Welfare expenditure Australia 2003-04

'Welfare expenditure Australia 2003-04' provides estimates of expenditure on welfare services and social security benefits in Australia for the period 1998-99 to 2003-04. Welfare services expenditure are benefits in kind to families and children, older people, people with disabilities, and other target groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and migrants. This expenditure totalled $20 billion in 2003-04. Estimates are reported by source of funding, whether from governments, from individuals in the form of fees for services or from non-government community service organisations. Funding of welfare services by the eight state and territory governments are compared. This publication also contains estimates of social tax expenditures by the Australian Government. This report is an important reference for policy makers and those working in the community services sector.