History of Disability in South Australia

On the 1st January 1901 the six colonies agreed to set up a Federal Government and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. It passed the Invalid and Old Age Pension Act in 1908 and provided age and invalid pensions of £28 a year. The Invalid Pension was essentially unchanged from its introduction until 1991 when it was replaced by the Disability Support Pension (DSP). Major changes were introduced by the Howard Government on July 2006.

The end of the nineteenth century

At the end of the nineteenth century there was no social security system in Australia. In South Australia it was the Destitute Board that provided aid to the majority of South Australians in need. It was the Destitute Asylum that became a place where the aged, poor and chronically sick were looked after and kept alive. During the nineteenth century non-government charities were established and provided for the poor and aged, children, women and the sick and disabled.

However, the government dealt with many thousands of cases each year, while non-government charities dealt in the hundreds. In many cases the government gave grants to charities to provide services, freeing the state of the obligation.

In 1897 a debate began on establishing a pension for the aged, but not for people with a disability. The pension was to be an alternative to support by the Destitute Board. A select committee of the Legislative Assembly was set up to investigate and a Royal Commission on the Aged Poor followed but nothing was done.

Commonwealth of Australia

On the 1st January 1901 the six colonies agreed to set up a Federal Government and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. A constitution was written, the colonies became states, they kept their own state government and their own state laws, but they gave the new federal government the power to legislate in areas that affected the whole of Australia.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, among other things, gave power to the Commonwealth Government to provide age and invalid pensions. The Commonwealth Government did not use this power until June 1908 when the Invalid and Old Age Pension Act was passed providing a means-tested ‘flat-rate’ age and invalid pensions.

The new pensions, which were administered by The Treasury and financed from general revenue, came into operation on the 1st July 1909 for the age pension and on the 15th December 1910 for the invalid pension. The maximum rate of pension provided under the 1908 Act was £28 a year or 10 shillings a week. There were no allowances paid to any dependants.

The Invalid Pension

The Invalid Pension (IP) was payable to people who were aged 16 years and over and were permanently incapacitated for work due to an accident or invalidity. Groups excluded from eligibility were those living overseas, ‘aliens’, overseas born ‘asiatics’, and ‘aboriginal natives’ of Australia, Africa, The Pacific Islands or New Zealand.

An applicant for an Invalid Pension was required to undergo an examination by a medical practitioner and a medical certificate showing what they were suffering from certain disabilities was required. In March 1909 the Central Pensions Board, in the first of many attempts circulated an instruction that specified the conditions that created eligibility for an invalid pension. It was issued to District Boards and Government Medical Officers for their guidance. The instruction specified that an applicant must show that they were suffering from one or other of the following disabilities, or a disability of equal gravity:

Accident

• The complete loss of two hands or the use of two arms, where the loss renders the applicant permanently incapable of doing any work
• The complete destruction of vision at mature or advanced age

Invalidity

• Locomotor ataxia (advanced)
• Cerebro-spinal sclerosis (advanced)
• Idiocy
• Epilepsy major, with frequent fits
• Complete paralysis of two limbs, where such paralysis renders the applicant permanently incapable of doing any work
• Advanced diabetes
• Complete loss of vision at mature or advanced age
• Advanced tuberculosis
• Organic disease of the heart, with failure of compensation
• Thoracic aneurism
• Advanced kidney disease with dropsy
• Advanced age (70 years and upwards) with marked degenerative changes
• Chronic articular rheumatism depriving sufferer of use of two limbs, and rendering him permanently incapable of doing any work

Cases of cancer and advanced wasting diseases of any kind, generally recognised as incurable and permanently unfitting the sufferer for manual or mental work of any kind Pensions could not be paid to inmates of benevolent asylums or charitable institutions, inmates of an asylum for the insane or a hospital or if immediate relatives were adequately maintaining them.

1910 – 1990

The following are key dates in the evolution of the Invalid Pension.

1916: An institutional pension was paid to pensioners in benevolent asylums

1939: The Commonwealth Department of Social Services was created to administer Pensions and became fully operational by 1941. Pensions had previously been administered by the Department of the Treasury

1941: Assessment for IP eligibility began to include assessment for vocational or rehabilitation training

1942: ‘Aboriginal natives’ of Australia became eligible for pension if they were not subject to a state law ‘relating to the control of Aboriginal natives’. Pacific islanders known as ‘Kanakas’ were also made eligible

1943: A Wife’s Allowance of 15 shillings per week was introduced for wives of invalid pensioners and did not receive a pension in her own right

1946: Claimants for IP who were adequately maintained by their parents and were aged 21 years or more were made eligible for IP

1948: An IP was paid to people undertaking treatment or vocational training

1958: Supplementary assistance (now known as rent assistance) was introduced

1960: All Aboriginal people other than those who were ‘nomadic or primitive’ became eligible for the Invalid Pension

1963: A standard rate of pension was introduced. It gave single pensioners a higher payment recognising that a married couple can share living expenses

1964: A telephone rental concession for pensioners was introduced

1967: A Sheltered Employment Allowance (SEA) was introduced for persons employed in sheltered workshops and qualified to receive an invalid pension. The SEA was paid at the same rate as the IP but the means test was structured to allow for earnings.

1974: The introduction of a free-of-income-test, flat-rate payment called handicapped child’s allowance. It was for parents of severely handicapped children requiring constant care and attention at home.

1975: The introduction of Medibank that entitled pensioners to a full range of medical services.

1983: The spouse carer’s pension was introduced. It was payable to a man caring for his severely handicapped or invalid wife who required constant care and attention in the matrimonial home.

1983: The introduction of two more new payments. Mobility Allowance payable to severely handicapped persons unable to use public transport. Also, Rehabilitation Allowance similar to the invalid pension and payable to persons assisted through the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service.

1985: The spouse carer’s pension became the carer’s pension. It provided income support to a person with limited means who was providing constant and long-term care to severely disabled spouse or near relative receiving an age or invalid pension.

1988: SEA was extended to those in supported employment services

1990: The IP could not be granted to people of age pension age

1990: A Pharmaceutical Allowance of $2.50 per week for a single pension and $1.25 for a married pensioner was introduced.

The Disability Support Pension - 1991

The Invalid Pension was essentially unchanged from its introduction in 1910 until 1991 when it, and the Sheltered Employment Allowance were replaced by the Disability Support Pension (DSP). The Rehabilitation Allowance was phased out and new entrants to rehabilitation received DSP.

To be eligible for a DSP an applicant needed a physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment of at least 20 per cent, based on impairment tables in the Social Security Act, and be unable to work more than 30 hours per week.

The change was due to the steadily increasing number of people on the invalid pension. Although, the main reason for the rise was the historically high levels of unemployment that made it harder for people with disabilities to compete for jobs.

Disability Support Pension Reforms - 2006

Despite the 1991 reforms the numbers on Disability Support Pension continued to rise. The Howard Government, to combat this introduced major changes on July 2006. Now, you were no longer eligible for DSP if you were assessed as being able to work for at least 15 hours per week. People who were no longer eligible for a DSP were transferred to Newstart Allowance. Those who had received a DSP before 10 May 2005 were not affected by the changes. The government also Increased rehabilitation and workforce re-entry assistance.

References

Daniels, D. Social Security Payments for the Aged, People with Disabilities and Carers 1909 to 2006 – Part 1. 2007 [online]. [Accessed 15th May 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/aged1.htm#invalidpension

Dickey, Brian. 1986. ‘Social welfare: The Government sector’, in The Flinders history of South Australia. ed. E. Richards. Netley: Wakefield Press, pp.235-259

Jordan, Alan. 1984. ‘Permanent incapacity: Invalid pension in Australia’. Canberra: Department of Social Security History of pensions and other benefits in Australia. 2006. [online]. [Accessed 22nd May 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: Link

Howe, B. 2004. ‘Enabling the disabled’: Paper to be presented at ACE National Conference September, 2004. [online]. [Accessed 29th May 2007]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.novaemployment.com.au/downloads/Brian%20Howe%20lecture.doc