Foxy,

It was from a regular weekly email I receive as a member of Australian Conservatives. Members only, I'm afraid.

So they cost the taxpayer about $2500 wk / 5k fortnightly or 120k annually to import them.
(+ the cost of Austudy courses you may have left out)
10 people have go to work and pay $250 tax a week while struggling to make ends meet for their own family just so this one couple could come here to our country and birth / raise their kids here for free?
I bet she uses the doctor home visits too with all those kids...

All these hard working Aussies taxes taken before the country even sees one sinle cent on benefit.
How exactly do you try to explain that to those Aussies?
Money taken from their families, wives and kids; and freely given away to foreigners?

Dear Foxy,

I did enjoy this remarkably candid quote from his wife who said they have the perfect marriage because they’re “both in love with the same man”. “Cory obviously has this huge belief in himself … If you didn’t love a guy who was so in love with himself you’d have a lot of trouble living with Cory. Life – I don’t think he’d mind me saying this – it’s all about Cory. I am all about Cory, and he is all about Cory, so it makes it easy.”
https://www.themonthly.com.au/cory-bernardi-conservative-warrior-all-about-cory-sally-neighbour-4327

While he is the kind of bloke who it seems would be easy to have a beer with he really is a bit of a tool. The problem is he's obviously prepared to do what ever it takes and to use quite loaded language to garner support. Unfortunately it's of the variety that drives incitement from the less hinged of our citizens.

Dear Steele,

Thanks for that quote from Cory's wife.

It makes sense to me. I've always thought
that the man saw himself as a lone ranger astride
a horse on the great plains of history.

Is the time right for a genuine hard right party
in Australia? I'm not sure if there is real
support out there. Quite a few commentators have
stated that if the disastrous downfall of Tony
Abbott proved anything, it was that many Australians
retain a residual faith in values such as
fairness and equality. While many voters may be
socially conservative, I think they're also worried
by wealth inequality and the rapidly vanishing
Australian "fair go." Cory makes a great deal out of
his individualism. But the price of individualism
is isolation and Cory may just find out how lonely a
party of one can be.

So now Bernardi's wife can't make a joke without a Left goon jumping on it. Mind you, the wife is a bit of a goon herself if she is unaware that there are juvenile types like Steeleredux out there with limited ability just waiting to mouth off.

I am not surprised that Bernardi accepted this comment at face value - it fits in with the perception that refugees are a drain on the public purse. Unlike the other commentators I do have first hand experience with migrants on benefits. My company provided employment assistance to migrants referred to us by Centrelink. During the period we held the contract we managed about 3,000 people from non English Speaking Backgrounds about half would have been refugees. So I would suggest that this should give us a fair sample from which to draw some conclusions. I have no doubt that were there a family with 10 children and a husband on full time study that they would be on the sort of money that Bernardi reports. The problem that I have with the account is that, based on my experience, this is atypical. We encountered not one family that would have fitted the bill. Mu overwhelming experience was that the people we looked after wanted to get off benefits as quickly as possible. They found the process demeaning and dehumanising. They resented that it seemed as if staff assumed that they were lying. Certainly they were no orphans in that - most people on Centrelink benefits have similar views.
Given that of al the clients we managed I found only two who I would regard as trying to rip off the system. That everyone else was keen to get a job and get financial independence as soon as possible I suspect that the mythical centre link employee did something that we can all do from time to time imagine how much money someone would be eligible for and them to make it a bit more dramatic create a scenario that makes it seem as if this family is ripping the system off.