Umm, rehctub, not all the indigenous are "dole-bludgers". Plenty work, make decent money, and contribute to the overall tax revenue pool. Not to mention that even the dole bludgers contribute back now that we have GST and they have to pay it on what they consume (and considering how much of this is spent on grog and smokes etc (or at last is portrayed as such), they contribute a significant amount back into the revenue pool!).

See this link to online downloadable book which outlines the history of Indigenous peoples contribution to contemporary Australian wealth.

HARD LABOUR, STOLEN WAGES NATIONAL REPORT ON STOLEN WAGES by
Dr Rosalind Kidd (2007)
http://www.antar.org.au/images/stories/PDFs/StolenWages/stolenwages.pdf

I've had a period of my life (relatively short) where I was one of the 'undeserving poor'.

It was truly the most pathetic, stressful, undignified periods of my life. You can feed yourself, but not enough to keep yourself healthy. All fruit and vegies are kept for your child/ren, so that they don't suffer.

I'm now one of the middle class welfare recipients. And the comparison is extraordinary.

I can feed myself and my children. I can pay the mortgage. Our house is furnished. I don't go on holidays.

The 'undeserving poor' do not have the luxury of fruits and vegies on an everyday basis. And people don't realise that the Federal Government have craftily created a 'debt' for them, so that they're not receiving as much as they apparently are receiving on paper.

I can live a healthy existence without the Family Tax I now receive.

My life expectancy would have been shortened considerably when one of the 'undeserving poor'.

Thank God I had the fortitude to get myself out of that position, being a girl from a upper-middle class background. Many people don't have that advantage in life.