The government’s recently announced health sector reforms go well beyond what its expert health review had recommended. This was rightly welcomed by many in the sector, but it does raise the question: if radical change can be made in health, why not the same for welfare? For years now, benefit recipients, welfare advocates and their allies have been calling for a significant increase in core benefit levels to provide a liveable income. They have also called for major changes in how Work and Income (WINZ) deals with people with chronic illness and disability and those in relationships; how it treats benefit recipients seeking assistance; and how it makes decisions about discretionary hardship and supplementary assistance.