MEDIA RELEASE
GOODOOGA NSW
17 AUGUST 2010
ECKFORD says: “Forced relocation is not an acceptable policy.”
The PM Julia Gillard made an announcement that people will be obligated to relocate from their current homes to take up jobs elsewhere, or they will loose their welfare payments.
Michael Eckford and his running partner, Ms Crisalee Stevens, independent Senate candidates for NSW, argue that this policy is ill-founded and fundamentally flawed.
“This statement clearly demonstrates how out of touch PM Julia Gillard is with the real and desperate situation of our marginalized unemployed. If Gillard’s government had given real thought to this policy they would realize that there is a desperate shortage of affordable housing through out this country.”
“PM Gillard never mentioned that she would assist State housing authorities to build and provide low-cost housing.”
“PM Gillard failed to consider the social impacts that will result from this disastrous relocation policy. Eckford said, “Aboriginal people in NSW lived through the same policy in the mid 1970s only to realize that such a policy will cause family hardship, isolation, lack of family support networks, all of which has caused and inflamed complete family dysfunction.”
“The social and economic impacts on the people and the communities, where they will relocated to, will be very significant. History shows that stress and anxiety will result and petty crime will emerge a s a survival mechanism for those who will not cope.”
“Forced relocation is not an acceptable policy. Gillard’s so-called gift of $3000 and $6000 for those who relocate will barely meet the cost of moving and locating private rental accommodation.
Eckford concludes, “Those who are being targeted by Gillard’s policy are non-skilled or semi-skilled people. With the economists forecasting a double-dip economic downturn towards the end of the year or early next year, it can be guaranteed that these people who make the move will be the losers. This will create major social and economic disaster for the families concerned and Gillard has failed to talk of a safety net for these people.”
“As an independent Senator for NSW I will make every effort within the Parliament to make sure, if Gillard as PM implements this policy, I will vigorously pursue a safety net that will ensure the social and economic well-being for those who will affected.”
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