Submissions

To: Social Services and Community Committee
Date: January 2025

Purpose

This submission’s primary purpose is to request the Bill's withdrawal due to its anticipated harmful impact on disabled people accessing social security. DPA aims to highlight how various changes within the welfare system, particularly harsh sanctions and altered benefit indexation, disproportionately affect disabled individuals who often live on low, fixed incomes and face additional disability-related living costs.

Summary of DPA submission

DPA asks for the Social Security Amendment Bill 2024 to be withdrawn, citing the detrimental impact its proposed changes will have on disabled people accessing social security. DPA highlights previous welfare system changes, such as linking benefit rates solely to inflation, which removed potential weekly income increases for Supported Living Payment (SLP) recipients, leading to a considerable loss of over $1,000 per year by 2027/28 for a single recipient, significantly impacting their already limited income.

DPA expresses significant concerns regarding the Bill's harsh approach to welfare sanctions, noting a 20% increase from the previous year. Many disabled people and those with health conditions are on Jobseeker Support because the threshold for the more secure SLP is often too narrow and arbitrary. Obliging these individuals to attend work-ready seminars ignores the substantial health and disability-related barriers to work and the prevailing attitudes of employers, which are the primary roadblocks to employment. A DPA member survey revealed widespread anxiety and fear among disabled people about unfair sanctions and benefit cuts, along with concerns that the system does not recognize their employment barriers and that MSD/WINZ staff lack adequate disability responsiveness training.

DPA opposes the electronic money management sanction, arguing it removes vital flexibility for disabled people who face higher living costs due to their disability. They believe this perpetuates harmful stereotypes about beneficiaries' spending, when in reality, they spend on essentials. DPA is also against community work as a sanction, stating it risks exploiting disabled people who already face barriers to employment and detracts from their job search efforts. They advocate for supportive approaches that cover accessibility costs for voluntary community work.

Further concerns include doubling the period for obligation failures, which will penalize disabled people on Jobseeker Support and increase psychological stress. DPA views the new obligation for Jobseeker Support recipients to renew their benefit every 26 weeks as burdensome, especially given current long waits for GP appointments needed for medical certificates, which can lead to significant financial hardship if benefits are delayed. DPA believes this policy aims to create more bureaucratic obstacles, deterring people from accessing the benefit. DPA is also "very alarmed" by the proposal to expand automated decision-making (ADM) for benefit re-applications, fearing it could lead to disabled people being wrongly cut off benefits and facing significant hardship without sufficient safeguards.

Key Recommendation/Finding:

DPA asks that the Bill be withdrawn due to the harmful impact these changes will have for disabled people accessing social security.

Supporting Statement 1:

"This report highlighted the impacts of changes to the welfare system on disabled people, including the government’s decision to return linking benefit rates to the rate of inflation only, meaning that they would no longer be indexed to either the increase in prices or real wages, whichever was higher."

Supporting Statement 2:

"A considerable number of disabled people and people with health conditions access Jobseeker Support if their ability to work is limited, because the threshold for accessing the comparatively more secure Supported Living Payment (SLP) is reliant on narrow and arbitrary criteria many cannot meet."