Its Serious Work Bludging Off Society
Melbourne Herald Sun - 17 May 99.
by Andrew Bolt

Writer Leonie Stevens, hailed by Juice magazine as "a voice of a generation", says she tries not to pay for things.

She complains about being trapped in a capatilist system, and last week used an interview on the ABC's youth radio station, Triple J, to tell listeners to "subvert it".

"There's a lot of charities where you can go and get food vouchers" she told Triple J's appreciative host Sarah MacDonald. "I worked out that you could pretty much feed yourself for about six weeks a year just off charities".

Just when you think Generation X may not be so bad, along comes Stevens and the staff and listeners of taxpayer-funded Triple J.

Here are the highlights of MacDonald's talk with Stevens, who squatted in Melbourne for five years, and has just written 'Glue', a grunge novel.

Stevens: "One of my favourite things is writing complaint letters... you'll usually get a cheque with double your money back...

"We used to go (to clerks of court) and say that we needed money and they'd give you cash out of the poor box."

Talkback Caller: "I get to work for free... my friend travels with me and when I don't have enough money for a ticket, she just lets me go in behind her..."

Stevens: "Actually, the thing that scares me is that some of the inspectors are, like, they're worse that street gangs and ruffians..."

Caller (a bartender): "I've gotten all stuff like Sony Playstations and T-shirts... (by) keeping all the things you're ment to hand out..."

MacDonald: "You're very resourceful."

Another six callers rang to suggest their favourite scams.

Not one - and Triple J claims to have very savvy listeners - protested at this shameless freeloading. Would the older audiences of 3AW or 3LO have stood for it?

No, wait. One person DID insist on some rules. Stevens herself. She told MacDonald she still expects us to pay for her book, and has taken copyright on it. She also insists her publisher pays her.

Yes, its a rotten system.

I'd like to thanks Nathan for typing this article up for me.