G'day again :-)

Just to clarify to all.

> Number of welfare recipients in Australia: about 5.4 million, or about the entire population of Melbourne.

That's the number of unique Australians who get any form of income support at least once in a full reporting year, and there are a number of one off and short term payment types.

It includes many people who are working, a number on pensions, likely children (I haven't dug deep, etc), students, and others.

It's not the case that there are 5 million dole bludgers spending the year on the piss at the TAB, pulling bongs on the couch, etc.

There's quite the list of support types here: https://www.dss.gov.au/income-support-payments

It includes assistance for real Job seekers and helps keep them from being a greater problem, assistence with starting small businesses, etc.