Apparently, people on the disability pension spend more time on the pension than those who are simply unemployed.
What a set of bludgers!
As do those naughty, naughty single parents who stay at home for YEARS to look after their children.
Disgraceful!
The implication being, of course, that these people are taking YOUR TAX MONEY to live the high life on… what is it now? $300 a fortnight? Because they are just Too Lazy to work.
Shame on them. We must cut their benefits at once.
According to a report from the Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, people on the disability pension spend more time on the pension than those who are simply unemployed.
“The long-term nature of the disability payment is illustrated most clearly in that, instead of moving out of payments altogether, the most common destination for this group is to go straight into another payment – the age pension,” Dr Kalb explained.
And perhaps the long-term nature of the disability payment is explained most clearly by the fact that disability is a long-term issue.
The disability pension is not something you get for a few weeks when you are ill and unable to make your job application commitments for the dole. It’s not something you get because you are lazy and don’t want to work.
The disability pension is something you get when you are disabled in the long term, in such a manner that you are unable to work at all, or unable to work regular hours. Award of this pension is based on the assessment of medical professionals who review such cases on a regular basis.
It is not, and should not be, based on the assessment of economists.
We should, absolutely, encourage those with disabilities to live to the limit of their capabilities, not just in terms of employment, but in terms of their personal lives, interests and relationships – which are also affected by disability.
Stigmatising them as ‘bludgers’ who are content to depend on the system and have no interest in working is not the way to do this.
