I am a single mum who works part-time, not because I’m lazy or can’t get any other work, but because I believe my time with my daughter is precious. I want to drop her at school in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon. I want to be relaxed and happy when I interact with her, not stressed out and in a rush because I have to get to work/cook dinner/do the washing or whatever. It’s not good for me and it’s not good for her.

The trade off for this is that we survive on a part-time income, plus a supplementary parenting payment. It is bugger all money and we don’t have any luxuries: so much for the sterotype of people sitting on their fat arses in front of their flat screen TVs. Trust me; you can’t afford anything when you are on a pension.

I don’t see it as welfare, incidentally; I see it as an investment in my child’s future. If I am able to be by her side through her formative years then she has a better chance to grow up strong and confident and make a success of her life and, subsequently, go on to make a valid and valuable contribution to the society that helped and protected us when we needed it.

The bond between parent and child is particularly strong in single parent families and time together is a precious thing. Yeah, there are times I wish I had a partner to share the load because it’s bloody hard, tiring work and a financial struggle, but it’s my life as I’ve made it and I wouldn’t swap it for quids.

Okay; I wouldn’t mind winning the lottery, if the truth were told. But you know what I mean. Our children – everyone’s children – are a precious gift, and the more time parents are able to spend with them the better. If that means upping parenting payments to allow more parents to stay at home to parent their children rather than be forced to go out to work, then so be it. If you are going to have a middle class welfare state then at least have one that has a tangible benefit for the future of our country.

Ambigulous, generally the Qld ALP did a lot better this time in picking good candidates than in 04 – partly because Rudd was closely involved in his own state and partly because some of the duds who ran last time made it really clear that the factional hack route was dead and gone.

And what’s all this got to do with social welfare,nothing really,I just like to take the piss when I read his selfish inane comments.

So I must say it is just peachy to have arsehats like you crap all over sole parents, or treat welfare as the sop for a nation’s prickling conscience.

Just remember as you’re toting your self-righteous attitude around, that every time you bullshit on about bludgers it colours how everyone views sole parents and welfare recipients. We all get to struggle under overwhelming odds, regardless of the nature of our circumstances or how we got there, whilst being patronised (if we are lucky) or vilified by the likes of you.