Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

The best form of welfare is a job. This is something that we as a government fundamentally believe. It is also work that is integral to supporting a strong economy. When a person is able to get a job—when they move from welfare and into work—they are no longer in receipt of social services and they become taxpaying citizens. That is a good thing. But there are also the incalculable other benefits that having a job provides. When you go and talk to people who've been on unemployment benefits and made that transition into the workforce, they describe to you the self-esteem they get because they now have a job and the ability to provide for their family and because, more than that, now that they have a job, they are able to be a role model for others around them.

Under this government welfare dependency is the lowest it has been in 30 years.