A new report from ACOSS accepts that welfare dependency among working age Australians has reached 18 per cent, but denies this is a problem. It says that Australia still spends less on welfare than many other developed countries, and argues we should be expanding welfare rather than worrying about it. Peter Saunders says that the...

Peter Saunders and Kayoko Tsumori argue that introducing a six month time limit on unemployment benefits could dramatically reduce long-term unemployment in Australia. Time limits create a sense of urgency for the unemployed to find work and for Job Network agencies whose task it is to provide assistance and training. This could reduce the incidence...

Peter Saunders and Kayoko Tsumori outline a proposal to move lone parents whose children are at school off welfare and into work as part of a broader strategy of poverty eradication. Getting sole parents into work would greatly reduce poverty, since joblessness is the biggest cause of poverty. The current system which pays parents to...