Dylan Alcott at the jobs and skills summit on Thursday.Credit:James Brickwood
“In a time of a pandemic or a natural disaster or recession,whose jobs go first? People with disability’s jobs,and that’s not fair,” he said.
“The time for lip service is over to be honest,because we’ve been getting that for a long time.”
One “no-brainer” step was to allow people on the disability support pension (DSP) to pick up more work without losing their benefits,Alcott said. He said there was thesame issue with the pension,as retirees also faced losing part of their payment if they took up too much work.
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“I don’t see why you can’t,to a point,earn your pension ...[or] DSP,and work as well,” he said,noting that would allow people with a disability to contribute to Australia’s economic growth and help fill staff shortages.
The current maximum baseline disability support pension is $900.80 a fortnight. Under the pension income test,a single person on the DSP loses 50¢ in every dollar they earn over $190 a fortnight,which advocates say can act as a disincentive to work an extra day or two.
Boosting workforce participation will be a major topic at the summit on Friday. A proposal to change the age pension means test as a way to encourage older Australians back into the workforce is a policy idea endorsed by the Liberal Party since losing office,and the summit wasexpected to reach an agreement on it.