A welfare expert says one of the Government's grants is a good idea in principle.  

The Taxpayers’ Union has revealed the business start up grant has dished out $38 million with little to show for it.  

Documents retrieved through the Official Information Act show hundreds of the recipients struggled and returned to a benefit within two years.  

Former Welfare Expert Advisory Group member Phil O'Reilly told Mike Hosking the execution was woefully bad.  

He says the problem is MSD spent far too much and there wasn't enough mentoring or measuring of outcomes. 

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