RANT WARNING!
Please excuse me as I let off some steam about Australian politics and politics in general. This will have some relation to disability services in my country and may serve as a lesson to others.
Politics in Australia seems to be at the moment, grab the money and run. Or to be more exact, pay-off our fat-cat friends, rip the money from the most undefended of the country, and then when we get removed, let the country pay for our life-styles in retirement. I do not know exact figures but I am going to estimate that millions, if not billions, of dollars have been paid to media magnates, and mining moguls, while the normal Australian is told to tighten their belt. The DISABILITY pension has become more and more restricted, not to mention if you are under 35, magically they will review you and kick you off it to work because, "You are too young to be on a pension." This among other things. Then when they retire, we are expected to pay their pensions, which they get before the retirement age that they set, as soon as they quit politics. Seems if you are a politician the rules just don't seem to apply.
So let me get a little more on target...
To qualify for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) in Australia, you need to achieve 20 points on one table, which they have adjusted again to make it more difficult. These are the Social Security (Tables for the Assessment of Work-related Impairment for Disability Support Pension) Determination 2011, these can be found here. What this means is if you have, multiple conditions which combine together, rather than a single condition alone which causes you issues, you won't get it.
Under the previous tables there were individuals who have since been taken off the DSP, mainly because they were under 35 who had previously gained it due to medical issues of a spinal nature. The tables have been tightened so much that there are people who are in wheelchairs who do not qualify under the new tables and have been removed from the DSP and placed back into the workplace, and often with little or no support.
So while the rest of Australia tightens their belts, and her most vulnerable individuals suffer our politicians go on and do what they think is "best for the country". In my opinion they are doing what is best for their bank accounts and their futures with their nice safe pensions which the Australian population has to pay.
So, I usually complain about people making complaints and giving no solutions. I will give a solution which will solve many of the problems. Make the same rules apply to the politicians as apply to the ordinary Australian. Same age for pension. Same restriction for getting paid pension and other benefits (residency and means testing for example). Reduce the pay of politicians down to the same rate as any other government administrator.
Cheers,
Henry.
