Taken from: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/05/10/13/44/young-on-dsp-to-face-work-ability-scrutiny#gigyaComments
Easy access to welfare is over: Andrews
Up to 20,000 Australians who receive the disability support pension (DSP) will be assessed for the capacity to work, and if deemed able, will be expected to get a job
This followed by the usual assortment of ratbag comments about the way in which ‘so many’ young Australians are taking the easy way of welfare rather than choose employment.
My response would be; you try it! Try and get by on what is essentially a poverty payment that barely allows for subsistence, let alone luxury (Channel 9 rolls out footage of person on DSP who is also working....).
There are always exceptions and almost without exception the young men and women, recipients of the Disability Support Pension, that I meet are keen to join the workforce, eager to contribute and in many cases ashamed of the fact that they must rely on welfare to eat.
Here’s the drum; on pension benefits there’s very little luxury. Rather a hand to mouth existence, lonely and isolated from society.
People with disabilities don’t need to be hunted down and they most certainly don’t need more pressure.
Reform disability employment policy.
End the nonsense that rewards employment services the same for 8 hour a week positions as it does for 40hr positions and 5 times as much for splitting jobs up. Drop the registration payment and allow job seekers to register with multiple agencies. End geographic boundaries. Pay more for financial independence outcomes (this don’t need to be much more) and clamp down on ‘gaming’ by service providers - although the simple measures outlined here will pretty much end all nonsense).
Finally, rather than relying upon my organisation to beat the sole drum, pay for a proper on-going information campaign to educate employers about the talent that’s to hand when you employ a person with disability.
You could do this or, alternatively, grab headlines by looking like you are being tough on welfare fraud.
A decent person would know which to choose
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