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Featured image: supplied by Sophia Redjeb
Signatories of a petition calling for an end to partner income tests to access financial support are anxiously waiting on a response from the government. The petition launched by Sophia Redjeb to the House of Representatives has amassed nearly 20,000 signatures urging the government to get rid of partner income tests across all welfare payments. Income tests determine the level of payments participants receive from the Disability Support Pension (DSP).
At the core of it is a concern that the current system is open to abuse by partners. Campaigners argue that the pension is not enough and that because it’s based on how much a partner earns, that partner can use that information as a source of coercion or control.
Currently, this support pension pays just under $25,000 to recipients each year as stated on Services Australia. That’s just below one third of the median Australian income. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 46% of Australians with disabilities cannot work and rely solely on DSP. Under current legislation, payments decrease for the recipient when their partner earns over $372 per fortnight and stops entirely if the amount the partner earns, exceeds $1500.
Sophia Redjeb, the individual behind the campaign, told Powerd Media how the petition came about. “I think people need to care about disabled people and people on welfare more widely.” Under the present policy all relationships are assumed to be equitable, but for many, this is not the case. “Already vulnerable people are forced to be financially dependent on their partner. If you end up being in an abusive relationship, you can't afford to leave,” the campaigner says.
One supporter of the petition, who we’ll call Jane, found herself entirely dependent on her husband after acquiring a neurological condition which impacted her physical and cognitive function.
She says she had to ask for money if she needed anything: “He often questioned items I would add to the grocery trolley, even personal care items.” It was a situation that left her feeling vulnerable.
The petition points to the government’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, highlighting its emphasis on financial independence as “a pathway to safety.”
Yet current DSP legislation undermines this, leaving vulnerable Australians without the resources to escape hardship or abuse.
Jane feels that the reduction in payments discourage recipients of the pension from seeking work, does not consider higher living costs, and ultimately prevents many from achieving basic financial goals such as housing affordability. She believes a more flexible system would better support participant needs and economic participation.
Shared income testing no longer reflects the reality of how relationships work in society now that even the low end of housing affordability requires two incomes
Jane
The petition’s initiator Sophia Redjeb, might be answering Jane’s concerns, saying the petition to the Australian Government is also asking the Disability Support Pension to raise basic living costs rates: “It’s asking…to raise the DSP deliverable levels, which is currently under $25,000 a year, and to implement safeguards to protect people from economic abuse.”
Sophia states that a similar petition was rejected by the government in 2023, and suggests there is a battle ahead:
“There's a lot of attitudes of ‘you're getting free money from the government’ that's been fuelled by blame on welfare recipients…it’s all just scapegoating for lack of action on their part.” But the campaigner was keen to stress to Powerd Media, that they won’t give up: “If this petition gets rejected, we will continue fighting for fairness, dignity and independence for all Australians.”
Those waiting on the petition’s outcome could receive a response from government officials within the next three months, by which time it should have been presented to the House of Representatives.
If you would like to view the petition’s progress, click here.