Ponder says, "Restore the indexation of excise, but remove that same fuel excise completely for those below a specified income level".

This is exactly the wrong way of going about welfare, & it is just this type of extra add on to welfare that is giving us such a mess now.

All welfare should be just one top line payment. None of this extra for rent, petrol, medical, kids, & all the rest. It is this system what gives so many welfare recipients a higher tax free income, than some taxpayers who are providing the welfare.

Welfare should be just one payment for a single or family, with no hidden extras. It is either livable or it is not, & should be the same for all.

Unemployment support is not meant to be, & should not be a lifestyle support system. It is supposed to support people while they find a job, not for the rest of their natural lives.

This also should be one payment only. I see no reason to pay rent assistance, but not mortgage assistance with the dole.

Our welfare is very generous, I should know, I'm living on it, but it was never meant to be a peaches & cream lifestyle, & should never become so.

In fact the dole should become food stamps after a reasonable period. After year or 2 at the most that should happen to all unemployment payments.

A taxpayer should pay tax on everything he earns after deducting everything he has to pay to earn that income.
Old Man,
Would a flat tax not do exactly that ? Only pay tax on what you earn ?

Hasbeen, when those that rule us start spreading your harsh attitude towards those on high incomes who have caused the shortage of money by their tax evasion/avoidance and the generous loopholes provided for them I just might give your approach some credence.
If we had a government of any ilk that focused on providing real jobs for the unemployed to chase instead of statistical chimeras and golden troughs for life for themselves and their friends then there might be some justification for that approach, but as things stand, there is NOT.
The welfare "problem" is a direct result of the actions of successive governments playing fast and free with our economy and laws and be damned to the common weal.

And that is your real mistake G'dayBruce, you & all the other lefties.

Governments don't provide jobs to anyone but the waste of space public servants, & it is the fact that they provide 5 times as many of those at twice the pay level that they should. This is a large chunk of our problem.

Their job is to provide law & order, plus defense, & should be little else.

States & local government should provide roads, sanitation, education, & perhaps water.

When they did this our wealth & welfare grew dramatically. Once they started in on health, welfare, & controlling all facets of our lives things started to go wrong. Now we have a totally unaffordable public sector which will fail. It is not if, but when.

Winding back this stupidity now, progressively, would be much better, & a damn sight less painful, than the result of the inevitable crash, when it comes.

Ah Hasbeen, like many you mistake the description for the function.
Governments have a responsibility to run the country, not just provide services. That's why we have such things as Defence and Foreign Affairs.
When I and others say they are responsible for the provision of employment it is a given that we mean encouraging the conditions for that and defending against anything that detracts from it. Government mismanagement by all sides and their consistent blindness to business reality and/or willingness to always go for the short-term personally profitable solution has helped drive down employment and contributed to the state of affairs we now have. I won't even get into corruption or influence peddling.
With a fair tax system in place there would be more than enough to increase our welfare budget, and reduce the need for it at the same time. With more cash in the hands of the population there would be an inevitable upswing in the economy, increasing both profitability and employment, it ain't rocket science.

Bruce said;
With more cash in the hands of the population there would be an
inevitable upswing in the economy,

Too late, they tried that and they tried austerity and neither worked.
The economists do not understand why these normally successful methods no longer work.

Energy costs are eating our GDP and are pushing us into zero growth.