Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

You should listen to this—

It goes on to say:

It was 10 years ago last week that then president Bill Clinton passed into law a bill requiring people to find a job or lose their benefits after five years.

That goes a lot further than what this government is doing. The article continues:

Critics warned that the 1996 law would be catastrophic for single parents and their children.

According to the article, one Democratic senator predicted that the US would leave children begging for money and begging for food. In fact, since those laws were introduced in the US 10 years ago, 1.6 million fewer children live in poverty in the United States as a result of welfare to work measures in the United States. As I say, our policies do not go as far as the policies in the US. But when you have a strong economy, when you have workplace change and when you are helping those most disadvantaged in the community to get into work, the recipe is success for Australia.

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