Federal Government unlocks $96 million war chest in bid to tackle welfare cost blowout, by Jane Norman.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter has unveiled a $96 million plan to outsource “new, novel and brave” ways to break the cycle of welfare dependence in Australia, conceding the Government does not have the answers. …

He said the current system was akin to “assembling IKEA furniture in the dark” because policy is being created on instinct and a new style of consultation was necessary. …

Mr Porter said the data showed that for some, the current approach to welfare was not working and something must be done.

“We already spend $160 billion on direct welfare payments and what this new data is telling us, is that for too many people inside the system the money flows but nothing changes and lives are not improving,” he said.

“There is absolutely nothing morally superior or progressive about just applying more money to more of the same approaches where they don’t seem to be working, without trying something different.”

The Australian Federal Government currently spends  $158 billion per year on welfare (35%), compared to $34b on education (7.5%), $27b on defense (6%), $71b on health (16%), $17b on interest (4%), $1.5b on roads (0.3% — whenever someone is asked to justify taxes they always says “roads”, but at least federally roads are a tiny portion of expenditure). Source.

Welfare is increasingly crowding everything else out.

hat-tip Matthew