Australia Yearbook - 2001

258 Year Book Australia 2001
A job seeker does not have to be receiving
Disability Support Pension to be eligible to
receive assistance from a disability employment
service or CRS Australia. Eligibility is not based on
the actual receipt of Centrelink payments, but on
a person’s barriers to employment resulting from
a disability (measured by the WATs tool).
Mobility Allowance
Mobility Allowance is a payment for people with a
disability aged 16 or more who cannot use public
transport without substantial assistance and who
are undertaking one or more of the following
activities for at least 8 hours per week:
work, vocational training or a combination of
both;
voluntary work for a community, charitable or
welfare organisation;
receiving Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance
or Austudy payments.
From 1 July 2000, the rate of Mobility Allowance is
$60 per fortnight. The payment is indexed
annually in line with Consumer Price Index
movements. A lump sum advance equivalent to
six months allowance may be paid once a year.
Payment of Mobility Allowance is not subject to
an income or assets test, but cannot be paid to a
person who has received a sales tax exemption
on a motor vehicle within the previous two years.
Mobility Allowance customers who do not receive
any other income support from FaCS qualify for a
Health Care Card. The card is not income or asset
tested.
Carer Payment
The Carer Payment is an income support
payment available to people who are providing
constant care or supervision to a person aged
16 years or over with a physical, intellectual or
psychiatric disability or who is frail aged.
The carer must personally provide this level of
care or supervision in the private home of the
care recipient, but is not required to live in or
adjacent to the care recipient’s home. The carer
must also meet certain Australian residency
requirements, with income and assets below the
levels where qualification ceases. The rate of
Carer Payment is the same as for other pensions.
From 1 July 1998, eligibility for the Carer Payment
was extended to carers of children under 16 years
of age with profound disabilities. The eligibility
criteria for this payment focus on the high level of
care provided by parents and other carers to
maintain comfort, sustain life, or attend to a
bodily function that the child with a profound
disability cannot manage alone. Table 7.8 shows
the number of Carer Payment recipients at June
for the years 1997 to 2000.
Sickness Allowance
The Sickness Allowance is paid to people aged at
least 21 years (students in receipt of Austudy
must be aged at least 25 years), but below Age
Pension age, who are temporarily unable to work
or continue with their full-time studies due to
illness or injury. To be eligible, the person must
have a job or study to which they can return.
Unemployed people who become temporarily
incapacitated may receive Newstart Allowance
(NSA). People in receipt of full-pay sick leave do
not qualify.
From 20 September 2000, the basic single rate of
Sickness Allowance is $350.80 per fortnight, and
the basic partnered rate is $316.40 per fortnight
(each). The rate is indexed twice a year in line
with Consumer Price Index movements.
Pharmaceutical Allowance of $5.60 per fortnight
(single or couple combined) is payable to
Sickness Allowance recipients.
Payment of Sickness Allowance is subject to
income and assets tests and recipients qualify for
a Health Care Card.
7.8 CARER PAYMENT, By Number of Recipients
Unit June 1997 June 1998 June 1999 June 2000
Type
Carer Payment (Age) no. 10 954 11 740 13 407 15 346
Carer Payment (DSP) no. 15 735 18 556 21 392 24 500
Carer Payment (Other) no. 2 869 3 683 5 271 7 704
Total no. 29 558 33 979 40 070 47 550
Source: Department of Family and Community Services.