John Howard did outsource a lot of Centrelink functions to "participating service providers".
It was a disaster in some areas. Job agencies got a big bonus for any long-term unemployed person they could get off the dole. The agencies found a loophole. Anyone who was totally useless or anti-social was shoved on to the Disability Pension. A whole generation of healthy yet clueless people got paid for being clueless, which was then termed "having a disability" - an insult to real people with real disabilities doing it tough.
Nowadays we're still trying to sort out Howard's mess and make sure taxpayer money goes to the people who deserve it.
