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2024
Professor Summers’ research recognised in FT research awards
UTS Business School, news, 16 January 2024
The Financial Times (FT) has recognised the research impact of Professor Anne Summers AO in its 2024 Responsible Business Education Awards. Professor Summers was highly commended by the FT for Best Academic Research Addressing Societal Challenges Delivering Positive Impact for The Choice: Violence or Poverty report on domestic violence and its impacts.
“Anne has shown outstanding leadership in translating academic research into real-world impact through deep, ongoing engagement with policymakers, governments and community and business stakeholders to advocate for meaningful social change, and we look forward to Anne continuing her work as she champions critical policy changes needed to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” said Professor Kathy Walsh, Associate Dean (Research and Innovation) at UTS Business School.
2023
Single-parenting payment raised
UTS Business School, LinkedIn, 20 September 2023
“In the May 2023 budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a pivotal change to welfare support for single parents.
Now, recipients can receive assistance until their youngest child turns 14, a significant extension from the previous cutoff at 8 years old. As of this week, this crucial policy shift, achieved through the dedicated efforts of Anne Summers, Terese Edwards, Sam Mostyn and Verity Firth, is now in effect.
This milestone was made possible by the determined actions of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Finance, Women & APS Katy Gallagher and Treasurer Jim Chalmers. This change ensures that single mothers facing extreme financial hardship will no longer be compelled to transition to the JobSeeker allowance, which provides around $100 less per week.”
Changes to single-parenting payment
Prime Ministerial press conference, Perth, 8 May 2023
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces raising the cut-off age for single-parent payments.
“This morning, I have an important announcement, one I'm very proud to be giving. That for some time, sole parents have been identified as one of the groups who are particularly struggling, as identified by the work of people like Dr Anne Summers, as well as the Women's Economic Taskforce led by Sam Mostyn, to identify this group as particularly needing support. So we want to extend the financial safety net for single parent families by raising the age in which it is cut off for the youngest child of a single parent, for single parenting payment, from eight years to fourteen years.”
Read the full transcript on the Prime Minister of Australia’s website
Extending the financial safety net for single parents
Opening text from the Prime Minister, Minister for Finance, Minister for Women and Minister for Social Services media release, 8 May 2023
The Albanese Labor Government announced their commitment to helping single parents in the upcoming federal budget.
“The Albanese Labor Government is committed to helping single parents balance their work and family responsibilities.
The Federal Budget 2023-24 will expand access to financial support by raising the age cut-off for the Parenting Payment (Single) from 8 to 14.
Many single parents – overwhelmingly women – face difficulty balancing caring responsibilities and work.
These difficulties do not end when their child turns eight.
We also know that many single mothers have experienced violence from a previous partner and are at greater risk of financial hardship.
They need more support.
This Budget will extend the Parenting Payment (Single), so eligible carers can access that support until their youngest dependent child turns 14.
From 20 September 2023, and subject to the passage of legislation, single parents will no longer have to transfer to JobSeeker when their youngest child turns eight.”
Read the full text on the Prime Minister of Australia’s website
Will the Government’s budget help Australians living below the poverty line?
Laura Tingle, 7.30, ABC TV, 3 May 2023
“‘No one held back, no one left behind’ is what Anthony Albanese declared a year ago on the night he led Labor to election victory. But with cost-of-living pressures being felt right across the country, this year's federal budget has seen a concerted push to do something to help the millions of Australians living below the poverty line.
The arguments about what should happen to JobSeeker or support for single parents have raged back and forth. Chief political correspondent Laura Tingle looks at how Australia ever got to the point where we accepted so many people struggling to make ends meet.“
Albanese to atone for single-parent mistake in mother of a budget
David Crowe, The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2023
David Crowe writes that Anne Summers has done compelling work as professor of domestic and family violence UTS, on the fact that 60 per cent of single mothers have suffered domestic violence. Her findings have had an influence on ministers.
“Redemption does not come easily in politics. A bad call can haunt a political leader, and even an entire government, when a key decision triggers aftershocks that last for years. Labor learnt this lesson the hard way when it cut income support for single mothers a decade ago – a shard of ice in the heart of a party that talks so much about helping the vulnerable.
Anthony Albanese has a rare chance to gain redemption on that policy in the next few weeks – and it looks like he will take it. A decision has been made to undo most of the 2012 policy and ensure single mothers gain income support until their children enter high school. The prime minister, the son of a single mother, will include the change in the May 9 budget.”
The Paul Ramsay Foundation supports raising the single-parenting payment
PRF team, Paul Ramsay Foundation, 28 April 2023
The Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) supports calls for the federal government to reinstate the single-parenting payment for parents with children aged up to 16, recognising the significant impact this would have on reducing the number of families living in poverty.
“As noted by the Women’s Economic Equality Task Force, reinstating the payment for women with children over eight is an urgent and targeted action which would be a smart investment in women’s economic equality in Australia. Building on previous advocacy for women escaping domestic and family violence, the Foundation is supportive of the Task Force’s approach.
PRF CEO Professor Kristy Muir said recently published research by PRF Fellow Anne Summers AO highlighted the dire need for greater support for single parents, the majority of which are women.
‘We now know that 60 per cent of all single mothers in Australia are parenting alone after leaving violent relationships, and that making ends meet is a constant battle,’ Professor Muir said.
‘Although 60 per cent of the women who left their partners are employed, their earnings are insufficient to support their families.’
‘Half of them rely on government payments as their main source of income, but this is not enough – with many struggling to pay their bills, heat their homes or register their cars. These costs do not disappear when children turn eight or twelve.’
‘Single mothers around Australia are going without meals to ensure their children have food in their bellies and a safe roof over their heads. We need to back them, both in the early stages of their child’s life and in the teenage years when children are in an incredibly difficult transition phase and need a safe and financially secure home environment.’
Dr Summers said reinstating the single-parenting payment for parents with children aged to 16 was critical for a government genuinely committed to investing in women’s economic equality.”
Read the full statement from the Paul Ramsay Foundation on their website
Research backs supporting single mothers until a child is 16
UTS Business School news, 28 April 2023
“Reinstating support for single mothers to the levels introduced 50 years ago by the Whitlam government must be seen as an investment not a cost according to UTS Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion), Professor Verity Firth and UTS Business School Dean Professor Carl Rhodes.
Their view is based on research by Professor Anne Summers AO from UTS Business School, supporting the need to keep single mothers on the Parental Payment Single (PPS) allowance until a youngest child is 16 years old, or still in high school.
Professor Summers’ research documents the extreme poverty of single mothers forced off the PPS and onto the JobSeeker allowance (which pays around $100 per week less) when their youngest child turns eight.”
Albanese warned not to be “mean-spirited” with help for single parents
David Crowe and Rachel Clun, The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 2023
Anne Summers says this budget is Labor’s first opportunity to “undo a mistake”.
“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being urged to dump a divisive Labor policy that slashed incomes for thousands of single mothers, with leading feminist Anne Summers joining a push to reverse the move in full in the May 9 federal budget.
Summers, a top adviser to former Labor prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, warned it would be “mean-spirited” to make a small adjustment to the income support when evidence showed the policy from 2012 had hurt women who needed help.
The comments escalate a last-ditch campaign to restore income support for single mothers until their youngest child turns 16, a decision that would cost about $1.1 billion over three years and would go further than a government plan revealed by this masthead yesterday to lift the cut-off age from eight to 12.”
We must stop wilfully condemning single mothers to a life of poverty
Anne Summers, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 March 2023
Single mothers in Australia are victims of “policy-induced poverty” initiated by John Howard in 2006 and accelerated by Julia Gillard in 2013.
“As many as 50 per cent of Australia’s single mothers are burdened by poverty, forced to subsist on government payments even when they have employment.
For many of those who have also experienced domestic violence, Professor Anne Summers asks, is it too much for us to spend to remove these women and kids from poverty and enable them to begin to repair their lives?”
2022
Women who leave after domestic violence fare much worse financially
Bruce Chapman, Anne Summers and Matthew Taylor, The Conversation, 14 September 2022
“We recently published two reports that highlight the devastating financial consequences borne by women who leave their partners after suffering domestic violence.
Bruce Chapman, Anne Summers and Matthew Taylor found women who experienced domestic violence fared much worse financially after separating from their partner compared to those who didn’t face such violence, for women both with and without children.
Before separation, mothers who experienced domestic violence had about the same household income as mothers who didn’t. But after separation, the mothers who experienced domestic violence on average suffered a significantly higher drop in income of 34%, compared with a 20% decrease for mothers who didn’t experience domestic violence.
It’s the first time in Australia (to the best of our knowledge) that we have specific data on what happens financially to these women.
Our results highlight the terrible option facing those who are experiencing domestic violence: to stay in a violent relationship, or leave and face a major decline in financial wellbeing.”
Violence or poverty on Q+A ABC TV
Q+A, ABC TV, 7 July 2022
ABC TV’s Q+A explores the cruel choice facing Australian women in abusive relationships: violence or poverty.
“The episode focuses on a groundbreaking study that lays bare the shocking extent of this crisis and speaks to lead researcher and trailblazing author Anne Summers, survivors, advocates and experts to hear what can be done to change the conversation.
Dr Summers’ new report reveals some staggering insights – that 60 per cent of single mothers have experienced domestic violence, and majority of them are single mothers because of that violence. She says many of these women are forced to live in “policy-induced poverty” and says it’s time to change our thinking about what support we give to women who leave violent relationships.”
Read the groundbreaking The Choice: Violence or Poverty report
Violence or poverty: A dire choice for many Australian women
UTS Business School news, 7 July 2022
“Urgent policy changes are needed to improve support for Australian women facing extreme financial hardship as a result of domestic and family violence, reveals a new report by Professor Anne Summers.
A new report has revealed the stark choice facing many Australian women who have experienced domestic violence at the hands of their partner: do they stay and risk the violence continuing or even escalating, or to leave and face the high probability of a life of “policy-induced poverty”?
The report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty, by renowned feminist, journalist and UTS Business School Professor Anne Summers AO, is based on never-before-published customised data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.”
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