How Duncan Storrar’s question set in motion a public grilling and more than $50,000 in donations

DUNCAN Storrar’s history, personal life and finances are now being scrutinised in public. But at least there’s one silver lining.

THE money keeps pouring in for minimum-wage poster boy Duncan Storrar, and he plans to do something touching with it.

It’s bittersweet for the 45-year-old from Geelong who will inherit more than $56,000 (and counting) but whose personal history, finances and love life have been picked apart and presented as evidence in arguments about whether or not he deserves a handout.

What started with a simple question on Monday night’s Q&A program has snowballed into front page stories on Australia’s biggest newspapers and a fundraising campaign that has blown away the recipient and the two young men who started it for a laugh.

Today they said they can’t believe how much money has been donated.

Mr Storrar was a willing participant at first but he could never have imagined what he was getting himself in to.

“I’ve got a disability and a low education, that means I’ve spent my whole life working for minimum wage,” Mr Storrar volunteered.

He was pleading with Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer to lift the tax-free threshold for people on minimum wage like himself. Mr Storrar earns $16 an hour on a part-time basis driving trucks.

“If you lift my tax-free threshold (for me), that changes my life. That means that I get to say to my little girls, ‘Daddy’s not broke this weekend. We can go to the pictures’,” he said.

“Rich people don’t even notice their tax-free threshold lift. Why don’t I get it? Why do they get it?”

Australia responded with a mix of support and cynicism. The Australian reported on Thursday that Mr Storrar may not be the “national hero” he is being presented as.

The newspaper interviewed his son, Aztec Major, who said he and his father both developed a drug addiction three years ago and shouldn’t be trusted with a large sum of money.

“To put it in my best words, it’s eating away at me, all this money being donated to him, it’s ridiculous,” the 20-year-old said.

“The public should know what kind of person he is.”

A gofundme.com campaign started for Duncan Storrar after his appearance on ABC has raised $46,880 and is still rising. This screengrab was taken at 8:20pm on May 11, 2016.

It follows revelations about Mr Storrar’s personal life, including that he receives welfare benefits, lives at home with his mother and pays no net tax.

But thousands have jumped to the Aussie battler’s defence. The two men behind his fundraiser, Sam Fawcett and Nicholas Oliver, told news.com.au they are thrilled with the response and know the money will be spent wisely.

They said Mr Storrar plans to spend some of the money helping a woman in a “worse situation than his”.

“He is so moved by the generosity of the Australian people,” Mr Oliver said.

“One lady, who is arguably in a more dire situation than him, offered to donate her used toys to his family. He was so touched that he wants to donate a large portion of the GoFundMe money to her family.”

The remainder of the money Mr Storrar plans to spend on educating his other two children, eight and six.

On the fundraising page, commenters rallied behind Mr Storrar, regardless of his past.

“I give zero f*cks whether he is who or what he claims to be, or whether he spends the money on hookers and VB,” one man wrote.

“It was worth the money I donated to watch someone ask a question that would otherwise never see the light of day and hear answers that fit in that same category.”

Others wrote: “I didn’t donate to Duncan with an agenda on how it was to be spent ... as far as I am concerned he can take his girls to the Gold Coast for the weekend and splurge the lot” and “Duncan, I hope you feel like you won the lottery today (and) I love that we have the power to make that happen.”

Mr Oliver said Mr Storrar’s message touched a nerve because it was so raw and so real.

“This is the kind of thing that can’t be predicted or scripted,” he said.

“Every now and then, something comes along that taps into the Zeitgeist, and Duncan’s question seemed to do that. It’s amazing how quickly these things go viral. For the most part, the response has been very positive, which is nice.

“Duncan expressed in simple language something that many people are going through.”

Aztec Major with his dad, Duncan. Picture: David Geraghty/The Australian