Australia is a great place to live ! It seems that actually getting a job and earning a living is entirely optional because of the lax criteria that applies to getting the Disability Support Pension - and in many ways - the DSP is little more than a joke !
Eight hundred thousand people in this country draw as much as $800 a fortnight because they supposedly are sufficiently incapacitated to hold down a job. There are no hard and fast rules and that incapacity can take many forms. For those who are more "work shy "than incapacitated, it is simply a matter of finding a General Practitioner with a sympathetic attitude who will not enquire too deeply into the nature of the claimed ailments.
If that GP is prepared to allocate the twenty points necessary to support the claim, it seems that Centrelink has little option other than to grant the DSP. From time to time that pensioner may be called upon to come in for an interview to determine that the incapacity remains, but it is rare for someone to be struck off the list - unless serious malpractice is both suspected - and proved !
From January 1 all that changes. Getting those twenty points is still the start of a DSP claim, but the applicant will then need to run the gauntlet of a panel of government appointed doctors whose main purpose is to carefully examine the extent of any incapacity - and determine whether a part pension and some light duties may be more applicable than just issueing a lifetime exclusion from the need to hold down a paying job.
Many people with genuine disabilities will welcome this intervention. The system has been so consistently rorted that to bring to notice that they receive the DSP is to invite derision. In just about every suburb there seems to be a person receiving the DSP who is seen kicking a football with the kids, mowing the lawn and doing various strenuous activities that are far beyond the degree of capacity claimed. Many boast about their "cleverness " in gaining a life of pleasure at the expense of the public purse !
It must also grate with the many people with genuine disabilities who still manage to hold down a job and have sought work that is not incompatible with those limitations. The jobs spectrum ranges widely and the wise improve their skills to counter ailments that preclude some activities - and many are key employees who have risen to positions of importance by sheer hard work and perseverance.
This review of the conditions that apply to the DSP is long overdue. It is a huge temptation for those seeking an easy life and quickly gains almost cult status in groups that struggle because of language difficulties - or who fail to adjust to the different life style that has evolved in this country. There is also a tendency of doctors of a similar foreign ancestry to be more sympathetic to the perceived disabilities of those of similar national identities.
A tightening of DSP eligibility rules should run in tandem with an increase in the facilities available to train those with disabilities to re-enter the workforce with new skills. In many cases, those with a physical disability may need an urgent upgrade in order to be able to work in the world of computers or providing telephone services. Further mental development to turn a manual labourer into an office worker can be rewarding in opening up new careers. In the majority of cases, this will require specialised training.
Australia has always been generous in supporting those with genuine disabilities - and that will continue. The impetus now should be directed at improving lifestyles by developing the latent work opportunities that exist alongside those disabilities.
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