Post by Banker on Jan 15, 2012 5:57:56 GMT 7
THE new year began with the usual flurry of changes and announcements about why 2012 would be better than 2011 and why one should thank the government for it.
Some benefits went up, there were changes to the youth allowance and the cap was removed on university places. All good, solid stuff. But what about the things the government wasn't so keen to emphasise, such as the first major revamp of the disability support pension in nearly 20 years that will leave tens of thousands of people no longer eligible?
New classifications for physical and mental disabilities are now used by Centrelink to decide whether someone is capable of work.
There are 818,850 people receiving the disability support payment - or about one person for every 20 people of working age.
It isn't easy to get the payment. To qualify for the disability pension a person with a physical, psychological or psychiatric condition must be unable to work at least 15 hours a week, be fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised, and have a problem that is likely to persist for more than two years.
But the government maintains reform was long overdue for an old system full of inconsistencies. For example, when hearing impairment was assessed, a person with a hearing aid was not required to wear it but someone having their sight impairment assessed had to wear their glasses.
Research by Catholic Social Services, Anglicare, the Salvation Army and UnitingCare found the number of people receiving disability pensions would be cut 40 per cent under the new system.
The changes do not just affect people applying for the payment for the first time. About 18,000 people who already receive the payment will be chosen each year to have their condition reviewed.
This means there are potentially people who have been living on the pension for decades who will, overnight, lose a third of their income. Why? Because people who do not qualify for the disability support pension will instead receive the unemployment payment, Newstart, a payment so low that even conservative economists such as Ian Harper argue it is too low to live on.
''It's too low now,'' Harper, the man chosen by former prime minister John Howard to set the minimum wage, told my colleague Misha Schubert last year. ''When unemployment is falling, the people on the Newstart Allowance are the people who are among the most difficult to find a job for and … making their living standards less viable compared [with] the community doesn't make a lot of sense.''
But this is exactly what the government is doing. It takes the harsh line that the unemployment payment shouldn't be an incentive for people not to look for work.
To put that into perspective, the unemployment payment is $245 a week. The disability support pension is $375 and the minimum wage is $590.
Which would you prefer?
Finding a job for someone with a disability is very hard. Just ask the government. Out of a workforce of 166,495 continuing employees, only 4528 have a disability. That is 153 fewer than the year before, the largest decrease in more than a decade, according to the public service commissioner.
Tough love for tough times for a group of people for whom not many have understanding or sympathy.
www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/when-is-a-helping-hand-not-a-helping-hand-20120114-1q074.html
Some benefits went up, there were changes to the youth allowance and the cap was removed on university places. All good, solid stuff. But what about the things the government wasn't so keen to emphasise, such as the first major revamp of the disability support pension in nearly 20 years that will leave tens of thousands of people no longer eligible?
New classifications for physical and mental disabilities are now used by Centrelink to decide whether someone is capable of work.
There are 818,850 people receiving the disability support payment - or about one person for every 20 people of working age.
It isn't easy to get the payment. To qualify for the disability pension a person with a physical, psychological or psychiatric condition must be unable to work at least 15 hours a week, be fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised, and have a problem that is likely to persist for more than two years.
But the government maintains reform was long overdue for an old system full of inconsistencies. For example, when hearing impairment was assessed, a person with a hearing aid was not required to wear it but someone having their sight impairment assessed had to wear their glasses.
Research by Catholic Social Services, Anglicare, the Salvation Army and UnitingCare found the number of people receiving disability pensions would be cut 40 per cent under the new system.
The changes do not just affect people applying for the payment for the first time. About 18,000 people who already receive the payment will be chosen each year to have their condition reviewed.
This means there are potentially people who have been living on the pension for decades who will, overnight, lose a third of their income. Why? Because people who do not qualify for the disability support pension will instead receive the unemployment payment, Newstart, a payment so low that even conservative economists such as Ian Harper argue it is too low to live on.
''It's too low now,'' Harper, the man chosen by former prime minister John Howard to set the minimum wage, told my colleague Misha Schubert last year. ''When unemployment is falling, the people on the Newstart Allowance are the people who are among the most difficult to find a job for and … making their living standards less viable compared [with] the community doesn't make a lot of sense.''
But this is exactly what the government is doing. It takes the harsh line that the unemployment payment shouldn't be an incentive for people not to look for work.
To put that into perspective, the unemployment payment is $245 a week. The disability support pension is $375 and the minimum wage is $590.
Which would you prefer?
Finding a job for someone with a disability is very hard. Just ask the government. Out of a workforce of 166,495 continuing employees, only 4528 have a disability. That is 153 fewer than the year before, the largest decrease in more than a decade, according to the public service commissioner.
Tough love for tough times for a group of people for whom not many have understanding or sympathy.
www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/when-is-a-helping-hand-not-a-helping-hand-20120114-1q074.html