There was an article recently in the Sydney Morning Herald on the subject of Australia's welfare system (Searched but couldn't find it). It stated that Australia has both one of the smallest and most efficient welfare systems in the industrialised world. Welfare as a % of GDP in Australia is about 8% which is close to the lowest in the OECD (Germany for example was at 14%), and the redistributive efficiency was close to the most effective (IE: The money went largely to poor people rather than being shuffled around amongst the middle class). The redistributive efficiency now is slightly lower than it was during the mid 1990's due to home buyers grants, baby bonuses etc, but generally is close to the best in the world. Reform to welfare is often code for kicking the poor in the head, though I'm sure no such notion was on the mind of the opening poster of this thread.
