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Australian Bureau of Statistics
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1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2002
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/01/2002 |
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Age Pension
Disability Support Pension Disability Support Pension (DSP) is the main form of income support available to people with a disability. It is paid to people aged 16 years or over who are permanently blind or have another significant physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment, and are assessed as being unable either to do any work for at least 30 hours a week at full award wages, or to be retrained for any work for at least two years. For the purposes of DSP, impairment is assessed on the severity of the condition and its impact on normal function in relation to work performance. Table 7.18 shows the number of recipients of DSP at June for the years 1998 to 2001. DSP for people aged 21 years and over is paid at the same rate as the Age Pension and is subject to the same income and assets tests, except for permanently blind recipients, who are not subject to either the income or assets test. Youth rates apply to those aged under 21 years. These are largely tied to Youth Allowance rates, but include a supplement of $82.00 per fortnight. Youth rates are not subject to parental income or assets tests. A Pharmaceutical Allowance of $5.80 per fortnight (single or couple combined) is also paid to people receiving DSP. Disability Support pensioners and other people with disabilities can access rehabilitation, training, labour market programs or labour force re-entry assistance. Job seekers are assessed by Centrelink to determine if they are eligible for Commonwealth employment assistance from either a disability employment service, the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) Australia, or through the Job Network. A job seeker does not have to be receiving a Disability Support Pension to be eligible to receive assistance from a disability employment service or CRS Australia. Eligibility is not based on receipt of income support payments, but on a person's barriers to employment resulting from a disability. The Wife Pension (DSP) provides an income for a woman who is a partner of a DSP recipient, is aged below Age Pension age and is not receiving any other payment in her own right. This payment is gradually being phased out, with new grants of Wife Pension ceasing after 30 June 1995. However, women already receiving Wife Pension (or who had lodged claims and were entitled to the pension) at that date will continue to receive this payment.
Mobility Allowance Mobility Allowance may be paid to people with a disability aged 16 years or over who are permanently, or for an extended period, unable to use public transport without substantial assistance. The person must be:
From 1 January 2001, the rate of Mobility Allowance was $61.90 per fortnight. The payment is indexed annually in line with Consumer Price Index movements. A lump sum advance equivalent to six months allowance may be paid once a year. Payment of Mobility Allowance is not subject to any income or assets test, but cannot be paid to a person who has received a sales tax exemption on a motor vehicle within the previous two years. Carer Payment Carer Payment is an income support payment available to people who are providing constant care or supervision to a person with a disability, medical condition or who is frail aged. The carer must personally provide this level of care or supervision in the private home of the care recipient, but is not required to live with the care recipient. The rate of Carer Payment is the same as for Age Pension. From 1 July 1998, eligibility for Carer Payment was extended to carers of children under 16 years of age with profound disabilities. The eligibility criteria for this payment focus on the high level of care provided by parents and other carers to maintain comfort, sustain life, or attend to a bodily function that the child with a profound disability cannot manage alone. Table 7.19 shows the number of Carer Payment recipients at June for the years 1998 to 2001.
Sickness Allowance Sickness Allowance is paid to people aged at least 21 years (students in receipt of Austudy must be aged at least 25 years to access Sickness Allowance), but below Age Pension age, who are temporarily unable to work or continue with their full-time studies due to illness or injury. To be eligible, the person must have a job or study to which they can return. People who become temporarily incapacitated without a job or study to return to may receive Newstart Allowance. From 1 July 2001 the basic single rate of Sickness Allowance was $357.80 per fortnight, and the basic partnered rate was $322.80 per fortnight for each partner. A Pharmaceutical Allowance of $5.80 per fortnight (single or couple combined) is payable to Sickness Allowance recipients.
This page last updated 20 August 2007
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