Welfare to work - a failure.

Figures released today revealing more than 720,000 Australians are on a disability support pension (DSP) show that efforts to both stop the flow of people onto the benefit – and get people off – have failed miserably. Despite the efforts of the previous Federal Government, numbers have increased – 35,000 since 2003.

A major part of the problem has been the failure of the Howard Government’s much touted Welfare to Work legislation – partly designed to ‘encourage’ the estimated 20% of DSP recipients capable of taking a job back into the labour market.

So what went wrong? The answer is simple - too much stick, not enough carrot.

When Welfare to Work was launched, Mission Australia – along with many other agencies and individuals – pointed out its flaws and suggested changes but our advice fell on deaf ears. The main problem is the difference between DSP and Newstart – the general unemployment allowance – in terms of payment levels as well as the benefits related to health, transport and other supports.

If you’re on DSP – which offers a higher payment and provides more benefits than Newstart – where’s the incentive to get off it and look for work? And under the current arrangements, if you leave DSP, get a job, but lose it, you don’t go back onto DSP, you end up on Newstart with a subsequent loss of benefits.

Again, where’s the incentive?

The only hope we have of encouraging DSP recipients who are able to work is making sure they are no worse off, either looking for a job or, if after finding one, it falls through. There are thousands of genuinely disabled people out there who want to work – as much as for financial reasons as for self-esteem. We just need to provide the right environment for them to do so.

It’s not going to be easy. This is an age-old problem – as well as being highly political and emotional – and it will be expensive to address. It therefore shouldn’t be a surprise that so far no government has shown the courage tackle the problem. But if we don’t, DSP numbers will only grow and the problem will spiral further and further out of our control. We should be guided by one simple rule in all of this – “work for those who can and support for those who can’t”. If people are receiving DSP who shouldn’t, then they are taking support away from those who can’t.

Surely, with the nation facing a skills drought of monumental proportions, the impetus should be there for the new Federal Government to make the hard decisions on doing what’s needed.