Welfare campaigners were delighted when payments for jobseekers were increased but there is ‘a lot of anger’ from those who have been left out

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

A Tasmanian woman with terminal breast cancer has urged the government to include disability support pensioners in the upcoming boost to welfare payments, saying she fears “dying in poverty” during the coronavirus crisis.

The government delighted welfare campaigners last week when it announced it would double social security payments for jobseekers and also increase them for people on parenting payments in response to disastrous economic conditions fuelled by the pandemic.

It then went to expand the six-month package – already worth $16bn – by adding about 230,000 full-time students who receive payments such as Youth Allowance and Austudy.

But the decision to add a $550 supplement to the fortnightly payments of jobseekers, parents and students now means the base incomes of the unemployed will overtake people on disability, carer and age pensions, which has disappointed disability groups and the Australian Council of Social Service.

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For someone like Ceara Rickard, it’s all quite hard to take. Rickard was “so happy” that Jobseeker Payment was set for an increase, if only temporarily, after a 25-year freeze.

“I have lived on Newstart before,” she said. “I don’t come from a background with money, I grew up on Centrelink. Even though I am established in my career now, I think the memory of poverty never leaves you.”

In January, Rickard was forced to leave her job as a psychologist and apply for welfare payments after she received a shock diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer.

“It was my very last day before I was due to go on holidays when I got this is awful news,” she said.

From 27 April, the payment she is eligible for – the disability support pension – will provide her less financial support than if she was considered a jobseeker.

“I can’t really survive on a DSP alone,” said Rickard, who is now in “lockdown” at home and is worried she may never see her family on the mainland again.

“My husband is also my carer. My cancer is so bad that I can’t shower myself and things like that. I’ve got a little bit of money from fundraisers but also a mortgage.

“The amount of money that I’ve got is just dwindling and dwindling and I can see a future of just dying in poverty. That’s really scary.

“People who are fit and healthy, don’t need to buy medication, don’t have to isolate as strictly has someone like me who is at risk of dying, they are getting a bit more money to live on than I am. That seems quite unfair.”

Kym Mercer is among some 280,000 people who receive Carer Payment who will miss out on the government’s boost to welfare payments.

Carer Payment, like the disability and age pension, is worth about $950 a fortnight for a single person. The boosted rate for jobseekers stands at about $1,100 a fortnight for a single person, while the rates for single parents ($1,340 a fortnight) and students ($1,010 a fortnight) are also higher.

Mercer cares for her daughter, Stoly, 21, who lives with rheumatoid arthritis and autism. Her daughter receives the disability support pension.

Mercer, who runs a Facebook group for Centrelink recipients with more than 50,000 members, said there was “a lot of anger” about the decision to exclude disability pensioners, carers and age pensioners, from the income boost.

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“A lot of carers work part-time … often in well-paying jobs but very few hours,” she said. “They are finding they can’t do that work because it can’t be done at home. Or because the person they care for is immuno-compromised … they are now without that money.”

Government data shows about 50,000 people on carer payment and nearly 100,000 disability support pensioners received a “part-rate” payment because they also received extra income from other sources.

Mercer argued these groups should also receive the coronavirus supplement to compensate for their lost income and job opportunities just like jobseekers, parenting payment recipients and students.

“You’ve got pensioner couple versus a jobseeker couple, you’re looking at $2,100 versus $1,400 a fortnight,” she said.

The same was true for families like Mercer and her daughter when compared to a jobseeker couple.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ceara Rickard had to give up her job when she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. She says ‘it sees quite unfair’ that the jobseeker payment is increasing while the disability support pension is not. Photograph: Supplied

“The only difference is they are caring for someone with a disability,” she said. “They are not just being forced to stop working due to the government shutting things down, it’s due to the risk of their loved one dying.”

The Greens senator Rachel Siewert has called on the government to extend the stimulus to people on the disability support pension and carer payment.

Asked by Siewert if the government would extend the supplement to disability pensioners, the finance minister, Mathias Cormann told parliament this week the Coalition did not intend to change course.

“Anyone who is on DSP will get access to the two $750 [lump-sum stimulus] payments,” Cormann said. “At this stage there is no other plan.”

Disability support pensioners, carers and other pensioners will receive the second $750 lump-sum payment, which won’t be paid to jobseekers.

But Rickard wasn’t convinced. She said that she felt that leaving disability support pensioners from the incomes boost meant “our leaders don’t care about people with disabilities”.

“Because if they cared, we should all be getting about the same amount,” she said.