Need a job?

I've been following the articles about this government (LNP and Abbott) who seem to despise unemployed
people, whether young or older, label them as dole bludgers and make some terrible plans for the unemployed to "work for the dole" (WFTD). The Department for Employment started its website (https://employment.gov.au/work-dole) with:

"Work for the Dole activities provide eligible job seekers with work experience which helps job seekers to learn new skills and improve their chance of finding a job."

"Dole" became the principle description for unemployed people and unemployment payments. Britain was even paying it back in the early 20th century. Aussie's WFTD was started back in the 1990s.

"Dole" actually means "a person's lot or destiny" (noun) or "distribute shares of something" (verb). The dictionary.com explained the idiom as "They couldn't afford any luxuries while living on the dole." So very real, but still ignored by the government.

What, exactly, is "WFTD"? Wiki describes this as started in 1998, as "one means by which job seekers can satisfy their mutual obligation requirements. Other mutual obligation measures are accredited study, part-time work, Army Reserves and volunteer work" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_the_Dole). On 1 July 2015 "jobactive" comes into existence. It says that jobactive organisations "will assist eligible job seekers to find and keep a job and ensure employers are receiving candidates that meet their business needs". This is broken down to age groups, meaning that people under the age of 30 still need to WFTD for at least 25 hours a week. Perhaps just sweeping the floors. Those aged 30-49 need to do WFTD for 15 hours a week. 

Those from 50-59 still need to do something, but not WFTD. According to ABC last year, more than 200,000 over 50s are on unemployment benefit, an increase of 45% since 2010. Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said: "I would suggest that that's not just population increasing as our population ages – that there are some employment barriers there that older workers are facing and that they are not being able to re-engage with employment." (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-29/older-australians-turning-to-the-dole-new-figures-show/5630552)

A couple of years ago Julia Gillard, the Labor PM, was doing very well to save Australia from the world financial crisis. Australia had low debt compared to many other countries, but we changed when Abbott got into government. Our debt has increased and the debt payment looks to continue to grow in the next 5 years (http://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2014/jun/09/government-debt-it-all-depends-on-how-you-look-at-it). The government has become determined to get an aggressive TPP and fails to tell everyone what this means. GetUp had info on their website about it, calling it "The dirtiest deal you've never heard of" (https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/tpp/tpp/the-dirtiest-deal-youve-never-heard-of). Government just don't care, are just as determined to deal with very large companies who seem to get the right to sue this country if their deal is broken.

To make money the government plans to cut the unemployment benefit and to make unacceptable job training which, in my mind, goes against school training. So why are unemployed people supposed to do "training" to "get them ready" for work? Will sweeping a floor help? Will stacking a shelf help? Will working, with no pay, for companies who have signed a TPP, help the unemployed, or will that help these companies or this government to make their money? 

The government has very recently provided a report on the "Unemployment benefits and the minimum wage" (http://www.ncoa.gov.au/report/appendix-vol-1/9-11-unemployment-benefits-minimum-wage.html), which talks about the change to Newstart Allowance, which is nowhere close to current unemployment benefit. It sounds, from this, that if a person is out of work but may not have been unemployed long enough to go broke, they need to support themselves. This seems completely wrong, but doesn't seem to be able to be changed. This may have been passed to, or advertised to, companies who inform immigrants (for instance, https://www.justlanded.com/english/Australia/Australia-Guide/Jobs/Unemployment-Benefit), and seems to be written as for real already when the government website says 1 July 2015. What do we just believe in?

http://www.chermsidedistrict.org.au/chermsidedistrict/01_cms/details.asp?ID=112

In Google, when I searched for some photos to come on here, I found this one. These, most only men, were unemployed in 1930, lining up waiting to be offered a minimum wage.  What has happened in the 85 years since that day? How many times have governments complained about the dole and make changes to how unemployed can WFTD? Has the dole been related to minimum wages or slipped below that - to well under the "poverty" line? How will any parent, with very little of their own income, support people up to the age of 25?

Has anything changed?