Fred Hollows, his wife Gabi and Team continue to date, as a result of funding, Australians and other peoples generosity around the world, saving childrens eyesight and restoring eyesight to give some quality of life to these beautiful cherubs who are and will enjoy what many of us sometimes take for granted.

Dear Hasbeen,

I find it interesting that there are few complaints about how the country pays out far more in "handouts," to the nonpoor than the poor.
Perhaps this fact generally escapes attention because these benefits take the indirect form of hidden subsidies or tax deductions rather than the direct form of cash payments.

Welfare payments represent only approx. 2% of the federal budget.

Lexi
Those who approve the principle of wealth redistributions based on political favouritism are hardly in a position to complain when they think the results arbitrary and unfair. And having approved this practice, how could the discretion of politicians to give handouts to whomever they feel like favouring be limited

Lexi, if you look back a bit in this thread, I think you'll find I am not too happy about the amount wasted on the higher education sector, which is up near the top of the public sector in income.

Perhaps you had better go back to your research. I think your figure on the welfare part of the budget is a thousand or two percent low.