Mean(s) testing – Why it pays to make our welfare system fair

Australia is the richest nation in the world by some metrics, yet we have one of the meanest sets of welfare payments in the OECD. Paternalistic Income Management, punitive obligations, and callous means testing – the social safety net originally set up as a democratic support system post-wwii, has been reduced to a behaviour control system that promotes stigma, blame, and political scapegoating. It does not benefit Australia socially or economically to punish its own citizens, so why do we continue to do so?