For those that are unemployed, the Australian Government, through Centrelink, offer a fortnightly sum of money that is offered to help those without employment survive. It is known colloquially as the dole. Centrelink, on the otherhand, have a different number of names for their payments: Newstart, Youth Allowance, Disability Pension, Senior Pension and the list goes on. Although the payment that most would associate with 'the dole' is Newstart allowance, a payment that is offered to those that are job-seeking, or so the government hopes.
I must assume that the official name 'Newstart' was coined to try to remove the social stigma associated with living on tax-payer funds, as 'Newstart-bludger' doesn't have the same ring to it that the widely known 'dole-bludger' does.
A proviso of accepting this payment is that the Newstarter must attend a three-week Job Search Training course after 3 months of unsuccessful searching. These classes are a fount of information too, just for the record.
Of those that are in attendance, they can be generally lumped into 3 separate categories: 1) The 'I shouldn't be here' group, 2) The 'I'll learn something while I'm here' group and 3) The 'Well, I'm here' group.
Group 1 will go to lengths to tell anybody that will listen (or is endured to listen as they yell it at the class) that they've either been made reduntant, been sacked "unfairly" (read: didn't show up on time/didn't show up at all) or aren't working for a variety of other reasons (loss of license and casuals that are low on hours are but two reasons that have been floated). Pretty much at any moment they will tell everybody that they shouldn't be there and are only there so that they don't lose their payments and have little regard for anybody who are trying to learn and seem to look down upon others that are there. The difference between those and the other two groups is that they seem to "know" so much more that anybody else. Whether it be how much they are worth, when they'll be back at work or why the recession is to blame.
One of my fellow 'classmates' today had to make a comment that he wasn't going to work for less than $250 per day (that is, of course, after tax). This is all well and good, to know how much your time is worth, but to be in a job-search class that means that you are making less than that per week (!!!). When I pointed this out and I informed him to take what he can get at this point in time I was greeted with a tirade about how he has to pay off a house and look after his child and if he doesn't get this sum he's just "pushing shit up a hill", because apparently on the dole (sorry, Newstart) he's making enough money throw shit off the summit willynilly. Hmmm, I don't think so buddy.
Group 2 are the group that can be again grouped into two, that being Group 2a) The quiet students and Group 2b) the loud students. Group 2a I feel most sorry for, as they are there, trying hard to find work and start rolling in cash again. Group 2b, though, are the group that could be seen as closest to the class-clowns, along with Group 3b, who I'll talk about soon.
I think it's safe to say that I'm in Group 2b, I have a quip for every comment the teacher makes, but it generally, behind the smart-arse facade, is a valid point. I'm not lamenting on the unfairness of my confinement to a classroom for 3 hours a day and this puts me at loggerheads with Group 1. I realise that finding a job is what the government wants the most for me, and whilst I'm living on the tax-payer funded coin, I'll do whatever I must until I find a job so I can no longer be a burden on society, which Group 1 doesn't understand. Also, our teacher likes the class to provide answers to the questions that she poses before we can move on with the class, so the answers that Group 2b give provide a service to the class so that we can get out sooner than we are supposed to.
Group 3 can also be broken up into Group 3a and Group 3b, quiet and loud respectively. Group 3 as a whole are there to make sure they don't lose their payments, and will go back Newstart-bludging (no, still doesn't sound correct) once the 3 weeks are up. Group 3b, in comparison to Group 1 and Group 2b, make quips that are generally funny and self-deprecating that don't really piss anyone off or trip up the class and get along with everybody.
As you can probably tell, Group 1 get my goat the most, so I advance this theory: put everyone who wants to whinge about recieving free money in a room together and tell them that they've lost their payments, with the exception of the first person to walk out the door. After the melee that ensues, maybe they'll learn that the Job-Search classes aren't that bad and they can start earn their dole, ahem, Newstart payments.
