I wasn’t planning on writing about personal issues on this blog, but I couldn’t help notice the headlines in the paper a few weeks ago…
I resent the term “dole bludger” being thrown around willy-nilly. I’m talking about this article, which appeared last month as a front page news headline. Really, this is not at all a politically correct phrase. It’s *absolutely* derogatory and offensive and I begin to fume with anger whenever I see supposedly “unbiased journalism” articles continually referring to this terminology in national papers such as the Telegraph and the Herald.
This is not a term that should be thrown around lightly. It’s *not* the 1980’s anymore. Since when did this term become acceptable to use in the national media?
I think this is a sorely outdated term and it *completely* isolates & alienates the thousands of people on legitimate welfare who ARE genuinely trying to seek employment (or self-employment).
April 26, 2016. Rant begins.
Case in point, I am unemployed and finally negotiating my very first freelance contract for illustration work! Yay! I am also applying for NEIS scheme now. But I stop for a coffee and see this as the headline today in the Telegraph. How do you think it makes me feel? Knowing that I too have used a medical certificate once in the last 12 months due to a real sickness? Yes I have. I admit it. Why? Because I was truly too sick to work.
Do people really think that underemployed people never get sick? Are we expected to get paid well below minimum wage “looking for work is a full time job” with zero sick benefits now? How does that work for people genuinely seeking work?
The fact is, some (most?) people DO have legitimate reasons for not being able to work straight away after their last employment. In my case, things like divorce and the simultaneous death of family members in the very same week. Big massive life changes that would rock anyone’s boat.
So I resent the accusation. I resent it on behalf of ALL unemployed and under-employed citizens. How about calling us that? Citizens. You know, we still have the right to RESPECT.
In fact, if anything, labelling everyone as “dole bludgers” has the very opposite effect for people with real mental health issues such as depression. It’s going to make them feel 10x worse. How do I know? Well, because I most definitely suffer from chronic depression (clinically diagnosed) and reading it certainly makes ME feel like shit and I’m already over the worst of my depression.
Other people though may just read these kinds of articles and be affected by them so much that they require even more time off to recover from basically being made to “feel worthless” all the time when they are really not. Sometimes it is the little things, not the big things that matter. If you don’t believe that, go and read up about chaos theory.
It is well known that two underlying attributes/causes of depression are feeling guilt and a sense of worthlessness. Fact: a lot of unemployment *is* due to low-self esteem. So I think you should be ashamed of yourselves over at the Telegraph HQ for this feature. Really.
How about interviewing people in the know and them offering their solutions to the media so that politicians can read them? How about that? Do we ever see that?
How about the government giving away free non-transferable hairdresser salon vouchers to all unemployed people? How about making them/us feel great about looking for a job? Give them a makeover. “Yes, you are going to look and feel fantastic after this!!”
Because the way it is right now, with people paying rent, food and other bills, well, they CANNOT EVEN AFFORD A HAIRDRESSER OR A PAIR OF DECENT NEW SHOES TO BOOST THEIR CHANCES BEFORE AN INTERVIEW, CAN THEY?
How about **helping** people a bit more instead of bagging them out all the time? You know, good old fashioned POSITIVITY? Where did that go I wonder?
Because by being all “hardcore” and shit on the 77,000 “worst offenders”, you may just be making it that much worse for the other 700,000 unemployed.
AND HOW ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS ACTUALLY GET UP OFF THEIR FAT ARSES FOR A CHANGE AND CRACK DOWN ON THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRULY ROOTING THE SYSTEM!? ACTUALLY DO/TRY SOMETHING NEW ABOUT IT FOR ONCE.
How about finding out the real reasons that they (the hardcore abusers) don’t want to work? Just asking people “Why don’t you want to work?” (and say to them and mean it: there won’t be any negative repercussion of you tell us the real reason). So. You find out that they prefer surfing or golf? Actually help them find a job related to surfing or golfing then!! Either focus on their skills, their passions, or both.
Solve the core issues first, then Australia won’t have an unemployment problem at all.
More money for all mental health workers such as psychologists & counsellors is where I would start. 110% Find out peoples real problems for finding/avoiding work.
But also use these same health workers to find out the reasons why journalists love to throw the term “dole bludger” around ad hoc. Maybe they have some issues themselves? Most likely good old-fashioned bullying at work there. I.e. making others feel like shit for no other reason than to make other people feel even shitter than they already do.
One of the things that has helped me more than anything is going to my psychologist once a month. Why can’t I go every two weeks if I need it? No, the government won’t pay me to see both a psychologist and a psychiatrist at the same time. 12 visits max per year is what I am told. Well I haven’t missed a single one. Yet when I was suicidally depressed, I had to wait ONE WHOLE MONTH to see my shrink. I was so bad I could have died. I should have access to one every week (or every day) if I need to, to help me become a fully-functioning member of society. Am I right or what?
In case someone is actually reading this rant, in my case the reason for low-self esteem are: depression; general anxiety disorder; the terrible state of the environment and the fact that nobody seems to really care about it². And to that list I am going to add: being in a group that is constantly labelled “dole bludger”.
[² except the aborigines funnily enough—and even their indigenous culture is referred to as ‘lazy’ when instead we should be looking at them as highly sustainable… indeed, they should be teaching *us* to put the environment before business, as the wise old fellow-scientist David Suzuki has proclaimed for serveral years now, that warning/suggestion too falling upon deaf ears in government]
And how about using some money from massive multinational companies using offshore tax-havens and put THAT back to use in a proper social welfare system? How about paying politicians a bit less? I mean, what the hell do they do all day I wonder? How about you go and pick on those corrupt bastards a bit more? You know, the ones that are taking Chinese bribes in the form of luxury watches. Those ones.
Excessive greed does far worse to this planet than sheer bone-idle laziness.
And while I’m at it, how about stopping the bloody horrible Adani Carmichael coal mine from being built in QLD during a global warming emergency… so I actually feel good about working for society and a better planet for once and not always contributing to fucking it up via carbon emissions like most working/commuting people do on a daily basis? How about doing some nosy reporting on that issue????? Eh?
Right. So. You know, I actually went in to the employment agency, Max Employment, way back in the beginning (first 6-12 weeks) when I was feeling good about finding work, and I asked them: “are there any courses that I can attend to help me to find work?” The answer: “No, you are not in that phase yet, you don’t have access to that level of support.” That right there is another problem… support the people more in the beginning, and crack down hard on the ones that have been unemployed for 3+ years. Offer them a $5-15 grand bonus with a NEIS scheme. Make it easier for them to do something else and they will practically run away from the dole.
And another thing, improve the computers at these agencies because they are UTTER SHITE. How can I look for work (fast) on an old computer seemingly from the year 2000 with a dodgy mouse for example? Why doesn’t the clever journalist who wrote this piece check things like that out too?
So I ask, no, DEMAND that you kindly refer to us as unemployed or underemployed not “dole bludgers”.
Rant ends.
Sincerely,
Dr. Leslie Dean Brown
www.lesliedeanbrown.com
www.VidaEnigmatica.org
P.S: I’m actually enrolled in the NEIS course now.
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