole parent family. They don't have the dream of the Mum and the Dad.
There's no one to help with the extra load of the homework,
You know I feel like I need to take on a lot of roles. I've got to be the cook
I've got to be the cleaner, I've gotta be the
you know the funny person, I've got to be the very strict person...
Oh Mum I want this, oh Mum I want that. I can't buy that - I don't have enough money.
Do you want to eat tonight?
You know we are all different. I fight, now I study
I got a job. Life is getting better.
What about others - who are not strong?
Being a single mom I don't have
many people to rely on. It's just
basically me and my children.
I don't ask Salvation Army. I don't
ask Saint Vinnies. I don't ask any of them for any help.
I make sure all my money that I get from Centrelink is
to provide for the care of my children. See I've been getting very tired lately
and I try to pick up the books and I think there's something wrong with me, I've just got to
get a bit better, then I realise it's probably the stress that's making me
just tired. I really need to finish this course
and even if I had one day a week it would be great.
I just... no... I don't know what is ahead I really don't. There's nothing on the
horizon that makes me see that this
situation is going to get any better and I think that's the bearing down
feeling that I have every day. My thought process,
every single day, is worry, worry, worry.
You know I am scared. I do fear that when I'm
out of work, when I'm on between contracts, what will that mean for my kids?
Will that mean that I'll be able to still live in a home?
I don't know what I'm going to do. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do.
I don't know - probably go back to being homeless again.
The things that the kids miss out on as a consequence of these cuts
is to partake in in normal social,
healthy activities with their peers. Being part of that
community and playing sports together and being part of that.
I don't want my kids to end up like a lot of kids around here - on the street and
getting into mischief.
$48 dollars I pay a week, just for my children to do different sports.
A lot of those activities are actually, they're not just
teaching kids how to do something new, and they're not just a luxury social item,
or something like that. You know being a part of your local community is actually
really important.
Again part of that safety - it's just the village raising the child concept.
Bullying, racism - there's a lot of it around here.
What about depression - do you think there's that in the mix?
Yes 'cos there's a lot of our kids hurting themselves,
cutting. Some of them trying to
commit suicide. It depends whether you get to them in time.
The money they do get, they haven't got enough to do what they want. Like I know
with the Aboriginal kids, and
ones from TAFE, they're involved in a lot of sports.
And that's that age group. But a lot of them can't afford it,
so if they can't afford it then they don't go,
and they go and they're doing other things, mixing with the wrong crowds.
And you see some beautiful kids turning out to be horrors you know.
But it's not all their fault.
We're gonna look back at this time as a very shameful
part of our history. Particularly in single-parent families
the kids are a lot more aware of things, and they're already
growing up on the outside of society. So to then
make it even where they actually physically look like they're
on the out... you know... look poor
Um, I think it's... it's disgusting.
[Closing music]