Welfare State?

So Tony Abbott's latest announcement is that we live in a "welfare state" and he wants to transform this great nation into an "opportunity society".

A welfare state is a system in which the government protects and promotes the economic and social well being of its citizens.

On both counts, Australia is not a welfare state.

Its easier to do a day of back breaking labour in the mines than obtain the "dole" or Centrelink. Has Tony Abbott ever acquainted himself with a Centrelink form? The questions are so detailed and complex that they mostly require an accountant to fill them out. I have long suspected the purpose of this is to dissuade people from daring to apply for Centrelink in the first place. Its a waste of time. You'd receive more benefits if you parked your arse outside the building and held out a hat. 

Centrelink are tighter than a Size 6 pair of skinny jeans, and no one can convince me that it is "easy" to get government benefits and live off them.

According to Abbott, there exists families who have lived off the dole for generations.

Where are these people? If they exist I am relying on Today Tonight to bring them to my attention. I'd like to meet them and find out how they have managed to sustain lavish and luxurious lifestyles at the expense of the Australian taxpayer on the pittance that Centrelink begrudgingly provides.

"I think that the best government is a government which as far as is humanly possible shares the ordinary life of the Australian people," Abbott said today.

Then get down to Centrelink, wait an hour in the queue, fill out 534 different forms, and then tell me how we're all living off the back of a welfare state.