The crackdown on eligibility for the Disability Support Pension ( DSP ) has certainly produced results. For the first time in six years - since 2010 - the numbers have dropped below eight hundred thousand Australians drawing this pension.
The DSP delivers $ 794.80 each fortnight and this pension has declined from 5.5 to 4.9 as the percentage of the working population of this country, a lowering of the welfare bill by sixteen billion dollars. It represents thirty-three thousand fewer people drawing DSP benefits.
It is expected that there will be a corresponding increase in the numbers transferring to "Newstart "- which is the term that is now applied to "the Dole ". The saving to the Treasury between these two classifications amounts to $7,000 a year.
Most people agree that those who are capable of work should get a job and be self supporting. There has been a suspicion that many are rorting the system and the numbers have been culled by having a further look at the extent of the claimed disability. In the past, once granted the DSP was rarely reviewed and fell into a "set and forget "category. Those days are now past !
Unfortunately, our changing views on welfare will probably bring a less compassionate attitude to those working at the coalface of welfare distribution. Many years ago the cancellation of the "Widow's Pension "came as a profound shock to many women whose breadwinner husband died, leaving them a few years short of eligibility for the aged pension. There are still women who class themselves as "Homemaker "and have never held a paid job in their married life. To find themselves "unemployed "and subjected to job search requirements for the meagre benefits of Newstart can be a daunting experience.
There are also people of both genders who lack the intelligence and capacity to hold down any sort of job than demands even moderate skill. All they can contribute to an employer is a degree of labouring capacity - and those sort of jobs have almost disappeared from the lexicon. They are the "misfits "of our society - almost "unemployable " - and many have ended up on the DSP.
From the other side of this coin, the demands that Centrelink makes to justify job searches means that employers are constantly finding a stream of people making application for any jobs offering. In the vast majority of cases valuable time is taken interviewing applicants who totally lack the credentials for success. Is it any wonder that many employers fail to answer job applications because many are simply fulfilling a Centrelink demand that they prove they are actively looking for work.
It is also likely that these improving DSP figures will be matched by an artificial increase in the unemployment rate. There has been a tendency for doctors to show compassion for people who are obviously unemployable by exaggerating any evident minor disability to make them fit within the DSP guidelines. The medical profession has acted as a filter to create within the DSP a repository of those who fall through the cracks - lacking the ability to meet work standards but unable to otherwise qualify for assistance other than the dole.
Government planning is reliant on statistics to set in place the policies that bring results. If a change of standards skews demographics to give a false readout all sorts of unintended consequences become possible. The influx of many virtually unemployable people onto the Centrelink job search regimen may make employers less interested in conducting what they consider "time wasting "" interviews that only serve to meet Centrelink guidelines.
Benefits gained at one end of the scale may mask an illusion happening elsewhere !
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