This’ week I had a chance to meet a lot of people in the sector, especially some that are disabled. This is really enjoyed as I have always had interest in the social issues associated with disability, both my parents have been on the The Disability Support Pension (DSP) at times and I have spent a lot of time working on Agoonarees’ (Jamborees with Para-Scout(disabled Scouts) wing of the Scout Association of NSW. The new Welfare to Work legislation really annoys me.
See the DSP is set at a higher level than the Newstart Allowance in recognition of the added difficulties and costs faced by people with disabilities everyday. The Welfare to Work legislation unfairly shifts people from the DSP onto Newstart regardless of the greater cost to our society and the people in question.
Before Welfare to Work, people with a disability would only be placed on Newstart if they could work 30 hours a week. The government has now slashed that in half and makes no allowance for people with episodic problems that may allow them to work one week but not the next, or those with degenerative illnesses who will later be returned to the DSP at the new, lower rate of payment.
Since July 2006, Welfare to Work has disadvantaged people with disabilities by:
-Withholding income from families and people with disabilities for 8 weeks for minor failures such as being unable to attend a job interview;
-Allocating a lower payment than those previously receiving benefits. Over 80,000 people with disabilities will be worse off by being forced onto lower benefits – by up to $164 a week;
-Discriminating against people who try to improve their situation by studying, who are forced onto lower payments and lose additional help with expenses for books, stationary and travel;
-Allowing them to keep less money if they do work because the combined impact of the social security and tax system results in most keeping only 25-35 cents from each dollar earnt (that’s an effective marginal tax rate greater than those faced by Australia’s highest income earners);
-Penalising those who seek work. Under the new laws, many people currently receiving income support will risk this if they obtain a job or get a new partner and go off their payments. If they reapply for benefits later on they will be put onto the same lower benefits that now apply to new applicants under the “Welfare to Work” package.
What we need to do is Support employers to take on people with disabilities and mature aged workers. Unless there are employers willing to consider them, people with disabilities and mature aged workers will not be able to get a job however much the government punishes them. As well as Encourage flexible working arrangements that can accommodate the needs of people with disabilities. The current structure of work disadvantages people with disabilities and results in the under-utilisation of their skills and abilities.
The basic idea is that Rather than punishing people on low incomes, introduce strong incentives to take up full time work via reforms to the tax system, judicious use of direct cash incentives etc that will give people more money for their efforts. If the wealthy need more money as an incentive, then surely those who are among the poorest people in the country do also.
