Politicians love dole bashing. They perceive it as a way of winning votes. Its also a diversion from attention from the huge amount of money given to politicians and that their superannuation is so lucrative.
Dole bashing is a way for some people to feel superior to others and helps people who don't enjoy their work to feel better. Vindictive people can use dole bashing to vent some of their anger. Politicians need the votes of these people.
Here are some important strategies in the art, especially for politicians and journalists.
Use lots of insulting terms: bludger, workshy, idle, cheats etc. Comments such as the unemployed can starve or drop in the gutter, or are too stupid to get a job are quite appropriate, as is a car bumper sticker that says don't pay taxes to support bludgers or something similar.
Imply that unemployed are a sub-class, different from everyone else.
Play the blame game. Its important to emphasize that if a person is unemployed, it is 100% their fault. Nobody else has anything to do with it. Imply that there the same number of job vacancies as unemployed, at all times and in all places. All unemployed could find a job tomorrow if they really wanted to.
Point out all unemployed have weak numeracy and literacy skills. Imply that being functionally illiterate is their main impediment to getting work. Imply they if they raise their level to about Grade 6 they could easily get a job. Do not say some unemployed people are highly skilled or highly educated.
Do say reducing or cutting the dole will force people to work, implying that jobs will magically appear if that happens.
Say there is a skills shortage. Don't say what the skill shortages are. Blame the unemployed for not being able to predict what areas the skill shortages will occur in and hence being trained in those areas before the shortages occur.
Get someone to say their company has many unfilled positions and cannot find anyone to do the work. Don't say what the work actually is and don't check the validity of the claims.
Do blame the unemployed for all the economic woes of the country. Do not say that removal of tariffs, the fact they almost everything is manufactured overseas, economies of other countries, drought and natural disasters, any government policies in any shape or form or anything else could possibly have anything to with the employment rate. Do not say the amount of part-time work has greatly increased in the past few decades. Don't mention the Great Depression in which one third of the workforce was out of work.
Do not say that there is any possibility that any employer or company benefits in any way from having a pool of unemployed, such as this is likely to impact negatively on wages or the job market is an employer's market enabling employers to be highly selective. Do not say that an entire industry has been built around the unemployed.
Imply being unemployed is an idyllic life of luxury. Don't say the dole barely covers food, rent and transport. Don't mention the possible negative impact on families. Don't give the statistic that with every increase of unemployment by 1%, there is an increase in psychiatric admissions by 3%.
Imply that a huge proportion of taxpayers money is spent on supporting bludgers. Do not say that much of welfare is spent on the age pension, single mothers, disabled etc. Do not mention the huge amount of welfare spent on the middle and upper class in the form of child endowment. Don't give the actual money of tax dollars spent per week for a typical taxpayer.
Say the money is wasted and imply it simply vanishes. Do not say money on welfare is quickly spent and goes to landlords, supermarkets, public transport etc. and goes straight back into the economy. Do not say tax cuts to the wealthy is more likely to lead to money to stagnating in bank accounts, shares, going overseas etc. Do not say taxpayers money is wasted in other any way that could be cut, such as politician's superannuation, new parliament houses, consultant's fees, lawyer's fees, psychiatrists etc. etc.
If you produce a current affairs show on unemployment, speak to many unemployed, but carefully select the most stupid person to actually appear on the show. Find a criminal who is defrauding the system by collecting several doles at once. Imply such people are very common and that they cost the taxpayer much much more than tax cheats including Bond, Skase and Kerry Packer. Don't interview anyone who says that finding work is difficult. Design the story so that only one conclusion is possible.
So give a dole bludger a hard time today.
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