Back into workforce or else, says Treasurer

The Advertiser: Back into workforce or else, says Treasurer:

"Single parents will have to start looking for work when their youngest child reaches school age, rather than 13 as is the case now."

You only have to read the news to know that young people have no stabilising force at the moment. They are not "in care." Iknow we have to support the economy, I know we have to do our bit , but I am really tired of the way this economy does not support a healthy society. The family unit is constantly broken down into the individual consumers and workers. Workers make money for others and their homes can suffer dreadfully because people are not there or they are stressed. I was a working single parent and my daughter went to daycare at two. I wanted to work but I have the sort of job where the hours can accommodate a lot of parenting time. To undermine and denigrate the job of bringing up children tells me that no value is placed on our future citizens. They need homes, families, adults they relate to. Bringing up children is probably the most important job because it shapes the future of that society and the world. Institutionalising children from an early age has left a lot of then disenfranchised and disengaged and anti social. Read the news. If anything, time should be spent on supporting single parents so that they can look at ways of earning extra income if that is possible and desirable. Why did the Family First party poll so well at the last election?? Our families sustain us. A lot of jobs could be changed to allow for shorter hours and part time people but many companies will not allow part time work or they offer odd hours. I overheard a lady on the train saying she had been talking to her boss because she was working 20 hours a week and it was spread over 5 days. It meant she couldn't work elsewhere but it also meant she had very inefficient, broken days which she was finding hard to manage.