Australia spends $158 billion a year on welfare and social services, 35% of the annual federal budget. The amount of money the government spends on welfare has grown by 6% in the last year, and is one of the reasons the human services minister has cited for the government's Centrelink crackdown.

"If you've got a third of your budget growing faster than your overall economy is growing, then you've got a problem," Tudge told BuzzFeed News.

But, he added, the moral challenge of welfare is more important than balancing the budget.

"A life of welfare dependency is not much of a life, it sucks the life out of you," Tudge said.

"I actually call long term welfare dependence, on a capable individual, a poison because it really demotivates you, it sucks the life out of you, you can end up with mental health problems as a result."

The government has targeted its anti-welfare measure at men under 30 who, according to Centrelink data, are the most likely of the 760,000 people on welfare who "seem" to abuse the system.