As we prepare for tonight’s Budget, Mission Australia’s CEO Toby Hall says it’s time to take the emotion out of the welfare reform debate and realise the need to offer disability support pension recipients who do have some capacity to work intensive assistance and incentives to encourage them back into the workforce. After all, he argues, a welfare system that continues to let people avoid participating in the community does them – and everyone in the community – a disservice.Here’s what Toby has to say in today’s Newcastle Herald.
There’s no doubt welfare reform is an emotive issue.
Last week I made some comments partly about the need for any such reforms in the government’s upcoming budget to look at re-engaging the large number of people on the disability support pension who have some capacity to work.
It was interesting how some immediately and misguidedly interpreted my comments as “welfare-bashing”.
It’s a shame that such strong emotions have got in the way of us openly discussing how the system has allowed the number of disability pension recipients to balloon to about 800,000 and has failed abysmally to look for potential solutions to the problem.
So let’s take the emotion out of it and look at the problem with a fresh set of eyes.
There is no question that the majority of people in receipt of disability pensions are genuinely disabled and require significant levels of support. In fact, we believe there is a case for greater levels of assistance for this group.
However, over the years, successive governments and a failing welfare system have allowed thousands of people without serious disabilities to move from the dole to receiving disability pensions when they are not engaged in looking for work. This is despite the fact they might have a capacity for employment and their issues could be overcome with intensive support.
The numbers are staggering. In 1982, almost 217,000 people were receiving disability pensions. By 2001 it had reached 578,000 and is now close to 800,000.
In those 27 years, Australia’s population has risen by 44 per cent, and yet the numbers on the disability pension increased 250 per cent.
We do not seek to stigmatise these people or blame them for being moved on to disability pensions – it is the system’s fault for letting this happen.
Disability pension recipients with the capacity for work are not malingerers. They are not “rorters”. We recognise this group of people have genuine barriers to employment that they need support in overcoming.
But they can be overcome. So what’s stopping us from trying it?
There is no doubt that a fair Australia must have an adequate safety net that provides unemployed, sick, disabled and vulnerable people with the support they need.
But let's not pretend that too much time spent on welfare – particularly for people who are physically and intellectually able to work – will not have a dramatic impact on a person's health and wellbeing.
And a welfare system that continues to let people capable of social, economic and community participation avoid such contact does them – and all of us – a disservice.
To illustrate the dramatic health impacts involved, the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine released a report last year which showed that long-term joblessness significantly increases the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and suicide.
Further still, suicide among young men out of work for six months or more increases dramatically.
We need to better assist job seekers to stem the flow of people moving on to disability pensions.
In a recent Mission Australia survey, almost one-third of our job seekers had been incorrectly assessed by Centrelink.
Poor initial assessment of job seekers can easily lead to individuals being incorrectly moved on to disability support pensions and from there it’s a quick path to entrenched joblessness.
We need to offer disability support pension recipients - those who do have some capacity to work – intensive assistance and incentives to encourage them back into the workforce.
One of our recommendations is to create a new stream in the employment service system to offer the specialised help required.
Recent studies show that up to 85 per cent of people experiencing serious mental health issues can return to work or study with the right help.
If we get in early enough and provide the right help we’re talking about setting people up for long-term, sustainable careers.
An unproductive life destroys a person and can spread like a cancer through their family and community.
We only need to look at the destruction and decay that passive welfare has created in some Aboriginal communities and suburbs on our city fringes.
We all know this – governments know it, community agencies know it, the public senses it – and with any luck tonight’s budget will be the start of doing something practical about it.
Story originally published 10 May 2011 in the Newcastle Herald.
No comments:
Post a Comment