Number of Aussies on welfare soars – at HUGE cost to taxpayers
There are nearly one million Australians on long-term welfare, new data released by the Department of Social Services shows.
There are 765,424 Australians who have been on welfare payments for longer than five years, which is an increase of 121,000 people from 2013.
These payments include Newstart, Youth Allowance and the Disability Support Pension.
New South Wales has the most total people on welfare payments, with more than 500,000 people receiving fortnightly benefits.
The cost of welfare to the taxpayers has risen $40 billion in the past 10 years.
According to the most recent report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, an estimated $157 billion was spent on welfare in 2015–16, up from $117 billion in 2006–07.
Social Services Minister Dan Tehan told the Herald Sun that although welfare costs taxpayers billions of dollars, it was an “even greater cost to the people who are stuck on welfare”.
“The children of welfare dependent parents can pay a heavy price,” he said.
“We know that children who grow up in unemployed households can have a lifetime of disadvantage. After record jobs growth, the proportion of working-age Australians now dependent on welfare has fallen to 15.1 per cent — the lowest in more than 25 years.”
Data also shows thousands of people being forced off the Disability Support Pension and onto the dole, due to changes Disability Support Pension eligibility which came into effect in 2012.
There has been a fall of 73,899 in DSP recipients over past five years, but a 54,505 rise in the Newstart payment.
The DSP is no longer awarded on a diagnosis alone, but also on whether the disability affects an individual's ability to work.
Under legislation, medical conditions must be permanent, fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised before the DSP would be issued.
Further legislation implemented by the Turnbull Government effective from July 1 is designed to crack down on people taking advantage of the system, including those exploiting the system while having pending criminal charges or falsely reporting job applications.