Disability dole shake-up

Bid to stop number on pension hitting 1m

AUSTRALIA’S disability support pension scheme faces a major overhaul to end deadend welfare handouts for people who do not have permanent injuries.

Nearly one in 20 workingage Australians are now on the disability pension, which offers up to $800-a-fortnight without a requirement to look for even part-time work.

Left unchecked, the number of Australians on disability payments is on track to hit one million in the next decade.

Confronted with the staggering $15 billion-a-year cost of Australia’s disability support pension scheme, the Abbott Government is preparing major reforms.

The main options under consideration include introducing a two-tiered system that would limit new entrants to temporary payments only if their disability was not permanent. The second option was ensuring that younger workers aged under 40 were subjected to more regular reviews to check if they were capable of working part-time.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said he wanted to focus on ability, not disability. ‘‘The best form of welfare is work, if that’s possible,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re looking at whether or not there should be a category of what I might call temporary incapacity rather than permanent incapacity.

‘‘Temporary might mean you are on it for a limited period and then it’s properly reassessed. And then I think you need to do more frequent reviews depending on the age and capacity of the person.’’

The DSP payments offer significantly more cash than the $500-fortnight unemployment benefit, another incentive for people to convince doctors they are too sick to work. But Mr Andrews cautioned that some of the reforms may require an upfront investment in skills and training rather than saving money straight away.

‘‘Welfare reform often involves an upfront investment. It’s not just about kicking people off benefits,’’ he said.

‘‘We are looking to invest in their capability so they can have a better life.’’

Mr Andrews said that onethird of DSP recipients now argued they could not work based on psychological problems, including depression. This was the largest group of people on the DSP, overtaking those with skeletal problems

‘‘If people have got some sort of psychological condition, is that a condition that necessarily incapacitates them from permanently working? They may be able to work,’’ Mr Andrews said.

‘‘There’s a two-year review, apparently, but there’s a whole stock of people on DSP that traditionally have not been reviewed.’’

Mr Andrews also conceded he did not have resources to constantly review the 822,000 people on DSP benefits.