Dear Prime Minister: Single mothers are asking for some hope
Single mothers have been consistently the most poverty-stricken household type, and the last Labor government infamously moved thousands onto the (then) NewStart Allowance. With the recent federal election outcome, Terese Edwards (@Terese_NCSMC) of the National Council for Single Mothers and Their Children shares an open letter to Anthony Albanese, who was himself raised by a single mother in difficult financial circumstances. Her letter is interspersed with the messages from single mothers to the new Prime Minister.
Dear Prime Minister,
Honour the parenting done all too often under incredibly stressful circumstances. Better policies would make a world of difference for struggling families. Photo credit: Ratna Fitny at Pixabay.
Congratulations on becoming Australia`s 31st Prime Minister. We heard and felt the immense pride when you spoke on Saturday night. We listened as you talked about your journey, the love, and the respect that you hold for your mother. Furthermore, you reached out and planted hope when you uttered the words, “No one left behind” and cheered when you reaffirmed the commitment for the “Uluru Statement from the Heart.”
My name is Terese Edwards and I have the honour of being the Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of Single Mothers & their Children Inc for over a decade. Our organisation has championed single mother families since 1973. My world is full of amazing women, women who fiercely love and protect their families - women who fully or mostly raise their children by themselves.
“There are too many gaps in the child support system, and me and my beautiful, kind, and heartbroken daughter have fallen through. I have been able to get on my feet again because of the support of my parents, but I work in homelessness services and meet far too many mums who do not have that privilege.”
We are diverse and our pathway into single parenting is varied but there are common themes. Mostly single parents are women and sadly too many are affected by gender violence which extends, commences, or escalates in separation. Financial hardship is not a choice but a constant presence. Unpaid care, both the direct and indirect costs, remain invisible within policy setting and under a conservative Government it was erased from the Child Support Scheme (CSS). The CSS does not reflect the system as created by the Brian Howe AO who still talks passionately about its enactment and laments its demise.
The policy settings which can be interpreted as unnecessarily cruel can be rectified, especially those that challenge and reduce our autonomy and financial security such as the cashless debit card and income management regimes. More recently we have entered a period of postcode policy. Blame is upon our shoulders whilst flawed policy can limit our capacity and resources.
“I was making good progress with my son prior to the change to parenting payment (8 years). He was improving at school and getting all the extra assistance I could find for him. That change to my payment changed our lives for the worse. I had to work longer hours. I could not take him to so many appointments. Firstly, because I could not afford them and secondly because I had to work.”
Findings and actions from reputable bodies such as the recent recommendations made by the Joint Parliament Human Rights Committee on a pre-program known as ParentsNext was ignored. However, we now have an opportunity to reimagine the program beyond its current manifestation of compulsion and suspension. Moreover, the previous government, rather than working with us or accepting recommendations from the United Nations as they investigated the allegation that Australia has violated single mothers’ Human Rights, sought for the complaint’s dismissal.
Findings did not alter the policy course – it just continued.
To engage with a new Government, The National Council of Single Mothers, and their Children (NCSMC) created a survey to give voice and present single mothers’ perspectives, asking them to rank statements from not important to extremely important with regards to their daily lives. It is a privilege to have this data which can be employed for more detailed policy discussion but there were some key findings from the 300+ single mothers. It may not surprise you that it is ‘extremely important’ for single mothers to provide the environment in which their children can have their own dreams, that they want to feel proud, and that every day they step-up and do their best, often when the other has stepped away. To this point, we are impatient for a new culture and policy deliberations, one which ceases the stigma and prejudice. It is time for the policy stick to be benched, we have felt it at every federal budget for well over a decade. It is accumulated pain.
"[I] want to be able to pay my rent, pay my bills and buy a full grocery shop every fortnight. I don’t want to have to Afterpay supermarket shopping so my kids can eat.”
Other Findings
66 % of respondents and or their children had experienced domestic violence
Close to 80% live with housing issues such as constant housing stress, sleeping rough and or homelessness.
42% sole parent have a disability or parent a child with disabilities.
39% of families were affected by the $1.7 B outstanding child support (which is underreported)
Simply put, 92% just want their family to feel safe, and resent the expectation to just ‘get over’ gendered violence; it is personal, it is traumatic, and it takes time and specialist services to escape and or recover. A paltry 26 weeks of reprieve of mutual obligations points to the failings of our social security system. It is the only protective mechanism in our ‘safety net’ and the process is grueling and requires the re-telling of trauma and a burden of proof. A more effective and sustainable option would be an automatic 12 month-exemption.
“I have felt unsafe my child’s whole life. I am isolated from my hometown and my family, I cannot go home as I constantly looking over my shoulder, family law facilitates my ex’s coercive control. I have had to move again after my ex stole my car and my furniture that was in storage whilst my child and I were homeless for 11 months. To keep my child and I safe I had to walk away, too scared for it to go through courts as I need to keep my child away from the coercive control.”
Family laws allow the abuser to control where victim-survivors can live, using the court as a weapon, and was regarded as an extremely important issue by 83% of those surveyed. NCSMC believes that if the Australian community knew that men with a substantiated violence order can keep their victim-survivors accessible to them and their networks that they would share our call for immediate change. We are now hopeful that the Family Law Amendment (A Step Towards a Safer Family Law System) Bill 2020, a private bill sponsored by Graham Perrett MP could become legislation.
“We are not unemployed, we are unpaid workers, each doing the job of two people. We are painted by society as single mothers waiting for a handout and not mothers whose ex-partners do not provide support for their kids and dropped their responsibilities. I am sick and tired of the victim blaming.”
There was a strong response and endorsement for a Royal Commission into Family Violence whereby the findings and recommendations have the power to unearth protracted, intersectional and national safety issues. Furthermore, 93% of our survey respondents strongly endorse that the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children states ‘financial insecurity’ as a dedicated priority area. It remains a concern that there is not a domestic violence payment, and even if impacted by gender violence, women can be thrown onto the unemployment benefit rather than be granted an exemption that would enable the retention of the more appropriate Parenting Payment. It is our disgrace that in a year 7,700 women return to their abuser whilst 9,000 survivors end up homeless. Moreover, access to the Parenting Payment for women who are not Australian`s citizens is deeply problematic, especially if they are court ordered to remain in Australia. I was so troubled by the effect of this policy that I recently entered into correspondence with the New Zealand Prime Minister as all domestic efforts have failed.
“Domestic violence is not ok - change what you are doing so it actually changes something to help the victims in this country before too many more die. Help us get back on our feet and to provide a safe and secure future for our babies so they do not live the same cycle we have - change the cycle - you have the power do to something and you do not - it is not enough, and it is not ok.”
Let’s change the narrative for single mothers and their children
In closing, it is our shame that our social security system for single mothers is the bleakest it has been since 1973. Once the youngest child reaches eight years of age, she is no longer classified as ‘parenting’ but ‘unemployed.’ The policy just made families poorer and more vulnerable to high rents, with no way of keeping up with cost pressures or having the necessary means to raise children fairly. School fees, uniforms, and fundamental needs of growing kids are all ignored as families live hand to mouth on Jobseeker payments, already proven to be under the poverty line. This policy outcome was never about jobs or about helping single mothers as the unemployment payment was never designed for sole parents. It does not help women to juggle the demands of heading up a family and gaining paid work. Jobseeker has fierce rules, with the payment reduced as a meagre $75 is earned within a week. We knew this before the policy was enacted and the harsh outcomes was confirmed in research. Whilst all single mothers became poorer, women who had low paid work, were and remain the hardest affected.
“Every parent that is part of the Child support system both payer and payee should be made to lodge yearly tax returns, my ex-husband has not lodged for the 10 years since we split up due to him being the perpetrator of DV. Myself and my children were traumatised and took years to recover. I have pretty much always worked at least a casual job but barely scraped through, my children missed out on so much growing up. I am now lucky enough to have a full-time job but my eldest is eighteen now, we needed help years ago.”
We trust that this is the start of our dialogue and are seeking a small roundtable to discuss single mother concerns as the intersectional barriers that face single mothers transcends one portfolio. We especially want Treasury at the meeting to advance child support which is also taxation avoidance. It is my ambition that you treat this letter with a high sense of priority, to reflect upon the voices of women who shared their very personal statements. Below is a small sample from the received which reached 600 plus. We are not short of solutions and possibilities; it is the denial of our wisdom that has created a pandemic of powerlessness.
This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.
Posted by @SusanMaury