The McClure review of Australia's welfare system is causing dread in the hearts of disability support recipients. With the final report due by October, we're terrified that all the talk of transitioning to work is simply code for not just a lower rate of payment – when the current rates are already too low – but a new, punitive regime that will require useless job searching.
Much of the controversy has centred around the episodic nature of some mental illnesses. Both review head Patrick McClure and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews have been cavalier about the chances of people with illnesses like bipolar and severe depression being able to hold down a job in today’s challenging workplace.
As someone with a complex anxiety disorder, running a part-time microbusiness while on part-DSP, it seems that one obvious solution to help some people in this group has been overlooked to date: self-employment.
Rather than extend the overly targeted and punitive unemployment regime, wouldn't it make sense to support people with suitable job skills to run their own microbusinesses? This could also be an option for those with chronic physical illnesses like arthritis and MS.
The beauty of microbusiness is that the worker themselves has the say over how many clients they take on and what jobs they say no to – a perfect scenario for those with episodic illness.
It could be also be an option for older unemployed people with mental illness, as even perfectly fit older people face age discrimination, regardless of the range of skills they offer. The pension could retain its current form as financial back-up, with tapering payments that provide enough incentive for work.
Yet this area is unfairly neglected in the delivery of employment services for those with disabilities. A low percentage of people on disability are already self-employed, but the government and employment agencies could offer much more support.
The kinds of support needed are those that anyone who runs a microbusiness needs, but are too often out of reach if your business is never going to fund a lavish lifestyle of limos and six-star hotels. As someone whose income is limited, I’ve found many of these supports just too costly to fund on my own. Yet funding such supports would save the government money in the long run, and could help people like me to either go into business or expand our businesses.
Training is the most obvious need. Private niche training