The federal government has defended its approach to tacking welfare following the release of new research showing nearly 3 million Australians are living below the poverty line. A new Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) report says this figure includes 731,000 children – a 2% increase in the past decade. “Our opponents on the left have pushed, I think, a welfare mentality in this country,” Seselja told Sky News on Sunday. Labor’s spokeswoman for families and social services, Jenny Macklin, responded by saying that the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had failed to show leadership on tackling poverty and inequality. That was followed by families on the parenting payment (51.5%), the majority of whom were lone parents with children.

Source: The Guardian October 16, 2016 04:11 UTC