STOP the Rabbits

I just sent this to the PUPs

Dear PUP Senators

As a fiercely independent Australian who cares about the future of this country, I wish to commend your party on it's decision not to negotiate with the Abbott Government. You are right in saying that the majority of changes proposed in the budget are an attack on the Australian way of life. They unfairly place the majority of the burden on those least able to bear it. Whatever happens, I urge you to specifically block the Medicare Co-Payment, changes to Newstart Allowance, the gold plated PPL scheme, and changes to pension indexation. On the more positive side, I would urge you to consider the following measures:

1.     Do whatever it takes to close all tax loopholes exploited by multinationals and wealthy Australians - specifically, but not limited to Transfer Pricing, concessional treatment of Superannuation and Capital Gains, Family Trusts and Negative Gearing. These things are all market distortions.
2.     Do whatever it takes to compel employers to employ a fair share of long-term unemployed and people with mental and physical disabilities.
3.     Invest in services and programs with PROVEN SUCCESS at helping disadvantaged Australians improve their lives, rather than the PROVEN FAILURES we currently fund.
4.     Do whatever it takes to reduce income inequality so that ordinary Australians can afford to buy the goods and services that keep wealthy capitalists wealthy.
5.     Do whatever it takes to ensure Australian citizens have access to affordable, secure accommodation.
6.     Do whatever it takes to ensure my grandchildren have abundant energy, employment, education, health, clean air and clean water.

I know that's a lot to ask, but if Clive can build the Titanic 2, then he's at least got the gumption to give it a shot.

Sincerely,

Ken Davis

The Pollie-Wogs Tea Party

With apologies to Bratton and Kennedy

If you go out in Australia today

You'd better not go alone,

If you go out in Australia today,

Let's face it you're on your own,

You're old, you're sick,

You're unemployed,

You've got some reasons to be annoyed,

Today's the day

The PollieWogs* have their Tea Party

* PollieWog is a neologism referring to Politicians who display personality and behaviour traits consistent with Psychopathy

Deceptive Appearances

By Ken Davis

You've seen the drama. Today Tonight secretly films the woman with a back injury lifting groceries out of the car. Outraged citizens stick abusive posters under the windshield wipers of Disability Parking Permit holders who do not look disabled enough. Doctors smirk behind the backs of people who are so impolite as to not fit comfortably into a statistically defined diagnostic box. We all make judgements on limited information. It's one of the skills that allows us humans to do so well. Yet our judgements are frequently wrong. This is particularly so in the realm of work capacity – where wrong judgements can make the difference between a meagre existence and downright poverty.

Newstart Allowance was originally designed to be a SHORT TERM safety net for the newly unemployed while they go about finding a new job. It is the lowest level of Income Support in the OECD and well below any Poverty Line. Disability Support Pension (like any Pension) is designed to provide a meagre living for those unable to work full-time. Like most benefits it is means tested and decreases as someone earns income. Strangely, the Government sets the criteria for eligibility at a work capacity of 15 hours per week, however, once qualified, you can work up to 30 hours per week. I'll leave that anomaly for another time.

The major anomaly is the impairment tables which have been redesigned to make it almost impossible for some categories of applicant to attain 20 points of impairment, even if it is clear their work capacity is 15 hours per week or less. This is particularly the case for disabilities which are dynamic. A blind person's blindness is (largely) fixed. It doesn't matter what they do, their vision impairment remains the same. An amputee's amputation does not change. Paralysis is static. However much disability is more fluid. Conditions like chronic pain, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and mental health disorders are less predictable.

The fact that somebody can do something once, in an assessment (or on a hidden camera) tells little about the total reality of that person's life. Yet assessors and bureaucrats frequently make life altering judgements on the basis of one-off observations. They ignore a holistic assessment of a person's realistic work capacity. Worse still, the Social Security Act makes no allowance for job market conditions. If you can work 15 hours per week in a mythical job, it doesn't matter that that job doesn't actually exist. It doesn't matter that you have no hope of obtaining it above the other 100 able bodied applicants who need no special provisions. It doesn't matter that you would need to somehow move across the country away from your established medical and social supports. So even if you have this magical 15 hours per week of “full-time” work capacity – you are condemned to a life of Newstart poverty. Despite two Governments worth of disability bashing brutality and “dignity of work” rhetoric – nothing has changed. People with disabilities are still no more likely to obtain work, but far more likely to be living in Poverty.

In my case, I have chronic fatigue syndrome. It has been around for 20+ years and it's not getting any better (although I manage it much better now). If you followed me round with a camera (and edited the footage), or stalked my Facebook, you would know that I go surfing, mow the lawn, and walk around the shops in addition to my 15 (actually in reality its about 12) hours per week of work. I would be the perfect Today Tonight Disability Bludger Stooge (despite the fact I am actually working to my capacity).

But what's the reality? My “Surfing” is actually 15-60 minutes in the water, of which most is floating, interspersed with short bursts of anaerobic activity (the most suitable activity for many people with CFS). It's on a bodyboard in small surf conditions of 1-3 foot. I'm not riding giants at Nazare! I do it a few times a week (sometimes with long breaks between). I mow the lawn in 3 lots of 5 minutes (with 15-30 minute rest breaks in between). I shop, but it doesn't get put away until the next day. I balance my activity carefully, but need a lot of rest to recover between activities. A five hour work day leaves me exhausted and frequently unable to manage any after work social or domestic activities. My social, church and community activities are reduced by 50-75%. People (and spy cameras) only see me when I'm functioning.

Occasionally I have increased my work hours, and when I do, my symptoms are much worse and every other areas of life goes on the back burner. So I'm pretty confident this 12 or so hours per week is about as good as it gets. Now I could possibly get a few more, provided someone mows my lawns, does my shopping and I abandon a healthy lifestyle. I wonder if that is what the Government wants.

People with Disabilities are entitled to leisure and exercise as well as work. They are entitled to expend some of their limited capacity on self-care, which includes lifting groceries (even if you have a dodgy back). It includes walking the dog, going for a swim, doing the shopping – even if the exercise of those rights reduces the capacity available for paid employment. However these rights are currently under assault, even for the able-bodied – all in the name of productivity.

Even so, the reality of one hour of shopping is vastly different to 15 hours of work. While shopping you can sit and take a break. You can vary your posture. Just because you can do it for one hour doesn't mean you can do it for 15. If you put a litre of fuel in your car, you can drive quite happily for 10-20 km. The fact you can drive that distance in no way means you can drive 30km on one litre. You will stop and you will need to refuel. The problem for many people with disabilities is that they need to stop to refuel more often. They get less mileage per tank. It takes them longer to refill the tank. It is natural, logical and human to make the assumption that all is well because you can see the car driving – even if it wobbles a little. It is also dangerously WRONG.

Assessors and bureaucrats frequently make false assumptions about realistic work capacity and in doing so cause great harm to people with dynamic and invisible disabilities. Sadly what I have seen happen in my work as a mental health counsellor is that the Newstart Disabled develop depression, anxiety or PTSD due to their interactions with an abusive system. Then after several years of worsening disability they do qualify. The other thing I have seen is that if you take the pressure off people so they no longer have to “fight the system” - many of them begin to recover. They ask, “What now” - and in doing so, voluntarily choose a suitable level of re-engagement with the community, sometimes even paid employment.

A much better way would be to remove the perverse incentive to prove incapacity. Grant decent income support to all people who are not working provided they are taking reasonable action to improve their circumstances, within their realistically assessed capacity. Reasonable action may include study, engaging in treatment, community work, volunteering, writing a blog or job-seeking. However, if you want more people with disabilities to work, it will require a much more proactive approach than anything tried so far. The “free market” does not value people with disabilities because they are viewed as less efficient (i.e. it takes a bit of time, effort, creativity and sometimes money to fit them into your business model). I've talked about that here.

Now, just in case you have a disability and want to work I've included a few tips. But don't forget the standard advice – never lie in a job application:

How not to get a job with a Disability

• “Oh, by the way, my work capacity is 15 hours per week and I need to take a 15 minute break every hour. Is that a problem?”
• Tell the truth in an interview or application form that asks, “Do you have any medical conditions that MAY affect your ability to perform this job?”
• “Do you have somewhere quiet where I can lay down if I need to?”
• “Emotional dysregulation is part of my medical condition – I can usually manage it OK, but sometimes I need to take time out to avoid losing my cool. Is that a problem?”
• “No, I can't work Tuesday-Thursday. Is Monday, Wednesday, Friday OK?”

Here's to the dignity of work!

A new National Anthem

In light of recent changes to the way Australia operates, which I can't comment on for operational reasons, I humbly submit a new ASIO approved National Anthem

Australians all let us rejoice

Though we are not so free

Our phones are girt by ASIO

We have no privacy

Our land abounds in natures gifts

Of beauty rich and rare

Sold off for bribes and favours to

Those poor old billionaires

In strainful joy then let us sing

Australia so unfair

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross

We’ll toil with heart and hands

To pay for planes and wedding trips

For pollie sycophants

To those who come across the seas

You’re just not welcome here

Go back to whence from where you came

Australia so unfair

In strainful joy then let us sing

Australia so unfair

We'll all be rooned - with apologies to PJ Hartigan

"We'll all be rooned", said Hockey Joe in accent so depressed
Outside the church with Phoney Tone and all the Murdoch Press
The Sunrise team stood all about and stoked the battler fears
And talked of mortgage rates and stress as they had done for years
"Its looking crook" said Chrissy Pyne, "This Government's a mess"
Ignoring all the good results, and spinning pure BS

"Its mighty hot" said Greg Combet, "Enough to melt the wax"
"It would be worse" said Penny Wong, "Without the Carbon Tax"
"This Climate Change is fully crap, there isn't any doubt"
"We'll all be rooned" said Hockey Joe, "Before the year is out"
The bankers all are crying out, "These times are pretty tough"
"Our profits risen 10 percent, it's nowhere near enough"

Poor Gina's dug another hole, for profits most obscene
While battlers all scratched their heads and watched the TV screen
"There won't be cuts, this budget year, because of Labor debt"
Said Barnaby from far St George, dressed up in flannelette
"We need some cuts, we need them now", said Andrew Robb, MP
"We'll all be rooned" said Hockey Joe, "Forget the GFC"

Then silence struck the thronging mob with one almighty jolt
While each one stopped to take a pause, except for Andrew Bolt
"Lets axe the tax, make Gonski gone, no disability"
"We'll privatise the SBS, we'll sell the ABC"
"It's not enough", said Phoney Tone, "We've got to stop the boats"
"We'll all be rooned" said Hockey Joe, "Before Australia votes"

In God's good time, elections came, the leadership was swapped
The world recovered from the mess, the dollar finally dropped
And exports all began to flow, like they had done before
While balance sheets across the land were looking good, once more
Taxation dollars flooded in till Canberra's hopes were buoyed
And every heart cried out for joy, except the unemployed

But imports cost a whole lot more, the battlers felt the squeeze,
No cheap computers, clothes and cars, or LCD TV's
While loud complaint was overheard in every coffee shop
"We'll all be rooned" said Hockey Joe, "If this damn boom don't stop"
In God's good time the boom did end and Hockey Joe was gone
Australia settled down again, to face a brand new dawn

And oh the smiles on every face, across this fairest land
Another generation lost to this, the everlasting scam
It doesn't matter who's in power, this world will run its course
Our masters serve a higher class, we just choose bad or worse
While fading barons manufacture crises, fear and doubt
"We'll all be rooned" said someone new, "Before this year is out"

Gina and the ATM – a cautionary tale

by Ken Davis

Poor Gina recently claimed the Australian Government was treating the mining sector like an ATM. She urged the resource sector to “stand up for itself”. Now initially I joined my more left leaning friends in condemning Gina. With others I accused her of using Australia's resources as her personal ATM.

Well Gina – I am sorry. I was wrong. You were r-r-r-r-right – in so many ways. More right than Andrew Bolt.

The Australian Government DOES use the resource sector as an ATM. The thing about ATM's is – you can only use them to withdraw what is yours. The resources of Australia belong to all Australians. The Government's job is to use those resources wisely and ensure that present and future Australians get a fair price for them. The problem for the government is that when it goes to the ATM to get some money for worthy causes, it finds they have been vandalised, or the money stolen. They find a gang of bleating, unwashed protesters screaming, “Mine, mine, mine” blocking their access. They find an army of reporters and advertising gurus armed with sharp pens threatening to undermine their government. Undermining is something they all do well.

Rather than standing on their own feet, the resource industry suckles at the welfare teat with overly generous benefits that are weighing down the country. Things like the accelerated depreciation and excessive research and development concessions. Or the diesel fuel rebate – which costs about $3.5 billion per year.

I am not ungrateful for the resource sector. My house has aluminium windows. My car is made of steel. My computer has all sorts of exotic minerals that make it work, most of the time. But having produced two children and been to a playgroup, I know something about infant behaviour. So when I see a noisy toddler screaming “mine, mine, mine”, I smile. I wait for the parent to step in and lecture about the reality of “things” and relationships. Advice about playing nicely. “You need to learn to share”. “People matter more than things”.

Most toddlers eventually grow out of their tantrums and learn to play nicely, but not without parental guidance and discipline. So Gina – it is time for the resource sector to grow up. It needs to stand on its own feet. Learn to walk. Stop throwing selfish temper tantrums. Play nicely, or when you grow up you won't have any friends. And step back from that ATM so the rest of Australia can get their money. There's plenty there for all of us.

An open letter to Julia re Dignity

Dear Prime Minister

I am so pleased you have rediscovered the “dignity of work”. I actually agree with you that it is important to help non-working people to work to their capacity – whatever that is. I think where we differ is on how to do that. Also, given the lack of detail and the abject failure of previous attempts at reform, I’m not convinced that your government has the knowledge or political will to do it either. So please allow me to offer you my ideas for what they are worth, as I believe I am amply qualified to offer advice in this area.

Firstly by training I am an Occupational Therapist with 25+ years experience in the workforce, so I have some knowledge, skills and experience in this area. Secondly I am a disabled person. I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for 20 years and despite my best efforts along with the pathetic non-efforts of the CES, DEN and JSA – I do work. I can work 15 hours per week on a sustainable basis. Attempts to extend this have not been sustainable. Thirdly, I have done additional training and recently completed my Masters in Counselling, which involved extra hours over four years. The impact has been a substantial worsening of my physical capacity and increased pain which is only now starting to abate some nine months later. I now also have a FEE-HELP debt I will probably never be able to repay. Fourthly – for the past nine years, I have worked with the disadvantaged community. I am presently providing mental health services under the Better Access to Mental Health program. Thankfully your government reversed its foolish plan which would have seen me once more unemployed. Hopefully you can see that I know what I am talking about here.

In planning a successful “dignity of work” program, there are many things you must consider. I know you have been told these things already. I’m just asking you to exchange populist rhetoric for listening to people who know the truth, because they live it every day.

For people with disabilities – the biggest problem is the unwillingness of employers to provide suitable, quality work which matches the disabled applicant’s abilities. Just ask the Productivity Commission. Quality part-time work is almost impossible to obtain. So people with disabilities are often faced with the prospect of low paid, low quality jobs that do not utilise their skills and productive capacity because employers think that people looking for part-time work are lazy, uncommitted or that their inability to be instantly available will somehow cripple the company. If they were employed to their capacity and well remunerated some could be independent of benefits, but most will never get this opportunity because of employer prejudice.

Many disabilities, like mine, along with musculoskeletal and mental health conditions require intermittent work – that is longer or more frequent rest breaks. Again, employees seeking these things are viewed negatively as lazy. Such opportunities are extremely rare. Asking for them at interview is a recipe for rejection. Attempting to negotiate them upon success is just as risky. I had a job offer withdrawn when I asked for a rearrangement of hours. That was with a Job Network Provider – the organisations skilled in “helping us”.

Regarding the long term unemployed – you are well aware of the literacy, numeracy and mental health issues. However your government seems to have little to offer beyond the usual literacy and numeracy programs that have already failed due to the failure to diagnose and treat unrecognised learning and mental health disorders. By the time these people hit the welfare system, they often have further problems with addictions which seem to travel hand in hand with these disorders.

People with mental health conditions are frequently undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed and often symptoms of their conditions include a lack of insight and mistrust of the very people who could diagnose and help them. It is not shirking or non-compliance. It is a symptom, just like high blood sugar or blood pressure. Eighty percent of the people I work with report a history of childhood or adult trauma and abuse – often both. Even when they are undergoing treatment and have been diagnosed, their encounters with Centrelink and JSA are often traumatic. Foolish attempts at forcing compliance often re-traumatise them and are a barrier to therapists addressing their core problems. Inflexible policy aimed at enforcing compliance actually produces the opposite. Even when they can access suitable treatment (and BAMH has been a boon), program frameworks often limit the amount of treatment or time frame available, which again impacts most on those who are more disadvantaged and severely affected.

So please allow me the indulgence of making a few suggestions that might address these realities.

1)      Apply both the carrot and the stick to employers. Offer them incentives to employ disabled people and to employ people part-time. Offer a tax break to all companies that achieve a specific target. Start with Federal and State Government agencies. If you really believe this works – start doing it and lead by example. Use tax penalties for medium to large enterprises that fail to achieve targets for employing disabled or long-term unemployed workers.

2)      Use carrots for the unemployed. Since DSP is so luxurious – offer the unemployed the benefits of DSP as long as they are engaged in meaningful efforts to improve their work prospects. That removes the incentive to “get on DSP” by “proving disability”. If education, training and treatment really improve employment outcomes – this will save money in the medium-term. Trying to live on NSA is enough stick for anyone. Allow people on benefits to experience reward for effort (rather than just the avoidance of penalty).

3)      Allow all people with temporary or uncertain disability the same conditions as (2) – although for temporary or uncertain disability the emphasis will be more on assessment and treatment.

4)      Provide generous resources so that people with disabilities can access assessment and treatment IMMEDIATELY. Even when services are available, long waiting lists and gap fees often exclude those most in need from accessing the needed assessment and treatment.

5)      Revise the funding model to provide benefits to JSA’s who employ highly skilled and qualified caseworkers and pay them commensurately with their skills. Allow them to provide appropriate therapeutic services for mental health and substance issues when there are limited or inadequate local services available.

6)      Fund or develop enterprises along a “work co-operative” model in order to provide skilled, flexible work for people with disabilities. Give those enterprises a good chance of success by feeding them a steady supply of outsourced government contract work. This type of enterprise would be highly suited for those with intermittent work requirements as work could be pooled. Such enterprises should also be more open to teleworking – again highly suited to those requiring intermittent work. One possible work such enterprises could be contracted to do is the monitoring of target and incentive programs mentioned above. Allow the disabled to apply the stick to recalcitrant, social responsibility avoiding employers.

7)      If a person with or with or without a disability has been unable despite their best efforts to obtain suitable employment within two years, then exempt them from explicit paid employment seeking if they are willing to engage in the equivalent voluntary work or community service.

8)      Exempt clients with suspected serious mental disability from compliance requirements without the burden of immediate proof. Offer them the same incentives as (2). Allow GP’s, mental health workers or carers to report such concerns. Fund Centrelink or JSA’s to provide outreach workers whose task it is to seek to engage, case-manage and refer such clients. Give such caseworkers the power to make decisions, without prejudice or financial incentive regarding compliance or exemption measures.

9)      No one should be compelled to undertake Work for the Dole for less than the minimum wage equivalent.

10)  Reform the basket cases that are Centrelink and DOCS. Make the form letters readable, human and compassionate. Only employ staff in “contact” positions with well developed people skills. Do not penalise customers for their inability to comprehend Centrelink requirements when staff at all levels seem to be unable to do so consistently.

11)  Broaden the range of treatments available under Medicare or case management for mental health conditions – particularly for trauma, PTSD and personality disorders.

If you do this, you will have the beginnings of a compassionate, responsive welfare system that respects and develops the dignity of the disabled and disadvantaged. I thought that was what the Labor Party stood for?

I would be interested in meeting with you or a representative to discuss these measures. However given that you have already been told this by Anglicare, NCOSS, The Brotherhood of St Lawrence, St Vincent De Paul and many others, I’m frankly not optimistic.

I could even be part of your solution if you are willing to employ a disabled person for 15 hours per week who requires some flexibility. What I actually expect is that I and many others like me will be whipped, penalised and subjected to even worse poverty by a government that pretends to care about the dignity of work.

Please prove me wrong.

Ken Davis