Over successive generations the role of government welfare has shifted from being an ancillary service that supplements and supports community and family-based efforts, to full scale intervention that in many instances completely displaces civil society. In the process it has created many perverse incentives and dependencies that in some instances exacerbate problems rather than provide assistance.

There are currently 700,000 Australians of working age on the disability support pension. This number does not include those on unemployment benefits or over the age of 65. As a proportion of the working age population, the percentage of people receiving the disability support pension has more than doubled in the last 25 years in spite of improvements to work safety and general health trends.

Respected aboriginal leader Noel Pearson has complained that welfare dependency has in fact been destructive of aboriginal culture, society and self respect. Welfare handed out by government, without obligation from the recipients, was described as sit down money.

The criticisms of welfare mentality in the Aboriginal community ring true of the wider community. What started out as a system for assisting people in need has mutated into a system that prepares people for nothing except welfare dependency. The welfare system has grown into a self serving industry with whole government departments, consultants, lobbyists and companies all depending on large numbers of “clients” to justify