This report outlines current problems with the Disability Support Pension and offers three approaches for its reform.

The overall aim of the Australian retirement income system is to reduce poverty in retirement and produce a higher income in retirement than can be achieved by reliance on the age pension alone. Recently, a third goal has begun to emerge, that of prolonging a person’s workforce attachment. The success of the retirement income system...

Many of the arguments used to justify the crackdown on disability pensions are false or misleading, argues this report. It shows it is not easy to get the Disability Support Pension (DSP), and that the doubling of the number of DSP recipients over the past 15 years is due to a range of factors

The Disability Support Pension (DSP) is more generous yet less demanding than unemployment assistance. Few commentators believe that a 117% increase in DSP claimants in 23 years reflects a real increase in disability and incapacity in the working-age population. The author argues that DSP rules need to be tightened to reduce the number of claimants...