"Chia is one of 68,000 parents who have been placed on a new government program, Parents Next, after receiving a call from Centrelink assessing whether they are at risk of `long-term welfare dependency`..."
"Parents say they have been forced by their providers to attend activities such as `story time`, swimming lessons or playgroup, or told to sign up to education courses at their own expense, even if they already hold qualifications..."
"The government announced the expansion of the $263m program in the May budget following a two-year trial, during which 3,510 participants had their payments suspended."
"`It’s offensive that the government believes that … women aren’t trying to do what they can to increase the welfare of themselves and their child,` Terese Edwards, the chief executive of the National Council of Single Mothers, told Guardian Australia."
"Now that it was compulsory and women faced penalties for not complying, Edwards said it had gone `from a soft touch … to almost blaming women for undertaking unpaid care`."
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/06/single-parents-forced-to-attend-story-time-or-lose-centrelink-payments?fbclid=IwAR0DAdl9EziHR-NZ265rDezgH0pZK9lvwi4Sp1Z8DnCymi5r4y2wdrzLUkc
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