Ben Fordham has lashed out at “dole bludgers” who are rorting the welfare system by deliberately failing to find work.
The 2GB Radio host and journalist told his listeners on Friday morning that he had obtained resumes submitted by Australians who were taking taxpayers “for a ride”.
Some admitted the only reason they applied for jobs was to meet mutual quotas to keep receiving welfare payments.
One person called Jack had a one-page resume that read: “I have absolutely no skills whatsoever. I made it to 10th grade.”
“Does that sound like someone who is keen to land a job, or is Jack only applying for one so he can keep the dole?” Fordham said.
A second example from a woman named Alannah read: “I'm currently employed with two cash jobs. I’m only applying for this position to compete my job plan with Centrelink. Apologies for any time xjmtzywwasted.”
Another from Karen read: “I am fulfilling my JobSeeker requirements by applying for this role.”
The 2GB host said both sides of politics needed to address the growing number of people who “refused” to work.
While he said most of those receiving payments did need them, there were still many that were able to work and simply chose not to.
“We've got 900,000 Australians on JobSeeker. It’s costing taxpayers $27bn a year,” Fordham said.
“It's easy to rort the system … We are too soft.
“People have figured out how to play the system and you don‘t need a degree to figure that out.
“These are old, gold dole bludgers. That‘s what we used to call them and we should still be calling them now.”
Fordham said a man named Graham, whose job was to find employment for others, had so far reported more than 1000 people to Centrelink.
The journalist explained people who were accused of not meeting their obligations still received payments.
He said after receiving three strikes in six months, a person would be called in for an interview. But he said it would take five strikes and an assessment before Centrelink would cut the payments by half.
“And we wonder why 900,000 Australians are on the system,” Fordham said.
