Discussions of our welfare system are riddled with inaccuracies and "fake news", ranging from stereotypes to claims about certain initiatives and commitments being "fully funded".

You can always tell when a budget is on the horizon, as the media saturates with references to dole bludgers and various other welfare "cheats", teenage pregnancies, "fake family structures", "double dipping" and so on, all eliciting threats of yet another welfare crackdown. Many, if not most, of these claims tend to ignore the available evidence.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter wants doctors to support the Turnbull government's plan to drug-test welfare recipients. Credit:Andrew Meares

The classic is the annual attack on the unemployed – you know, the "layabouts" and "couch potatoes", reluctant to attend job interviews, using their dole to sustain a certain "lifestyle" – as if their benefits dominate the welfare bill and are indicative of the magnitude of the so-called welfare problem, when in fact they account for only about 6 per cent of welfare spending and that spending is flat-lining, growing slower than GDP. Most unemployed are in fact desperate for a job.

Nevertheless, governments of various persuasions have announced over the years a variety of policy crackdowns to make it harder to receive the benefit – work-for-the-dole schemes; requirements to first run down "liquid balances" and/or to attend a specified number of job interviews and other job search regimes; in this budget, adding drug and relationship tests – all with penalties to delay or revoke benefits, in part or whole.