The appeal by Prime Minister John Howard for business to be more charitable should be no substitute for the underlying responsibility of government to provide a safety net for those in Australian society who through no fault of their own cannot support themselves.
Mr Howard has spoken about the responsibility of the unemployed to contribute where they can and has had some success in engendering an ethos that fit people must either be at work, in school or training if they want to call on government aid. The work-for-the-dole schemes have had some success, though they are no substitute for real work, and there is no point to them if the work is not meaningful. Indeed, if it is make work, the schemes can be counter-productive.
Mr Howard now says that just as the unemployed have a reciprocal duty in return for the help they get, business, too, has a duty to be more charitable because “”a company that derives profit from the community has an obligation to contribute to its development”. That is true, but only up to a point. Companies should be good corporate citizens. Figures quoted by Mr Howard suggest they are perhaps not doing enough. Corporate donations make up on 5 per cent of charities’ income. More can be done, but corporations are no substitute for the welfare safety net that marks a civilised society.
Fortunately, Mr Howard recognised that. He stated that his called for a more philanthropic corporate sector was not a method of foisting community welfare on to the corporate sector.
One corporate contribution that Mr Howard could improve is contribution to taxation. If his government tightened up on some of the minimisation schemes, it might have more money to fulfil its obligation to provide the safety net.