Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some comments about the disability support pension impairment tables disallowance motion. The government opposes Senator Rice's motion to disallow subsections 8(3) to 8(8) of the Social Security (Tables for the Assessment of Work-related Impairment for Disability Support Pension) Determination 2023. The disability support pension, the DSP, is an income support payment designed to provide financial assistance to people who are assessed as being unable to work for 15 hours or more per week due to a physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment. It is potentially a lifelong pension paid at the highest rate of payment within the social security system.

The government has a responsibility to ensure that Australia's social security system provides support to those people in the community who are most in need, that this support is appropriately targeted and that our taxpayer funded system remains sustainable. It is entirely appropriate, therefore, that the process to grant the DSP requires claimants to meet a standard of diagnosis treatment, stabilisation and prognosis before they are granted the payment. The subsections of the impairment tables relevant to the disallowance motion are those which cover the requirements that, for the purposes of assessing eligibility for the DSP, a rating can only be assigned if a person's condition has been diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised, and if a condition is more likely than not, in light of the available evidence, to persist for more than two years, with subsection 8(8) providing guidance on assessing the functional impacts of pain.

If the motion to remove the subsections is successful, it would remove the ability to target payments of the DSP to individuals with disability who are most in need of support. It would expand access to this potentially lifelong pension to include those who have not yet undertaken reasonable treatment for their condition. It would expand access to this potentially lifelong pension, paid at the highest rates in the social security system, to individuals who have a short-term condition which is not likely to last more than two years and has not been treated or stabilised. Based on a previous claim rejected due to an individual's condition not being fully treated, diagnosed and stabilised, if successful this motion could result in more than 30,000 additional DSP recipients every year. It would come at a significant cost to the budget.

To comply with the Social Security Act, a person's impairment must attract at least 20 points under the DSP impairment tables instrument. This instrument sets out the rules to be used when assessing a person's work related impairment for the DSP. Before being assessed under the impairment tables, a person's condition must be considered, diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised, and likely to persist for the next two years in light of available evidence. Diagnosis, treatment, stabilisation and prognosis requirements have been longstanding policy for the assessment of medical eligibility for DSP.

The new DSP impairment table instruments, which came into effect on 1 April 2023, are a result of a comprehensive review of the legislative instrument. This included extensive stakeholder consultation with the disability peak body and advocacy group, medical professionals and people with lived experience of the DSP process. The Minister for Social Services, the Hon. Amanda Rishworth, personally consulted with disability peak bodies and advocacy organisations to hear their views and drew on their experience and expertise in developing the new impairment tables. In addition to multiple rounds of consultation, the review played close attention to submissions, hearings and recommendations from the Senate community affairs references committee inquiry into the purpose, intent and adequacy of DSP, which took place from 2021 and tabled its report in February 2022.

Of note, the provisions this disallowance motion seeks to reappeal directly relate to recommendation 1 of the Senate inquiry report, which states:

… the Australian Government investigates how the requirement that a condition be 'fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised' is preventing people with conditions that are complex, fluctuating, or deteriorate over time, from accessing the Disability Support Pension, and could be modified to ensure people get the support they need.

'Fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised' was replaced with 'diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised' in the new instrument. References to permanent conditions were removed and instead clarity was provided around the requirement for a person's condition to be likely to persist for the next two years. These changes were tested with stakeholders and the public through an exposure draft of the instrument in 2022. Feedback relating to these changes was largely positive, including support from disability peak bodies and advocacy groups.