Income Support

AFDO is continuing to call for the Australian Government to urgently include Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients in the $550 per fortnight CoronaVirus Supplement.  It is well recognised that 50% of people with disabilities already live in poverty so additional costs at this time are causing people a lot of distress and anxiety.

While we continue our campaign, which we have been undertaking over the last two years, concerning the inadequacy of the DSP to support, and its access, to ensure equity of income for all people with disability, we would like to highlight that although fortnightly JobSeeker Payment rates may be higher than the DSP for the next six months, once the CoronaVirus Allowance stops, the rate of JobSeeker Payment will be much lower than the rate of DSP.  This means that switching from the DSP to the JobSeeker payment would not be in your best interest.

If you are thinking about switching from the DSP to the JobSeeker Payment so you can get the extra supplement – we urge you to read the DSP Fact Sheet from Economic Justice Australia, or to get advice from a community legal centre first, as changing to the JobSeeker payment will cancel your DSP, and you may not be able to get it back again!

Economic Justice Australia is the peak organisation for community legal centres providing specialist advice to people on their social security issues and rights.  For a list of community legal centres that can help you, please visit the Economic Justice Australia website.

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