Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not apologise for its efforts to protect the integrity of the welfare system. The federal government spends over $170 billion across 130 welfare-related payment types each year to support Australia's social safety net—about a third of total annual government expenditure. As of 31 October, over 950,000 Australians have 1.6 million social welfare debts totalling $5.3 billion. The message this government wants to make clear is that it is imperative social welfare recipients engage with us about their circumstances and keep us up to date so we can correctly calculate their welfare entitlements.

Question agreed to.