On the disability services pension

Irfan Yusuf writes: Re.” The battle for benefits: people with disabilities fight back against broken system“(Tuesday)

Our DSP system is appalling. The law is increasingly stacked against genuinely disabled simply because they don’t meet arbitrary definitions which are assessed often by people with no basic medical knowledge. Thankfully where I worked as a Centrelink appeals lawyer, the Centrelink advocate was very reasonable and the Tribunal member very fair. But so many punters have never heard that there are community lawyers who can and will advocate for them free of charge.

Peter Schulz writes: Re.” The battle for benefits: people with disabilities fight back against broken system“(Tuesday)

Good old Crikey, shining a light on the dark cesspools avoided by the corporate media. Another example of where the worst “Centrelink cheat” is the Centrelink system itself.  It says a lot about “Australian values” when the same government that wants to hand over $65 billion to large (often overseas) corporations does this to vulnerable individuals. It’s not the migrants or the Muslims trashing Australian values, but the political right.