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An Australian politician has used his first speech to parliament to call for unemployed idlers to be stung with a cattle prod to get them to work.
John Williams, a former truck driver, shearer, farmer and small business owner who only took his place in the Senate on July 1, said he had seen many people living on employment benefits who were "determined not to work".
"They are simply getting a free ride on behalf of tax payers of Australia and it is about time they received a touch on the backside with a cattle prodder to get them off their butts and actually do some work," he said.
The 53-year-old, a member of the rural-based National Party, said those who were capable of working should not receive a dole cheque unless they made some contribution to society.
"I believe that if you are in good health and are capable of working, then you should work," he told the Senate late Monday.
"However, I do believe that the genuine unemployed should have a safety net and should be helped through their tough times until they find employment."
The senator's call came as a parliamentarian in the northern state of Queensland called for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools, saying a short, sharp caning would prevent bullying.
"It's a great deterrent. We've already looked at the go-soft approach, I don't believe it's working," Rosa Lee Long, a state MP for the minority One Nation Party, told commercial TV.
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