Australian government has revealed that more than 35,000 Australians rejected job offers to stay on generous taxpayer-funded welfare payments.
Some of them took up the job but then quit and went back to welfare payments.
In 2016, till October, 35,576 Australians, perfectly capable of working refused to do a suitable job, new figures state.
Out of these, some refused a job offer outright while others accepted the job but never turned up for work.
For those who took up work, more than 22,000 quit their new job without a good reason to go back on unemployment payments.
Also, 10,000 were sacked from their new job for serious misconduct like theft, assault or harassment of colleagues or customers, or unauthorised absences from work.
Human Services Minister Alan Tudge told Daily Telegraph that there were many areas where business owners in Australia were unable to find workers to do jobs, like fruit-picking or working in an abattoir but at the same time, the unemployment level was high.
He also pointed out that there were “whole regions where as many people receive their income from welfare as from a job”.
“We are fortunate to have a strong social security system for when people are down on their luck, but it must be a safety net, not a destination,” Mr Tudge said.
Following this news, Treasurer Scott Morrison has warned anyone who is unemployed and refuses to take a job should not get the dole.
"If they knock back those jobs, they are not taking those jobs, then they shouldn't be getting the dole," Mr Morrison told Sydney's 2GB radio on Monday.
Government spends $160 billion on welfare payments, which makes up a third of all government expenditure and this is growing by 6% a year.
