runner, you and I do not see eye to eye on many topic. There is a time and a place for Christian charity, but I do not believe the welfare system should be turned over to soup kitchens and food hampers alone, that is not the answer. Successive governments have tried to come up with solutions to deal with the socially disadvantaged and most of those schemes have been nothing more than window dressing at best. 'Work for the dole' is a prime example of the type of scheme which in theory has merit, but in practice is generally a failure. The reason for failure is no matter what is tried, at the end of the day, the socially disadvantaged are still just as disadvantaged.

Paul, only those who want to succeed will succeed.

The best way to get people off welfare is to make it far less attractive.

You do this by providing housing, food and essentials, but not cash.

At least then you will weed out those who are lazy which will then let us deal with those in real need.

What was designed as a leg up, has now turn into a lifestyle for many yes so many do-gooders just cant see that.

And of cause if one who either cant find work, or doesn't want to work chooses to live in places like Sydney, that's their choice.

The fact of the matter is there are far far too many on the handouts and it's crippling us. It's just that some choose to ignore it.

I'm guessing butcher hasn't been unemployed, or laid off or retrenched and is clueless about the fact that 700-770,000 are unemployed and 100-170,000 jobs are available.
Leaving about 600,000 unemployed without even a job they can apply for.
Since the government and business in Australia cant provide jobs for all of us then we do need to provide a safety welfare net for the unemployed.
Newstart is about $255 a week, and the long term unemployed list is getting bigger by the day. Not only do we have a growing youth unemployment problem we have a mature age unemployment problem because ageism is very alive and very well in Australia. I'd like to see butcher try living below the poverty line like those of Newstart have to.

Dear Paul,

Of course there are people who misuse the system.

However, I feel that if the money currently being spent on
federal poverty programs was given directly to the poor,
instead of to federal and state bureaucracies, it could raise
the incomes of all the poor above the poverty line, and still
leave a surplus. Poverty is undesirable and the costs of
eradicating it are so small, why is a better system not in
place?

Part of the reason possibly lies in the peculliar belief that
the poor are in poverty because they are idle and prefer to
live on "handouts." These sort of attitudes bear little
resemblance to reality. How many people have ever tried to
raise a family on welfare payments? Many opinionated people
have no idea what poverty is really like.

Opinion polls repeatedly show large sections of the
population favouring cuts in welfare spending, or favouring
plans to "make welfare recipients go to work."
Yet we have aged people, disabled people, mothers with young
children, who are unable to work.

It's odd though that there are few complaints about
our governments paying far more in "handouts" to the nonpoor
than to the poor. This fact generally escapes attention because
these benefits take the indirect form of hidden susidies or
tax deductions, rather that the direct form of cash payments.

If we're going to target welfare fraud, we should also target
the fraud that occurs at the other end of the spectrum.

T800, benefits do not need to be paid in the form of cash as it can be too easily wasted.

And yes, i was unemployed for a couple of years but did not seek benefits because it was a personal choice, although in hindsight i should have. But thats life.

The fact of the matter is $255 per week FOR DOING NOTHING is better off than many who work and that is a scandle.

Cash is the problem. Besides there are plenty of jobs otherwise we would have zero 457 holders. Aussie just dont want those jobs and because they are seasonal in many cases, welfare recipits wont take them for fear of not being able to get back on the gravy train.

People, especially government ministers and administrators need to wake up and smell the roses because we are being conned by far too many people and the decent unemployed are being dragged down with them.

Any hand up should never be paid in cash because the payee, the tax payer, is entitled to know their money is not being wasted.

Well butcher if you were unemployed you should know better. I spent time interviewing many mature aged unemployed virtually thrown on the scrap heap, by inexperienced people who don’t recognize experience and loyalty as things to be to be valued.

What is a scandal is that you are clueless if you think they do nothing. They have responsibilities to uphold. They have hoops they need to jump through almost every day to ensure they are not cut off without warning. They must apply for jobs even if none exist. They must turn up and waste hours in queues and filling in forms or doing courses that eventually lean to nowhere and no job. People on Newstart do not get holidays or time off you know, they are expected to be looking for work 24x7 even when it doesn’t exist.

Plenty of jobs? Can’t you read? Do I have to requote the figures for you? The 457 problem is an employer problem, these days they do not want to train Australians for jobs they want ready-made foreigners. Some that simply lie their arses off to get a job that an Australian could do. But dodgey employers would rather pay cheap labor to do.
Most unemployed people I have seen and spoken to want a job. Why? Because “living” on $255 a week… IS NOT LIVING. You need to wake up and smell REALITY. They don’t have the money to cover emergencies, or health issues, or even just buy someone a gift for a birthday or go to a movie… They have NO LIFE.

No cash? Really? How do they buy food, pay rent, a mortgage, car rego, utility bills, etc, etc, etc… How do they even manage to do that on $255 a week? Most have been employed and payed taxes and probably could be unemployed for 50 years before they break even with the government’s welfare cheque. You have a lot to learn and should stop spouting nonsense.