Politics

‘Kill cane toads to get your welfare’: Pauline Hanson’s plan for the dole

Jan 09, 2019

The One Nation leader has called for a summer collect-a-toad campaign. Source: Getty.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is known for some of her more radical views and policy ideas, but her latest plan involves roping in dole claimants to help eradicate the world’s largest toad from Australia.

Hanson is said to have written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to suggest a three-month long “collect-a-toad” campaign to “eradicate the pest species”.

And, according to the Courier Mail, the One Nation leader would like to see job seekers in receipt of Work for the Dole payments also take part in a “worthwhile” scheme.

“I would also encourage you to introduce a three-month bounty over summer months to help reduce the breeding numbers,”Hanson is said to have written in a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“A 10 cent reward for the collection of each cane toad … would encourage most Australians living with the pest to take an active role in reducing their numbers until a biological measure is developed.”

And it’s not just those out of work that Hanson wants to get involved, as it is also claimed that she reckons kids should be encouraged to get outside and make some pocket money by collecting toads too.

The federally funded proposed plan would be carried out in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and would see people receive 10 cents for every toad they’re able to catch, in a similar move to the container deposit scheme.

Captured cane toads, which have venom-secreting poison glands, would be taken to council collection zones where they would then be stored in freezers before being killed.

If passed, the plan could be taken up by those on Work for the Dole which requires eligible job seekers to carry out approved activities for six months each year in order to keep receiving their income support if they have mutual obligation requirements.

Hanson’s letter to the PM came after Labor revealed plans to overhaul the current Jobactive system on Tuesday, announcing they would reduce the number of job applications required by those on Newstart in order to receive their fortnightly payments.

Opposition Employment Services spokeswoman Terri Butler spoke to 3AW’s Heidi Murphy about the party’s plans to reform the current Jobactive programme – the government’s employment service designed to help Aussies find work – if Labor is elected in May.

“We learned at the end of last year there was about 5,000 people in the system who’ve had seven or so jobs in the past three years and every time they’ve got one of those seven jobs, a fee has been paid from the public purse to the employment services provider,” Butler said. “So that’s wasteful.

“But it also means people aren’t getting into meaningful work, they’re getting into short term jobs and dropping straight out and ending back up on benefits.”