Unfinished business for welfare reviewer

A former priest with first-hand experience of unemployment has been charged with redesigning the welfare payment system again.

Patrick McClure completed a review into welfare payments for the Howard government in 2000 in a missive titled Participation Support for a More Equitable Society.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has recruited him for a new inquiry, with an interim report due in February and a final report later in autumn before the federal budget.

Mr McClure's original review drew praise right across the political spectrum from the coalition, Labor and Democrats, and the following year saw $1.7 billion committed over four years in the budget.

It paved the way for the Howard government's unpopular welfare crackdown on single parents and the disabled.

Mr McClure has a track record of straight-talking.

He wasn't afraid to slam some of the Howard government's welfare changes, saying they were "against the spirit" of his report in 2002.

He later worked on a 2005-06 welfare-to-work consultative forum with Mr Andrews.

Mr McClure still has some unfinished business including a push to introduce a universal welfare payment with top ups reflecting people's special needs.

Mr McClure was a priest for a decade before leaving the church.

He was unemployed for a short time before studying social work in Western Australia.

His curriculum vitae includes stints with Anglicare working with homeless people, the WA Department of Social Security, chief executive of St Vincents de Paul NSW/ACT and head of Mission Australia from 1997 to 2006.

He was a member of the Howard government's Australian Fair Pay Commission, the Work Choices-era minimum wage setting body.

Last year, Mr McClure flagged the need for further changes to the disability support payment citing the $140 difference between the pension and the unemployment benefit which was proving a disincentive for some.

He's also thrown his support behind expanding controversial income management program that quarantines 50-70 per cent of mostly indigenous people's welfare payments onto special electronic cards that can only be used at government approved shops.

Comment has been sought from Mr McClure.