Yes, society has chosen not to deal with poverty like an emergency. It chose. And Australia can afford it. Money is just a construct! but seriously it is and f

Yes, society has chosen not to deal with poverty like an emergency. It chose. And Australia can afford it. Money is just a construct! but seriously it is and feeding people is cheaper than building useless submarines for the navy and we're not stopping that. And just on your point, the government has discretion over it's own spending, it didn't need to vote to give people money like in the states. The Australian government can turn on and off the tap when it likes it's not restricted as heavily as you'd think.