Volunteering Australia provided a response on the ParentsNext program, a prevocational program aimed at single parents with pre-school aged children.
Recommendations in the submission include:
- The Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) should be removed immediately from ParentsNext and an urgent review into those who have had parenting payments suspended.
- Participation in ParentsNext should be voluntary. Volunteering Australia reiterates that forcing people to engage in these programs under some form of compulsion does not produce positive outcomes and does not meet our definition of volunteering.
- Parenting payment recipients should have the choice to volunteer as part of the ParentsNext program, given the flexibility it provides, as well as the key social and employable skills it can produce.
