Government won't reveal 'misleading' welfare to work figures

Link
Penny Wong - Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Participation, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility

Media Statement - 25th May 2005

The Howard Government and the Finance Department today refused to reveal basic costings information for the 'Welfare to Work' scheme, Shadow Employment Minister Penny Wong said.

In Senate Estimates, they specifically refused to reveal how much money was being saved by moving people on to the new dole payments that are central to the scheme.

Senator Wong asked Mr Phil Bowen, Budget General Manager at the Finance Department:
Perhaps you can give me this? What are the savings resulting from the reduction in the Parenting Payment and the DSP payment to the Newstart Allowance over the forward estimates? It is a very simple question.

Mr Bowen replied:
Senator, I cannot give you that, but can I say that if that figure were produced it would be a very misleading figure."

Power to the People

People Power Home Page
"People Power was launched in Sydney on Saturday 5 March 2005"

Read all about them

We are a new political movement aiming to empower people who have become invisible in our political system:

Australians have disengaged from politics on a massive scale. The proportion of our citizens who are members of political parties is amongst the lowest in the western world. All our political parties (with the exception of the Greens) are in major decline - not surprising when they have lost touch with the little people and become part of the Two Establishments.

We want to empower ordinary Australians in their roles as citizens, consumers, carers, community members, shareholders, owners of assets and members of families.

Our core values are:

• self-help
  
• empowerment
  
• community
  
• smaller government
  
• inclusion
  
• relationships and social capital
  
• ethical conduct
  

We invite Australians from all walks of life to exercise People Power to renew our democracy, to change our politics, and to re-invigorate the best of our social traditions of a fair go, egalitarianism, a hand up not a hand out, unpretentiousness, and inclusive, convivial community.

Comment

Ken Davis is a pending member of People Power.

ENABLE Campaign targets marginals

The Daily Telegraph | Disability sector to target marginals

By Danny Rose

May 30, 2005

THE peak body for Australians with disabilities has outlined a plan to pressure the Federal Government where it hurts – in marginal seats – over its attempt to slash its $30 billion welfare bill.

Australian Federation for Disability Organisations (AFDO) today highlighted 14 seats where it said the number of people on the Disability Support Pension (DSP) exceeded the number of votes needed for the seat to change hands.

The organisation opposes the Government's DSP reforms outlined in the federal Budget, which include redirecting many new applicants into a different pension system based on job-search.

The AFDO says people on the new scheme will be on average $44 a week worse off, while those on the existing scheme will receive less help to obtain work."

Comment

We urge you to support the AFDO Campaign. You can download an information kit here.

Disabled workers paying the price

Matthew Davis from Perth, who is also on DSP has written an excellent article.

Disabled workers paying the price: "What PM John Howard’s government should be doing is increasing the DSP to a rate that reflects the needs and aspirations of some of Australia’s most vulnerable people. The maximum rate for the DSP is variable from a base of about $180 per week, which many understand as below the poverty line, even before the cut-backs."

Income Inequality - Who do you believe?

St Vincent de Paul Society [Australia] spokesman John Wicks states

From 1994 to 2003, real mean incomes for the poorest Australians grew at a slower rate than those on higher incomes.

For example, someone earning $269 received only a 12 per cent rise - or $32.28. Medium earners on $449 a week enjoyed a 14 per cent, or $62.86. And high income earners, on a real mean weekly income of $975, received a 16 per cent or $156 boost.

Mr Wicks said the federal budget tax cuts were likely to increase the gap.

Dr John Falzon also comments on the "Welfare to work" plan saying it is very short sighted in respect of Australia’s future economic growth and outlook. “If we do not invest in health, housing, education and skills training for all Australians we will reduce our chances of developing a highly skilled productive workforce. If we choose to go down the US path of pushing people off welfare so as to reduce social expenditure we will lose our chance of creating a fair and compassionate Australia.” he said.

Two-class welfare disaster - Tim Colebatch - Opinion - theage.com.au

"The key fact behind welfare change is that our system splits beneficiaries into two groups. One is those deemed deserving poor, such as those on the aged pension, disability support, and sole parents. The other is the undeserving poor: the unemployed on the Newstart allowance."

Comment

This is the opposite effect to what the Government says will happen. My opinion is that the 15 hour threshold acts as a distinct disincentive for people as they attempt to recover or improve their functional capacity. As you approach the threshold, instead of simply "pressing on" a huge issue becomes - "Is it worth me trying any harder. If I work one more hour per week, I will be a lot worse off."

That's why I believe that all benefits should be equal and income tested, with a slow, smooth dropoff in benefits as earnings increase.

Cheap internet access for disabled - Breaking - Technology - smh.com.au

By Sam Varghese
May 23, 2005

A quarter of a million people - the aged, disabled and veterans - will soon be able to get low-cost internet access.

They will be eligible for dial-up connections at $5.50 a month, under a deal negotiated by Technical Aid to the Disabled Australia and the internet service provider ISPOne."

Comment

This is an excellent deal. The only question is the quality of the service. I'd be loathe to drop my current ISP if I was going to have any connection or access problems. Any feedback about the quality aspects of this service would be welcome.

John Tomlinson argues there should be equality for all, not just the rich. - On Line Opinion - 26/5/2005

Here is an extract from an excellent article.

John Tomlinson argues there should be equality for all, not just the rich. - On Line Opinion - 26/5/2005

The foresight of a blind worm and the hindsight of Mr McGoo

If the Government wants to increase the number of people in the workforce and believes that the differentials in payments between Newstart and disability support pension and parenting payments are causing people to opt for the latter, then there are options more viable than these draconian policies it is implementing. Rather than lowering the rate of payment for disability support pensions and parenting payments, it could raise the level of Newstart to make it commensurate with disability payments. This would combine these payments into a 'guaranteed minimum income' (GMI) as Professor Ronald Henderson, head of the Poverty Commission, suggested in 1975.

If such a GMI were installed, there would be no financial advantage accruing to people wishing to “benefit shop”. Presently, for those on Newstart, the combined income tax and social security withdrawal rates applying to income from work are at least 62.5 per cent and can be up to 200 per cent of additional income. This causes poverty traps and perverse financial disincentives to earning extra income. The Government has announced it will slightly decrease the withdrawal rates in July 2006 - but it will by no means eliminate them.

A far smarter idea would be to introduce a basic income paid to all permanent residents at slightly above the single age pension rate. This would abolish poverty traps, income insecurity and perverse financial disincentives simultaneously."

Apply to Canberra

"PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES URGED TO APPLY
FOR ACT PUBLIC SERVICE JOBS:

Half of next year's ACT Public Service graduate intake could be people with disabilities under a groundbreaking ACT Government scheme, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said.

'People with disabilities are valuable community members whose worth too often goes unrecognised,' Mr Stanhope said. 'Canberrans with disabilities make up a potential labour pool of more than 53,000 people - that's almost one in five members of the city's potential workforce. Getting more of these people in to work will be good news for everyone - the community, public service and people with disabilities.'"

Comment

Half of next years intake could be. Why don't we check up on this next year and see what the real percentage is.

My advice - all you disabled people out there - apply for jobs in cold old Canberra, and see how you do. Let's hold the Government accountable for this.

I've written to Mr Stanhope:

Dear Mr Stanhope,

Thank you for your encouraging Press Release. You're right, half the intake COULD be people with disabilities. The question is, what WILL it be? Would you please keep me informed regarding the actual outcome of this. As you would be aware, the Government's rate of employment of People with a Disability had declined 30% in the last 10 years.

Were you aware that last year I approached the Office of Disability to discuss possible positions I could apply for? Being disabled, I believe that being proactive is vital to gaining employment. After being given the "royal runaround" I was told, "I'm sorry, we can't discuss that with you. You'll just have to look in the papers." This was useless. I wanted to know what sort of people they employed, so I could train and prepare myself to be an excellent candidate.

I was very discouraged. If the Government's peak body on disability is not interested in talking to a highly skilled person with a disability about work options, then I don't see a lot of reason for optimism.

Sincerely

Ken Davis

Shame on Peter Dutton

Insiders - 15/05/2005: Welfare-to-work: carrot or stick?
Look very carefully at this quote from Peter Dutton. Notice how he completely avoids the question about how new applicants WILL be worse off than those currently on DSP. This is an open admission that the Government's policy will harm the most disadvantaged.

"BARRY CASSIDY: But new entrants though, will new entrants end up worse off than those currently on these benefits?

PETER DUTTON: Well, it's important to make the point, Barry, that those people who are on a DSP at the moment stay there. These are, in the large, vulnerable people. And you've got the Labor Party running around trying to scare people who are disabled and it's a shocking campaign. So the point that I make is that those people who are on a DSP stay there. New entrants from the 1 July 2006 who are assessed as having a work capacity of 15 hours or more per week will be helped through an enhanced New Start allowance."

My Comment

Dutton appears to believe that new DSP applicants are not vulnerable.

Peter Dutton says on his website:

"I want to hear what their problems or concerns are, and help in finding solutions. I hope I can use my real-life experiences to find solutions to some of these problems."

I urge you to tell him your problem and insist he find a solution.

Mental Health Workers?

This article raises the plight of the Mentally Ill. Many people perceive the DSP changes as targeted at people with physical disabilities. Frankly, these changes are likely to have more effect on DSP applicants with a mental illness. A friend of mine with Schizophrenia approached me this morning terrified she would be forced back into the workforce. She is far more heroic than Kylie, caring for an elderly mother, and struggling with a 30 year old son who is dependent on her mother! People with mental illness face even bigger barriers in the workplace. How does someone with schizophrenia or severe depression explain the gaps in their employment history? Employers are disabled by prejudice and ill-founded fear.

This article from Mental Health Workers? says: "One in five Australians will experience or be affected by some form of mental illness in their lifetime…for more than one million Australians that illness will be schizophrenia…

But despite a severe labour shortage…which will only get worse with an aging population…out of the 700-thousand people on a disability pension, 90% of them are not in any form of full-time work…

My comment

If a person is "disabled" then they are likely to be incapable of full-time work.

This figure compares miserably with other developed countries…where an average of 70% of people on disability pensions are in the workforce…

So why has Australia failed to capitalise on this untapped workforce?

Rob Ramjan is the Executive Officer of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW. He says despite a widespread negative stigma against people with a mental illness, the government themselves isn't providing adequate avenues for these people to find work.

'New programs need to be developed that are sensitive to the needs of people with mental illness. There are only two specialist job providers in Australia. Clubhouse is a special job service for people with mental illnesses and there are 10 of those in Australia, compared with 200 in the United States.'"

My comment

This is exactly the problem, and I see little in the Howard Government's policy to significantly improve this. The funding allocations foreshadowed are a drop in the ocean.

Gary Nairn - The Village Idiot

Listen to what Gary Nairn (Member for Eden Monaro) has to say. This is a marginal seat, so I urge you to send him a message.

merimbula.yourguide: "if they are capable of work they go on Unemployment Benefit; they do not go on Disability Support Pension,' Mr Nairn said."

Really Mr Nairn. That's actually not what the legislation either now or proposed says. Being able to work for ANY period of time, be it one hour, 10 hours or 20 hours doesn't make the disability go away. Remember, an able bodied person can work 50-80 hours per week with few ill effects. DSP is there to support people who cannot increase their work capacity to a normal level by job seeking efforts. It is higher than Newstart to compensate for the extra cost of living with a disability, not to mention the pain and suffering that you seem incapable of understanding.

Short-changing the poor - Ross Gittins - Opinion - theage.com.au

Listen to what one of Australia's top economists (and the only comprehensible one) says about the generosity of the Howard Government.

Short-changing the poor - Ross Gittins - Opinion - theage.com.au: "But the thing I find most distasteful about this budget is that, while giving such juicy carrots to the well-off, it also takes the stick to the poorest and most disadvantaged in our community: sole parents and the disabled.

The problem is not that they're being helped to find jobs or even that an element of compulsion is being used to rouse some from the slough of despond. No, it's that the already meagre benefits of about $240 a week are to be cut. This is because new applicants for the disability pension judged capable of working part-time and sole parents with only school-age children will be put on the dole rather than the pension. As a result, those with disabilities will get $40 a week less and sole parents $22 a week less.

And get this: whereas the rate at which pensions are withdrawn when people earn extra income is 40 cents in the dollar, the rate at which the dole is withdrawn is now 60 cents in the dollar.

So in the same budget that did so much to cut marginal tax rates for the better-off, the effective marginal tax rate faced by the affected sole parents and disabled has been increased by 20 cents in the dollar.

See? To get the rich to work harder you have to give them more money; to get the poor to work you have to give them less."

Disability Statistics Flawed to the Max

Do not trust any "FACTS" the Government quotes.

The Government quotes wonderful statistics regarding DSP. Have you ever wondered how accurate they are? For instance, figures released by the ABS, provided by Centrelink show that only 6 people with CFS were granted DSP in the last year. Thus with one small coding error, a severe chronic disease affecting around 1% of the population has magically disappeared. I asked two fellow assessors, and each one of us has approved DSP for over 6 CFS sufferers in this time period.

A friend of mine from the OzME mailing list approached her local member Anna Burke with concerns about these figures.


While I cant post the letter here, I can assure you that Ms Burke seems to share my opinion that something is dreadfully wrong with the statistics provided by Centrelink.

So whenever the Government quotes figures related to disability, you'd better go to the source and check them. As Peter Costello said on Budget night "I can't believe 6.5% of the workforce have a disability". If he can't believe his own figures, how can we?

"Disability Outsourcing Will Stress the System" - NOT

Australian Democrats : Australian Democrats Press Releases: "Disability Outsourcing Will Stress the System"

The Democrats are opposing the changes, but I believe they are going the wrong way. Here's my e-mail to their Disability Spokesman

Dear Senator Greig,

First let me congratulate the Australian Democrats for their support for disabled people in Australia. I invite you to support my campaign and petition, as well as reading my open letter to John Howard.

I have attached a press release which may be of interest.

But first, I refer to your article at http://www.democrats.org.au/news/index.htm?press_id=4588&display=1

I believe you are misinformed about this outsourcing. It is already happening and I work for one of the successful tenderers. Our customer satisfaction ratings are excellent. It is definitely an improvement on the "old days" of "the Government Doctor". I believe the Democrats are making a serious error in judgement in attacking this part of the proposed reforms, which if the proposed "case management" aspects are implemented, will radically improve the support and services for people with disabilities. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss this further. There is so much we need to work on together to oppose these horrific changes.

I invite you to join me in positive action

Ken Davis
Occupational Therapist
Person with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Work Capacity Assessor
-------------------------

Jennie George - Member for Throsby - On our side.

Jennie George's Web Site

I met today with Jennie George, initially to discuss CFS Awareness Week, and the appalling lack of funding for this serious disease. Talk quickly turned to the DSP changes.

Jennie will be speaking on behalf of all Disabled People in Parliament next week when she addresses the House on DSP changes in the Budget. As part of this campaign, she will be issuing a Press Release, which may create Media opportunities to promote our cause, and maintain the rage.

Inside Out issues a big thank you to Jennie, who is a polly who has "been there" and not forgotten.

The bad back myth

Peter Costello voices his concern about “bad backs” and DSP, but what’s the truth? His careless remark gives us a wonderful insight into the depth of knowledge that underlies the Coalition Government’s plans for the disabled.

While 33% of DSP recipients have a “musculoskeletal or soft tissue injury”, this includes far more than just backs. It includes all the “arthritis” conditions, tendonitis, repetitive strain injuries and the like. The graph below tells the story.



See the ABS Statistics

As an assessor, my impression is that the major sources of back injuries are men who have long work histories in heavy industry (before OH&S was taken seriously) and women involved in nursing, aged care and cleaning. Trauma from Motor Vehicle Accidents is also significant.

To qualify for DSP, one’s back pain must be almost constant and severe. The person needs to have had every reasonable treatment such as Physiotherapy, rehabilitation, Pain Management and medication. They need to have been properly assessed by their own Doctor, a Medical specialist and a skilled Work Capacity Assessor. They need to be determined as incapable of working 30 (soon to be 15) hours per week in a job available anywhere in Australia at award wages.

Read the The Government's own criteria

The ignorant Mr Costello promotes a simple solution -moving people with back injuries into “non-manual” positions. Obviously he has no understanding of back injuries. People with back injuries need work where they can alternate between sitting and standing, as well as move around regularly. They need to take rest breaks as required. The position that is most comfortable for rest varies with the individual condition and the nature of the injury. For some, lying down is necessary. Many report that no position is comfortable. Constant pain and the side effects of medication impair performance, judgement and concentration. Non-manual work can be just as problematic as manual work. Sedentary work is worse.

Access to treatment is another barrier. Waiting time for treatment in public facilities is typically 12-24 months. So unless you are “fortunate” enough to be injured in a work accident, if you can’t pay for private rehabilitation, good luck.

Of course this doesn’t mean that people with back injuries can’t live worthwhile, productive lives. It’s just that the majority are not the bludgers Peter Costello is whinging about, and his proposed measures will do little to encourage or help people with moderate to serious back disability.

Australians Unite against DSP changes

Changes to Disability Support Pension conditions announced in the May 2005 Australian Federal Budget are a travesty of social justice. Disability Activist Ken Davis calls on all Australians who oppose these changes to unite with one voice to send a message to Canberra.

Ken has suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a disabling neurological disease for 12 years. Trained as an Occupational Therapist he has a unique perspective on disability, having worked in rehabilitation, having a chronic disability, and now assessing the work capacity of disabled people. “My experience from three different sides of the disability system shows me the Government’s policies while having some positives, are deeply flawed”, says Mr Davis.

He calls for united action, through media campaigns, personal letter writing, public education, street rallies and a blockade on Parliament House. Concerted action is needed to send a message to the Coalition that this action is the death knell for the Government. It’s not too late to force a change of mind.

Determined environmental campaigns like the Franklin River and the Daintree have successfully forced the Government to back down in the past. While the Environment is important, nothing is more important than how a civilised society cares for the poor and disadvantaged.

Tuesday May 10 is the day the Government finally lost the plot, but individual citizens and disability organisations CAN force the government to reconsider. Act now by signing the petition at http://www.life-directions.net/dsp.php and signing up to join the campaign at http://www.life-directions.net/dsp/oppose-DSP-changes.php .