TY - JOUR
T1 - Why Extended Time on Newstart is Unsuitable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians Living with a Disability
AU - Fitts, Michelle S.
AU - Soldatic, Karen
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Australian Research Council [grant number DE160100478]. We would like to acknowledge and thank the ongoing support we have received from a diverse range of community members, legal and social support services, and persons living with a disability and their networks and families who participated in focus groups and interviews. Without the ongoing support, generosity, and commitment, this study would not have been possible. This research has been funded by an ARC DECRA Fellowship (DE160100478), Disability Income Reform and Regional Australia: The Indigenous Experience. The views reflected in this report are those of the authors only and do not reflect the funder, the Australian Research Council.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Australian Association of Social Workers.
PY - 2020/4/2
Y1 - 2020/4/2
N2 - Many Australians living with a disability find themselves recipients of Newstart Allowance when applying for the Disability Support Pension (DSP). Newstart Allowance is designed as a short-term payment for people looking for work, with a lower fortnightly payment and limited medical and transport subsidies compared to the DSP. This paper describes the financial challenges of living with a disability while on Newstart Allowance. With a focus on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians from two regional towns, qualitative semistructured interviews and focus groups documented experiences of 39 community members and 21 medical and nonmedical service providers supporting clients living with a disability on Newstart Allowance. Four themes were identified: (i) living with severe financial hardship, (ii) challenges complying with the DSP application, (iii) being financially penalised for not complying with Newstart Allowance conditions, and (iv) supporting community members to manage severe financial stress. Although people living with a disability on Newstart were experiencing severe hardship and poverty, there was limited participation of Centrelink-employed social workers within their described experiences with Centrelink. We argue that social workers can work to humanise human service settings and potentially help to mitigate these financial challenges. IMPLICATIONS Indigenous Australians living with a disability experience severe disadvantage and poverty while living on Newstart Allowance. Social workers must be easily accessible at Centrelink customer service centres and to Newstart Allowance recipients to help coordinate service engagement. Newstart Allowance should be increased to ensure recipients can respond to cost of living pressures.
AB - Many Australians living with a disability find themselves recipients of Newstart Allowance when applying for the Disability Support Pension (DSP). Newstart Allowance is designed as a short-term payment for people looking for work, with a lower fortnightly payment and limited medical and transport subsidies compared to the DSP. This paper describes the financial challenges of living with a disability while on Newstart Allowance. With a focus on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians from two regional towns, qualitative semistructured interviews and focus groups documented experiences of 39 community members and 21 medical and nonmedical service providers supporting clients living with a disability on Newstart Allowance. Four themes were identified: (i) living with severe financial hardship, (ii) challenges complying with the DSP application, (iii) being financially penalised for not complying with Newstart Allowance conditions, and (iv) supporting community members to manage severe financial stress. Although people living with a disability on Newstart were experiencing severe hardship and poverty, there was limited participation of Centrelink-employed social workers within their described experiences with Centrelink. We argue that social workers can work to humanise human service settings and potentially help to mitigate these financial challenges. IMPLICATIONS Indigenous Australians living with a disability experience severe disadvantage and poverty while living on Newstart Allowance. Social workers must be easily accessible at Centrelink customer service centres and to Newstart Allowance recipients to help coordinate service engagement. Newstart Allowance should be increased to ensure recipients can respond to cost of living pressures.
KW - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians
KW - Disability Policy Reform
KW - Disability Support Pension
KW - Income Support
KW - Indigenous Australians
KW - Newstart
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075185508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0312407X.2019.1683214
DO - 10.1080/0312407X.2019.1683214
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85075185508
VL - 73
SP - 191
EP - 203
JO - Australian Social Work
JF - Australian Social Work
SN - 0312-407X
IS - 2
ER -