Australian welfare facts ⬇️
The Newstart allowance is nearly $200 per week below the poverty line
Over 730,000 children are dependent on welfare payments to their parents/careers
32% of people receiving Newstart allowance are over 50
70% of Australians & 50% of households have accessed welfare at some time in the last 15 years
'Welfare dependants' (relied on welfare for most of the last decade) make up 0.3% of welfare recipients
The portion of Australians on welfare today is the lowest it has been in 20 years
Out of 30 OECD Countries Australia ranks 25th for welfare spending
In 2016 @TonyAbbottMHR's expense claims were the equivalent of more than 37 years worth of Newstart payments, @PeterDutton_MP's were more than 55 years worth, @ScottMorrisonMP more than 61 years worth & @TurnbullMalcolm more than 105 years worth!
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In 2015/16 our 226 Federal MPs cost us the equivalent of 36,120 people on Newstart.
In 2015/16 our 226 Federal MPs cost us the equivalent of 36,120 people on Newstart.
Also in 2015/16, the estimated cost of tax evasion in Australia was the equivalent of nearly 400,000 years worth of Newstart payments.
The fossil fuel industry in Australia receives the equivalent of more than 350,000 years worth of Newstart payments in annual subsidies.
It costs the equivalent of 156.75 years worth of Newstart payments to maintain a single federal MP for one year.
The Newstart allowance has not increased in real terms in over 2 decades. In 1997 MPs salaries were twice the average wage, today they are 3 times the average wage.
MP’s claimed a total of over 8000 years’ worth of Newstart allowance in 2016. The minister responsible for welfare, Alan Tudge, claimed the equivalent of 39 years’ worth. While the biggest claimant for 2016 was Julie Bishop with nearly 113 years’ worth.
Andrew Robb, the former Trade minister who walked into an $800,000 per annum job with the Chinese company whom he had previously granted a 99-year lease on Darwin Port, claimed 38.5 years’ worth of Newstart allowance in 2016. He resigned from Parliament mid-February that year!
According to 2014/15 tax estimates, negat6ive gearing costs more than $3.6 billion a year in lost revenue. That's about as the same as the government spends on assistance to jobseekers and vocational training, and twice what it spends on assistance to indigenous Australians.
Our 226 federal MPs own 524 properties. Most of them are negatively geared.
In 2015 it was estimated that Rupert Murdoch’s US media holdings had syphoned off more than 321,226 years’ worth of Newstart allowance from his Australian media businesses virtually tax free.
