“The growing culture of welfare and dependency in Australia is alarming and our leaders need to start having an honest, grown-up conversation about it.”

New IPA research shows Australians on welfare has jumped by 425,000 since pre-Covid and pre-NDIS levels #auspol

Institute of Public Affairs So, in June 2017 there were 1.593 million people receiving DSP, Newstart and Youth Allowance (Other). In December 2023, there were 1.645 million people receiving DSP, JobSeeker and Youth Allowance (Other), an increase of 52,000.
But starting in 2017 the pension age was lifted 1/n

Institute of Public Affairs … from 65 to 67, and the number of people 65 and over on unemployment payments went from zero to 54,600 and the number aged 65 plus on DSP went from 52,300 to 139,800. If the Age pension age had stayed at 65, the number of people on these payments would have fallen by 90,000 2/3