ONE in 10 people in some NSW regions is now relying on the disability support pension, with statistics showing almost 20,000 people, the equivalent of five Australian Army brigades, joined the disability welfare line in the past three years.
Despite the federal government’s attempts to rein in the ballooning costs of the $15 billion disability pension fund, of which NSW leads the country in claimants, 2500 people across the country continue to make new applications for the payment every week.
And while the number of physical injury claims under the DSP have decreased, the number of claims relating to psychological and psychiatric conditions continues to climb at a record rate to make up almost one-third of all claims.
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Since 2001, successful mental health claims for the DSP have jumped from 140,965 (22.6 per cent of overall claims) to 256,380 (31.2 per cent of overall claims). In comparison, the number of musculoskeletal and connective tissue recipients decreased by almost 17,000 claims since 2010.
NSW leads the country in overall DSP claims with 270,415, followed by Victoria and Queensland.
As previously highlighted by The Daily Telegraph in 2011, the number of NSW disability support pension recipients outstrips the overall number of Australian servicemen and women injured in foreign conflicts since the 1880s.
The size of the number of DSP recipients in NSW is double that of Ukraine’s active army personnel and exceeds the population of Pacific Island states, including Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Regional NSW and western Sydney are fuelling welfare increases across the state, with more than 483,000 people now relying on payments from either DSP or Newstart Allowance, better known as the dole.
The state’s north coast, from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads, features prominently in the country’s most reliant welfare zones, with thousands of residents tapping into the nation’s $70 billion welfare pot.
The federal electorates of Cowper, Richmond and Page, along with four other NSW regions, are in the top 15 DSP hot spots in Australia.
In the Coffs Harbour area, statistics show an average of one in 9.9 eligible voters is on the DSP, which has a maximum payment of $766 a fortnight.
Further north, in Tweed Heads, Byron Bay and Nimbin, one out of every 13.5 eligible voters takes home a Newstart Allowance.
Sydney’s west has also emerged as a welfare wasteland, with the Labor-held seats of Fowler (Liverpool and Green Valley), Blaxland (Bass Hill, Merrylands and Fairfield) and Chifley (Mt Druitt, Doonside and Rooty Hill) combining to have 23,665 residents on the dole, the highest number in the state.
In Blaxland, held by Labor MP and potential future leader Jason Clare, an average of 1.49 taxpayer-funded payments are made for each of the electorate’s 100,284 eligible voters across 28 welfare categories.
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said changes announced in the federal Budget would help people back into the workforce and help ease psychological pressure on jobseekers.
The DSP, an income support payment for people unable to work for 15 hours or more per week due to permanent physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment, has seen a spike in recent years of psychological claims.
“More stringent payment conditions and activity requirements are essential to ensuring the sustainability of our income support payments. Support must be targeted to those in most need,” Mr Andrews said.
“Changes are designed to help people move into employment when they are able to do so. This is particularly important for young people, so they don’t become trapped in a lifetime of welfare dependency.”
The government has said that despite the slight increase in DSP recipient numbers over the past nine months, the grant rate has fallen.
Also, from July 1, compulsory work-focused activities for certain Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients aged under 35 years will be enforced. In early 2012, the impairment tables for DSP recipients was revised to ensure those who can work are rehabilitated.
The federal Budget revealed the government will spend $46.4 million over five years reviewing the eligibility of DSP recipients under 35 who were granted the pension between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011, against the revised tables.
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