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<\/a> <\/div>\nimage: Bill Leak for news.com.au <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m disabled as a result of being plowed off my motorcycle by a drink driver some years ago. Some people seem to think that having a disability is a sort of privilege. I’m MORE than happy<\/em> to swap lives (and legs) with any of those fools who are willing to volunteer for the exchange! <\/p>\n Somewhere along the line, a ridiculous rumour was started in Australia indicating that recipients of disability support pensions (DSPs) are afflicted with imaginary ‘bad backs’ and thus fraudulently and easily obtain a well-paid ‘free ride on the taxpayers’ backs.’<\/p>\n This sort of ‘downward envy’ is based in mis- or disinformation. Most Aussies don’t really<\/em> know how much disability pensioners are actually paid, nor what sort of disablity is actually required to qualify for a payment. <\/p>\n Further, a similar baseless belief is common in all <\/em>nations which provide supports for people with disabilities. I clearly recall the furphy of the ‘welfare Cadillac’ from when I was a kid in the USA in the 1970s. It’s not just an Australian thing.<\/p>\n The HoWARd government has been trying to reduce the numbers of DSP recipients for years. With the Lieberals’ newfound majority in the Senate effective 1 July 2005, HoWARd’s Lieberal Party is poised to jerk the rug out from people with disabilities and attempt to get them back to work. <\/p>\n Let’s hope there’s a miracle worker or two in the HoWARd camp, because telling a disabled person to just ‘get up and go back to work’ will require nothing short of a few miracles! <\/p>\n Okay, let’s start from the start: <\/p>\n The maximum disability pension payment a person over age 18 with no children may receive is $476.30 per fortnight<\/a>. DSP recipients may also receive rent assistance. The maximum rent assistance is $98.00 per fortnight<\/a>. The sum is $574.30 per fortnight or $287.15 per week. Add up what you pay in rent or mortgage payments- and then tell me how well you would be living on $287 per week. I’ll clue ya, you don’t live ‘high on the hog.’ You mind every cent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n It requires an awful lot more than just a ‘sore back’ to obtain a DSP. If you only have a problem with your back, you would have to be unable to sit comfortably in a chair long enough to perform most common office workplace tasks. Most DSP recipients (like me) have multiple disabilities which contribute to their inability to work. <\/p>\n Under current Centrelink DSP regulations, a person with disabilities who cannot work more than 30 hours per week and whose disabilities will persist for more than two years will qualify for the payment. The HoWARd government wants to change that qualification to 15 hours per week. This means that if you can work 16 hours per week, you will no longer qualify for a payment under HoWARd’s proposals. Doubters can get out their calculators again- divide your per-annum pay rate by 1800 (37.5 hours per week x 48 weeks = 1800 hours in a standard Australian working year). You now have your gross hourly wage. Multiply by 16. There’s the PRE-TAX amount you will earn if working only 16 hours per week at your current pay rate. <\/p>\n\n
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