Amy's review began in September 2016 as part of the Turnbull government's crackdown on people receiving the DSP.



The plan was introduced by then-social services minister Christian Porter in the 2016 Budget, and aimed to put 90,000 existing disability pensioners through a reassessment process over three years.

If they were found to be wrongly claiming the DSP they would be kicked off welfare or moved onto a lower Centrelink payment.

For a single adult with no children, the disability pension is around $440 a week. The same person would receive less than $270 on Newstart benefits.



Porter forecast 2,300 people a year would have their benefits cancelled and 1,800 would be moved onto a lower Newstart allowance payment. He predicted it would save the budget $61.2 million over five years.

Amy's review started in September 2016 and still hasn't been completed. She was told originally that she had 14 days from receiving the review letter to have a specialist medical appointment and obtain the documentation to meet Centrelink's specific requirements.

"It is not possible to get a specialist medical appointment in that timeframe, even if I paid to see them privately," she told BuzzFeed News. "Waiting lists are measured in months, but I managed to get an extension and I thought things were wrapped up around November 2016."

For months, Amy heard nothing from Centrelink or the Human Services Department. But her pension kept getting paid, so she assumed the review was over.

"I heard nothing for months on end, even going in to the local office to ask if I was going to hear back if they had found the review in my favour ... if they found otherwise, I would know because my payment would be cancelled," she said.

"They said I would be notified, but after more months passed and I still heard nothing at all and was still getting the payment, I eventually thought, well, I must have passed the test and they just didn't tell me or something."

It wasn't until February 2018, 17 months after the process began that Amy was told by Centrelink that her review had not been resolved.

Last week the Department of Human Services told Senate Estimates that since the review process started in July 2016, just 16 people had been found ineligible for the disability pension.