Ben Fordham slams ‘lazy’ Australian on unemployment payments

Radio host Ben Fordham has claimed Australia has made it “too easy” for people stay home on unemployment pay, slamming “lazy” recipients.

Radio host Ben Fordham has hit out at the “lazy” Australians abusing the welfare system, suggesting it had been made “too easy” for people to stay home and not work.

Fordham fired up on Sydney radio station 2GB on Friday morning while addressing the number of Australians currently receiving Centrelink benefits.

The Albanese Government’s Job Summit will continue in Canberra today, with one session titled “Policy levers to increase workforce participation”.

“Which is a dull way of talking about a very serious problem and that is the stunning number of Australians who choose not to work,” Fordham said.

There are currently 892,000 people receiving unemployment benefits across the country.

Recent data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show there are more than 480,000 job vacancies, which is a 111 per cent increase since February 2020.

The radio host made it clear that he wasn’t lashing out at pensioners, veterans and people with disabilities who received welfare.

Instead, he said he was focusing on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance.

Ben Fordham has lashed out at ‘lazy’ welfare recipients. Picture: Gaye Gerard/ Daily Telegraph

“Again, there are many people receiving these payments who genuinely want to work. They want nothing more than a job,” Fordham said.

“But there are other people who are capable of working. They say they’re looking for work and they reckon they can’t find any. But I think we all know that they don’t really want to find a job.”

Payments made through Jobseeker and Youth Allowance cost the government about $30 billion a year, with Fordham pointing out there are nearly one million Aussies benefiting from this welfare support.

He said businesses were “screaming out” for workers, meaning many are having to turn to people coming from overseas.

“The government wants to bring in 200,000 every year from overseas, and I’m in favour of skilled migration. I think it plays an important role,” the radio host said.

“But let’s not ignore the situation staring us in the face. There are hundreds of thousands of Australians to choose not to work.

“They’re either too lazy, or we’ve made it too easy for them to stay at home.”

Fordham also claimed “generational unemployment” plays a role in people’s decision to live on welfare, saying many people have grown up in an environment where not working is the norm.

He questioned what was being done to push the people who can work but refuse into getting a job.

“Eighty per cent of welfare recipients are considered long term unemployed. The average time out of work is more than five years,” he said.

“I’m not convinced that 892,000 people on Jobseeker and Youth Allowance are seriously unable to work.

“Jobless payments are supposed to be a safety net. But sadly some people treat them like a hammock.”

There are hundreds of thousands of Aussies currently on unemployment payments. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

Earlier this year, a recruitment director revealed he had exposed 2000 lazy attempts from welfare recipients fulfilling job search obligations.

Speaking to 2GB, Superior People Recruitment Director Graham Wynn claimed an alarming number of Australia’s JobSeekers were sending in bogus resumes, with some only displaying the applicant’s name.

He said several people deliberately send in underprepared resumes with false details to avoid getting a job.

Mr Wynn said he has dobbed in more than 2000 people who have sent in lazy responses over the past two months via a new register introduced in February.

He went on to explain why “one in five” people “shouldn’t be on benefits”.

One woman openly admitted she was working “two cash jobs and was only filling my Centrelink requirements, sorry for wasting your time”.

“I do like their honesty, but that’s what they send me,” he said.

He said some applicants apply for jobs such as a senior sheet metal worker and show they have previously only worked in retail stores.

“Those ones who are on Centrelink and do have recent relevant experience … about half of those don’t show up to the interview. This is a bigger problem than people think it is,” he said.