Australia takes from the poor to give to the rich: SMH

"Research commissioned by Anglicare Australia shows that each year, a staggering $68 billion is spent keeping the wealthiest households wealthy. That is greater than the cost of Newstart, disability support, the age pension, or any other single welfare group."

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"At the same time as some people are enjoying generous support because of their wealth, those who have the least are being targeted. Parliament has just passed a set of welfare crackdowns that will include a demerit system for Centrelink recipients, expanding the cashless welfare trial, penalising job seekers who miss appointments, and forcing people to run down their bank account before they can seek help.

Other changes mean that personal crises, like relationship breakdown or a family death, can’t be considered when people have problems completing their paperwork. And to top it off, hundreds of millions of dollars is being cut from social security.

All of this shows us an uncomfortable truth. We have become a country that cuts from the poorest to give to the richest – a fact borne out by the government’s obsession with corporate tax cuts."

Read the SMH article