$82m 'WASTE'

IT WAS designed to stimulate the economy but more than $82 million of the first round of the Federal Government's stimulus payments went to people living abroad. Centrelink has confirmed 68,812 people living overseas received as much as $1400 each €“ a total of $82.2 million. The figure is 1.7 per cent of the $4.8 billion the Government handed out to pensioners, self-funded retirees and some single parents in December last year.

Rise in pension pay won't flow to unemployed

PEOPLE looking for work can spend more than five years living on one of the lowest social security payments, new figures show.