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Speaker 1: Beneficiary bashing or reasonable expectations. The government has introduced tougher

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Speaker 1: rules and harsher penalties for beneficiaries. Job Seekers will have

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Speaker 1: to reapply for the benefit every six months, and a

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Speaker 1: new traffic light system which will indicate whether you're complying

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Speaker 1: with the rules that came into a false yesterday. There

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Speaker 1: will also be new sanctions like money management. It means

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Speaker 1: that half of a person's benefit could go on an

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Speaker 1: electronic payment card which you can only use for things

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Speaker 1: like essentials like groceries and clothing, but only if they

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Speaker 1: break the rules to begin with, don't meet the obligations, right,

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Speaker 1: So what does this mean for particularly young job seekers?

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Speaker 1: Youth Justice consultant advocate Sherley Johnson's with me now, Sheery,

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Speaker 1: good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: So I suppose there's two Well, there's obviously two arguments here,

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Speaker 1: But my question to you would be what is unreasonable

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Speaker 1: about the expectations?

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Speaker 2: Well, you're right, obviously we need some accountability, but there

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Speaker 2: always is a bit of an undertone about people who

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Speaker 2: find themselves on benefits for whatever reason something the people

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Speaker 2: who you can't trust, so therefore you've got to manage

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Speaker 2: their money. And it's a sense that they're sitting at

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Speaker 2: home English and on this money which we are giving them.

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Speaker 2: It's just not the reality. We exist in a recessionary

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Speaker 2: times for adults finding it hard to get to work,

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Speaker 2: and so if you look at adult unemployments going up,

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Speaker 2: young people it's always about double of that. So for

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Speaker 2: them to get work, it's really tough times at the moment.

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Speaker 2: And I don't think punishments it's the way to activate

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Speaker 2: this in any way at all.

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Speaker 1: But so let's be clear, you don't get punished for

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Speaker 1: just being on the benefit. You only get punished if

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Speaker 1: it and you don't even get punished if you're on

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Speaker 1: the benefit and you can't find a job. You get

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Speaker 1: punished if you don't meet the obligations right, and there

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Speaker 1: are levels of punishment and traffic light systems, etc.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think even that idea, like i'd like to

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Speaker 2: believe that every young person has a casework that they're working,

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Speaker 2: how you wouldn't know very clearly how they're going in

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Speaker 2: terms of trying to get a job in supporting them.

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Speaker 2: The idea that every six month scene you've got to

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Speaker 2: reapply it really is a bit of a sense of punishment.

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Speaker 2: Nothing is more terrifying than him to go into an

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Speaker 2: organization like MSD to apply to see whether you've got

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Speaker 2: any more money again, and like, I just think some

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Speaker 2: of those steps are just unnecessary because one of the

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Speaker 2: key things that we've found over the years in terms

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Speaker 2: of turning things around for young people, because a lot

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Speaker 2: of young people are on benefits kind of either don't

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Speaker 2: have the skills, have been through a lot of traumas

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Speaker 2: that have lost tufts and confidence both in themselves and

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Speaker 2: the system as quality relationships are really important so that

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Speaker 2: they rebuild themselves and anything that gets in the way

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Speaker 2: of that is quite destructive. And none of this is

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Speaker 2: new none, No, I know we have tried before where

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Speaker 2: beneficiaries are only allowed to purchase whatever I've tried before

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Speaker 2: where you know, you have to work to get the

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Speaker 2: doll and they actually found that it didn't work. So

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Speaker 2: it's kind of feels to me a little bit fullness

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Speaker 2: to go back and redo what we know doesn't work

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Speaker 2: when there are in fact a lot of programs out

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Speaker 2: there that are working incredibly well.

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Speaker 1: Surely thanks for your time that Shirley Johnson, she's the

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Speaker 1: Youth Justice Consultant Advocate. Responding then to the government's changes

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Speaker 1: on penalties and you know, criteria, et cetera. Sanctions.

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Speaker 2: For more from news talks there be and live on

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Speaker 2: air or online.

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