It’s time to put the dole bludger myth to bed and focus on helping young people down on their luck, writes Tarric Brooker.

IN AUSTRALIAN CULTURE, there is a mythical villain that comes for “your tax dollars” — an image of an individual that is moustache twirlingly nefarious in the pursuit of living a comfortable life on other people’s money.

That mythical suburban villain, passed down from one generation to the next, like an Australian version of a financial bogeyman, is the so-called “dole bludger”.

via Dole bludgers and other urban myths