 Blitz On Disability Pension. |
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By: imcrookonit
22/10/2009
12:31 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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THE government will crack down on eligibility for disability pensions in the wake of a 30 per cent spike in applications during the global financial crisis.
Families Minister Jenny Macklin has said the government was concerned that a change in work status rather than health was the main reason for the surge in applications for the welfare benefit.
Australia's peak welfare body says the fact that the disability pension is $106 a week higher than the Newstart Allowance could explain the trend.
A Families Department analysis has shown that regions with high numbers of unemployed also have high numbers of people on the disability pension.
Ms Macklin said the rate of people applying for the disability pension was very closely related to the rate applying for unemployment benefits.
"(This) leads us to the view that many new applications for the disability pension are not triggered by the acquisition of an impairment or disability, but by changes in an individual's employment circumstances," she said.
Addressing a forum by the Labor-leaning think tank Per Capita in Canberra yesterday, she spelt out details of a new system for assessing claims for the disability pension that would place much greater weight on previous work history.
"From July next year, a new triage system will be introduced to cater for the different needs of new claimants for the disability pension."
People who were "manifestly eligible" because of catastrophic, congenital disability or cancer would be fast-tracked so they could get support more quickly.
Those who were clearly not eligible would be channelled out of the claim process earlier, while borderline claims would be subjected to an intensive work assessment.
Doctors' certificates would be subject to review by a new health advice unit within Centrelink to give claims assessors the ability to consider available treatment to "complement the claimant's doctor's report".
Centrelink was also revising tables |
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By: imcrookonit
22/10/2009
12:33 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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Centrelink was also revising tables used to calculate the degree of impairment from an injury or illness.
Ms Macklin said the new system of assessment would place much greater emphasis on a person's work history.
"At the moment, there is no assessment of prior work history when determining whether an individual has the capacity to work in the future."
Senior policy officer with the peak welfare group ACOSS Peter Davidson said that tweaking the eligibility rules for the disability pension would have little effect on its growth, for so long as the rate for pensions at $671 a fortnight was $106 a week higher than the $456 a fortnight rate for the unemployment benefit.
He said the Henry tax review provided the best hope for tackling the difference in the level of payments.
The director of the Welfare Rights Centre, Maree O'Halloran said there were already huge hurdles to overcome to gain the disability support pension, with a rigorous medical assessment.
"If the minister is concerned about the motivation of disability support pension applicants, she should look at how strict the medical qualifications criteria already are."
Australia has long stood out in OECD surveys as having one of the highest rates of disability pensioners among developed countries. Ms Macklin said the OECD figures also showed it had one of the lowest employment rates, with only 9.5 per cent of Australia's 757,000 disability pensioners having any earnings income.
The average time spent on disability pension is almost 12 years, with most people either moving on to the age pension or dying.
Ms Macklin said the Howard government's effort to reduce the number of people on disability pension had failed.
It had reduced the maximum number of hours someone could work while still claiming part pension from 30 hours to 15.
"The big stick approach had no impact on the number of people on disability support pensions; in fact, the numbers kept going up." |
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By: diverserichtapestry
6/11/2009
4:40 am Yahoo! Profile:
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| Too many Wogs on the DSP. |
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By: beachsunriver
6/11/2009
9:36 am Yahoo! Profile:
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| Just like unemployment {THE DOLE}. For those who genuinely need it I`m happy to see them get it and the rises that come along with it. But it`s the shonks that annoy me. Those who claim it tha don`t need it, or get paid cash jobs elsewhere. It also annoys me seeing those who simply choose not to work and fake injuries. |
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By: salem_blackcat4
7/11/2009
4:26 am Yahoo! Profile:
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Well, is it ANY WONDER, when the Job Network is such an effing monumental FAILURE that all it is torture? People are DESPERATE for relief from the Job Network Agencies, that even if we have to resort to lying or exaggerating, we will, because we are left with NO OTHER CHOICE.
I have been unemployed for 8 years, and not for want of trying. I went to yr 12, have a Diploma of Business (which living in a rural town, I had to get up at 4:30am every morning and not get back home until 6:30pm at night, to get to, for 3 years - so that proves I am not shy of work, commitment or resilience), Certificate in Legal Secretary (with honours), Cert III in Education (Office Traineeship), and I'm a Justice of the Peace. So, I am no bludging no-hoper. BUT, with only 2 years in the work force, employers could not care less about qualifications, they want someone with 10 years experience.
It is COMPULSORY to be with a Job Network member agent. They do NOTHING for you, but create obstacles and force you to go to meetings with them that do absolutely NOTHING but review your resume (how many times can it be reviewed, for pete's sake?!), and get you to look for jobs on their internet site jobsearch. Which I did, at HOME, on MY internet. I had to go to meetings to ring up employers, which I did, and could do, at HOME. I had to travel 3 quarters of an hour, each way, to do SWEET EFF ALL, but to go through the motions and to do what I could do, at HOME.
I was lucky enough that I could get Disability to get off the Job Network-Work For The Dole merry-go-round. Having to travel 3 quarters of an hour both ways for a 15 min meeting once every single week and look for work on their internet which is what I do at home, all for nothing just to satisfy the rules, for 8 years, was getting me nowhere. They've tightened the Job Network rules even more and I knew if I didn't get onto DSP asap, I would have sucided.. |
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By: salem_blackcat4
7/11/2009
4:48 am Yahoo! Profile:
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..because I could not take the oppressive and barbaric torture of the Punishment and Torture Network. The Jobnetwork did nothing but lower my self-esteem, make me feel like a criminal, like I had no right to live and made me feel like a peice of scum. I had been a prisoner of the JN system for 8 years until mid-JUly when I was granted DSP. I felt like I was a criminal and the stress and PRESSURE was SO IMMENSE I felt like I couldn't even breathe.
They've tightened the Job Network rules even more and I knew if I didn't get onto Disability to ease the JobNetwork pressure, I would eventually commit suicide as I couldn't take JN anymore. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as it is, and would have done ANYTHING to seek respite from the JN, even having myself declared insane and agreeing to be admitted into a mental institute to escape the JN. I am serious.
The JN and WFTD does nothing but agravates the people who have to take you on, causes depression and despair, and rarely, if EVER, results in a job at the end. I had to exaggerate my illnesses, because honestly, I was in such a bad way from the constant Job Network pressure, I could not survive the new changes that came into force a few months ago. I was beginning to think that the ONLY way to escape the JAIL of Job Network was to kill myself, and to be honest, if I didn't get DSP, I would have as I could no longer take the pressure and unrealistic stringent rules and regulations of the Job Network which exist only to punish those who cannot get a job even more. I was granted DSP mid-July, and I felt so relieved and for the first time in years, felt like I could breathe and felt like I had some hope. I am now FREE of pressure and stress. I am now concentrating on getting better and seeing a counsellor. If I want to get a job in the future (which I DO), I can do it at MY OWN PACE and not be answerable to JN or Centrelink. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can enjoy life and breathe ... |
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By: salem_blackcat4
7/11/2009
4:49 am Yahoo! Profile:
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| So the govt needs to dismantle the Job Network, and do it NOW, because THAT is the REASON people like me are FORCED to do "Whatever It Takes" to get respite and refuge from the Network agents. The DSP numbers will only INCREASE until the Job Network rules are relaxed and/or the monunmental failure of a system is dismantled. |
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By: andy_unreasonable
8/11/2009
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Rudd has to look like he is doing something, so he picks on the most vulnerable in society rather than on those who can afford to pay. It is typical of the Australian way - kick a man when he is down and everybody will join in.
Australians love to have a go at the weak and vulnerable in society, it makes them feel better, as if their lives are somehow more worthy. Of course Rudd couldn't pick on people like his wife, people worth several million dollars, that just wouldn't do - you don't get money for election campaigns from Disability Support Pensioners, you do from Big Business Buddies. |
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By: remember_when64
9/11/2009
2:32 pm |
Message deleted. Reason: Breach of terms of service |
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By: jock.star
9/11/2009
10:48 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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Im on a disabillity pension , 9 years now and Im gratefull that I live in a country that has such a system . I cant walk very far without aid so if I wasnt helped by the Gov Id be stuffed .
Incidentally I dont know of anyone who is rorting the system I had to go thru a fair bit of testing before centerlink put me on the pension Mabey it's changed since I went on it but I would imagine it would be hard to fake an illness to the extent where you get put on the pension |
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