New South Wales,
Australia —
PETER CAVE: First though to the national capital,
where the Federal Government is raising the prospect of
introducing coercion and incentives to get more of the
ballooning number of people on the disability support
pension looking for work again.
The Government says that the number
of Australians on that pension is alarmingly high,
costing taxpayers almost $7.5 billion a year, and that's
still increasing.
It's released the findings of a
six-month employment pilot program, but the results of
the trial have also raised some significant challenges
for the Government, as Alexandra Kirk reports from
Canberra.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Between
December last year and June this year the Department of
Employment and Workplace Relations asked 1,100 disability
support pensioners to take part in a voluntary job search
and training pilot program, in other words, to look for
work.
The results are now in – 36%
of those who started customised assistance got a job or
were in education, most of them in work.
The Workforce Participation
Minister, Peter Dutton, says the results are very
encouraging, showing disability support pensioners are
keen to work but unaware of government support and
unnecessarily concerned about paid work affecting their
benefits and concessions.
PETER DUTTON: We're very
pleased with the fact that we now know that there are
many people on a disability support pension who are
willing and able to engage in work, and we need to
provide them with assistance and every encouragement to
try and find a job.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: And part of
that "every encouragement" the Government wants to
provide people on the disability support pension get off
welfare and into work is the element of
coercion.
PETER DUTTON: What we've
shown is for the majority of people there is a
willingness to participate and to look for work. For
those people that we think aren't there legitimately,
then we need to try and adopt some coercion, and that's
unfortunate in that minority of cases.
The vast majority of people are
very legitimate about improving their own circumstances,
and if they understand that they're not going to lose the
majority of their benefits by way of the healthcare card,
etcetera, they realise that they can go into a part-time
job, that they can improve their own circumstances, then
we think that's a very good outcome.
We are determined to say to people
that are able to work on a Disability Support Pension,
please go out and look for a job now, you will be
surprised with the benefits that that brings to you, and
we think that that's an overwhelming successful story for
those people that are able to find a job.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Labor's
Penny Wong says it appears the trial was reasonably
successful.
PENNY WONG: I think what
that shows is that there are a great many people on DSB
who want to work and who, when given the right support
and opportunities, are able to do so.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: As for
supporting Mr Dutton's coercion plan, Senator Wong is
non-committal.
PENNY WONG: We're not
opposed, in principle, to any obligation being
introduced, provided it's not overly punitive and unfair,
and to date that has been the case. We also believe it
has to be matched by appropriate levels of support
services and encouragement.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: The
Government is now considering how to apply its "work
first, welfare second" approach to many more of
Australia's almost 700,000 disability pensioners.
It's remaining silent for now, on
whether it plans to reintroduce the disability support
changes the Senate's already rejected twice, but it's
clear the Coalition is back on the path of welfare
reform.
In the interim, the Employment
Department's provided the Government with some food for
thought, gathering evidence of "significant disincentives
and widespread ignorance inhibiting DSP recipients'
take-up of work opportunities".
A major disincentive is the fear of
losing the pension and/or concessions, if they take up
paid work. They're concerned about their ability to
either retain the DSP as a safety net or re-establish
eligibility for the DSP if their health
deteriorates.
It seems, too, DSP recipients don't
understand the available work incentives, and many
jobseekers had bad experiences, with job agencies
reporting employer ignorance and
discrimination.
Maurice Corcoran heads the newly
formed Federation of Disability Organisations. He says if
the Government is serious about increasing workforce
participation, then it must get rid of the disincentives
and boost employment opportunities.
MAURICE CORCORAN: So that
people who really do want to move off the disability
support pension are not disadvantaged and have real
opportunities for paid and open employment.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: And Maurice
Corcoran says the Government must spell out its coercion
idea so it doesn't add to the already existing high level
of anxiety among disability pensioners.
MAURICE CORCORAN: We
certainly have some concerns about those words and how
they can be interpreted, and I think that's only going to
make it even more fearful for some people, and for some
parents who have got a son or daughter on a DSP who might
be working part-time, and the assurances that a DSP and
some of those benefits bring with them.
So, again, we need to find out the
sort of facts and we need to find out what the Government
has got in mind, so that we can make an informed decision
or judgement on what our position will be in
that.
PETER CAVE: Maurice Corcoran
from the Federation of Disability
Organisations.
