Mentally ill may lose disability support pension, welfare head Patrick McClure suggests THE author of a welfare reform report admits “people may not necessarily be better off” if its proposals are implemented, as the government urged critics to hold judgment until after the six-week consultation period. Welfare expert Patrick McClure, who has prepared the interim report for the government, said the benefits of his recommendations remained unclear because payment rates and supplements still needed to be finalised. “We haven’t currently set any payment rates and we haven’t yet explored the range of supplements that might go with those base payments, so people may not necessarily be better off,” Mr McClure told ABC radio. “But what we want to do is ensure the system is more efficient and more effective in assisting people into training, education or a job.” Several welfare groups have slammed the interim report and called on the government to rule out some of the more controversial measures, while Labor said it would support the proposals only if it meant no cuts to payments. Mr McClure said he did not know how many of the 830,000 recipients on the Disability Support Pension would be moved off it, but suggested people with mental illnesses could be one such group. The report suggests people would be thrown off the DSP if they have the capacity to work, which Mr McClure said mentally ill people did. “Thirty per cent of people on a disability support pension are people with mental health conditions and these conditions are often episodic in nature, for example severe depression or anxiety,” he said. “In talking with experts in the field … what they recommend is a vocational rehabilitation approach, which makes sense when you think about it. “What they’re saying is they obviously require medication, they may need counselling or therapy, but it’s very important to keep them linked with education, training or a job.” The report proposes a radical overhaul of the $100 billion welfare system, including turning the 75 current income payments and available supplements into four new payments that would replace Newstart, Youth Allowance and other benefits. Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said it was time to “adapt” to Australia’s changing demography and ageing population, and cautioned against early criticism of the reform recommendations. “If people just jump into their trenches at this stage, that’s not going to help us and the reality is this is an area in which we have to do something,” Mr Andrews told Sky News. “I think people should hold their comments at this stage, they should engage in the process of conversation with Mr McClure and the reference panel. “They should take that as an opportunity for the sort of national discussion that we need, raise legitimate points if they have them about aspects of what the architecture that McClure has proposed, and let’s have a conversation about it.” But the CEO of the Disability Advocacy Network Australia, Mary Mallet, said the allocated consultation time was not long enough. “Six weeks is unfair, absolutely unfair,” she told ABC Radio. “The government has released the report over a weekend and come out in some fairly inflammatory headlines in newspapers which will really worry a lot of people with disability. “Many of whom don’t need to be worried because their level of disability is such that there’s no risk that they will be removed from the disability support pension, but they don’t know that. “You know, if that’s a deliberate tactic then it’s very underhand and you know just appalling.” When questioned over The Sunday Telegraph’s “Disabling Rorters” front page headline and the concerns it sparked among welfare groups, Mr Andrews said he wished he could change some newspaper headlines. “I don’t think for a moment that people who are on welfare or the disability (pension) are just all there rorting the system,” Mr Andrews said. “I want to actually encourage more people, particularly with an ageing population, to be able to contribute to the community of work.” Bill Shorten called on the Abbott government to “pick on someone your own size”, claiming the Coalition was “demonising” those with disabilities. “I can’t stand by and allow the demonisation of people with disabilities,” he said in Melbourne. “In my experience, most people with permanent impairments in this country ... would gladly give away their disability in turn for the opportunity to be able to have a job, but they can’t. “I am very wary of this society being lectured by the few, telling the many that somehow it’s everyone else’s fault if you can’t get a job.” The Opposition Leader said the government had again been dividing Australia into the “lifters” and “leaners” since the launch of the interim McClure report. “I believe it is most serious that this is a government who’s sinking the boot into people with disability and the disability pension seems to be attracting a lot of the government’s rhetoric,” he said. “There is a message for Tony Abbott: don’t pick on people with disabilities, pick on someone your own size. Try Labor rather than people with disabilities.” Opposition spokeswoman for families, payments and disability reform, Jenny Macklin, said Labor was concerned the review would lead to more welfare cuts. “There’s no question that of course we would support simplification if, and only if, it really is about making it easier for people to understand and not if it’s a cover for further cuts to people on the DSP or the carer payment for example,” she told ABC Radio. theaustralian.au/national-affairs/mentally-ill-may-lose-disability-support-pension-welfare-head-patrick-mcclure-suggests/story-fn59niix-1226971977282
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 11:36:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015