Having read through your post on the subject, I think I may have it marginally better - at least the Australian federal government still pays social security (despite the best efforts of Messrs. Abbott and Hockey), even if the amount *is* officially below the local poverty line, and I'm able to cover the majority of the costs of day-to-day living (rent, bills, groceries, etc) out of our dole payments. Our meals may have meat in them as more of a seasoning than a main component, with the bulk being made up of veges, herbs, spices, sauces and filler carbs (pasta, rice, potatoes), but I'm able to feed the two of us on $50 per week.
The fun thing about my WFD activity is it's set up in a way which means that technically, I could do the whole business from home without needing to come into their office at all. It's set up to be done by online volunteers, much along the lines of a "distributed proofreading" thing, because it's being run through a university in Queensland, and we're based in Perth in Western Australia. But I still have to go there and turn up and do the thing under the eye of the representative of the group who's running the whole mess, because otherwise how will my JobActive provider (and thus, through them, the Australian Federal Government) know I'm actually doing this work, rather than, y'know, slacking off and doing the housework or baking cookies or similar. Or even, gasp, looking for work.
The group I'm part of has at least three older women (around my age, or 10 years older) including myself. When we get going on the stupidity of government policy, we can get pretty vicious. I swear, that's the best thing about the whole mess - the people I'm meeting.
no subject
The fun thing about my WFD activity is it's set up in a way which means that technically, I could do the whole business from home without needing to come into their office at all. It's set up to be done by online volunteers, much along the lines of a "distributed proofreading" thing, because it's being run through a university in Queensland, and we're based in Perth in Western Australia. But I still have to go there and turn up and do the thing under the eye of the representative of the group who's running the whole mess, because otherwise how will my JobActive provider (and thus, through them, the Australian Federal Government) know I'm actually doing this work, rather than, y'know, slacking off and doing the housework or baking cookies or similar. Or even, gasp, looking for work.
The group I'm part of has at least three older women (around my age, or 10 years older) including myself. When we get going on the stupidity of government policy, we can get pretty vicious. I swear, that's the best thing about the whole mess - the people I'm meeting.