The more the contributors listen to those generous enough to allow them into their lives, the more it becomes clear that, as a nation, there exists a problematic attitude within our society that it’s easy to simply ‘get off welfare’. This belief that self-sufficiency is possible for all is one that is proven wrong time and time again throughout the series, and there is a very real sense that the individuals that find themselves in these situations could be any one of us. The stories they share reveal that an unexpected job loss, chronic illness or violent relationship can be all it takes to transform a life of relative comfort into one of poverty and reliance on government payments. When you add the barriers presented by disability, lack of opportunity and stigma, getting off welfare is a far more complex and challenging task than most of us could ever realise.

The series is a powerful reminder that there are real people behind the statistics, and that the ability of a person of privilege to make informed decisions about what those who experience disadvantage are entitled to is limited at best. The individuals Jenny, Caleb and Julie meet along the way will inspire you, challenge you, and leave you questioning whether life on the breadline can ever be considered a choice after all.

Could You Survive On The Breadline? premieres exclusively at 8.30pm, Wednesday 17 November on SBS and SBS On Demand. Episodes air weekly over three weeks. Watch the trailer now:

More whinging by Valkie, he must be a treat to live with. I bet the missus gets dinner exactly right, or else.

Come on, whats keeping you.

Is it getting too hard to switch persona????

They should actually go out and live 'there' for a week or two to really get a grip on the issues.  Bet their views will change dramatically, even if they are starting from an open-minded POV now or even a sympathetic POV.

No plan survives the first whiff of poverty powder..... and the hard reality of getting food and shelter for the night... wearing jeans, hoodie, shirt and joggers only.... better still.. they should do it in winter with no preparation.

Here's forty dollars - one parachute per person... door at the rear of the aircraft...

Caleb Bond on the TV experiment that totally changed his opinion of welfare
Columnist Caleb Bond is well-known for his conservative views - but one opinion changed drastically after he took part in a bold TV experiment.

News.com.au
November 17, 2021

Welfare recipients have long argued that politicians ought to live like them for a while to see how they like it.

Unlike most politicians, I can now say I’ve done it.

Granted – nine days is a lot shorter than most people endure on welfare and I was followed by television cameras. But it is, nevertheless, able to provide a stark insight many others will not have seen or experienced.

When I agreed to film the SBS series Could You Survive On The Breadline?, I obviously came with a set of preconceived notions. Dare I suggest that’s half the reason they invited me on.

My dislike of the welfare state is well publicised – both in terms of personal and corporate welfare.

As the beneficiary of what I’d call a “normal” working class upbringing, my experiences of welfare were limited to family tax benefits.


Caleb Bond on Could You Survive On The Breadline?
So as someone who went in with fresh eyes, let me say, categorically, that the state of welfare and public housing in this country is worse than an outsider could have imagined.   

As an example, I spent a night with a man by the name of Pierre, who lives in a housing commission flat in Surry Hills in Sydney.

The housing commission refused to provide enough bins for the building, or empty them often enough, so when the bins were full people would put their rubbish outside.   


That, of course, attracted rats. The place was swarming with them.

When one of these rats died underneath Pierre’s floorboards, the housing commission didn’t come out to pull up a floorboard or two to remove it.

They put him up in a hotel for a week so the rat could decompose and stop smelling.

He previously battled mould in his bathroom while the housing commission refused to install a fan.

The cost of putting him in a hotel could have covered that fan and then some.

But, sadly, the system does not appear terribly concerned with actually helping people in need out of the holes in which they find themselves.

And if that’s not the objective, you are simply consigning people to lifelong misery.

I believe in personal responsibility and the ability of the individual, but you have to give them a leg up.

Pierre and others who do not have the capacity to work full-time, or who cannot get full-time employment, told me that they would like to be able to do a little bit of work to supplement their welfare incomes.

But if they did that, they risked losing their entire welfare benefit – which would leave them in an even worse position.

Caleb Bond says he was ‘extremely moved’ during his time filming.

For them, seeking work was likely to see them worse off. So again, the system provides no springboard for people to improve their lot in life.

I would not previously have advocated for raising the rate of JobSeeker. And I still don’t believe that raising the rate, in and of itself, is a silver bullet to improve the lives of those on welfare.

But it is one potential cog in a system that ought to be completely rebuilt.

I met people who, through shrewd financial management, did not struggle to get by. I met others who, for various reasons, struggled immensely.

Because people are different. And in this case, they are dealing with a one-size-fits-all system.

You give $40 to someone in Adelaide and they will likely be able to make it go further than someone in Sydney. But there’s no acknowledgment of these disparities and it is holding people back – in some cases for the entirety of their lives.

Extra money would improve some people’s lives. Physical support would help others. But as it stands, there is no room for any of this.

It’s not hard to see why some people would feel so beaten that they cannot see a way out.

As a taxpayer, the government compulsorily takes a significant portion of my income to spend on whatever it sees fit. And it spends on welfare to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

We, as a country, should expect that money to be spent in the best way possible to provide for those less fortunate.

That is not happening. It fails those who rely on welfare to survive. And it fails us as a country.


I was extremely moved during my time filming. The people I met – and the people you will watch – are largely just trying their best. But, to this nation’s great shame, they are continually failed by the system.   

Watch Caleb Bond in Could You Survive On The Breadline? tonight, Wednesday, November 17 at 8.30pm on SBS and airing over three weeks.