Why the Disability Support Pension's partner income test is once again under scrutiny

Australia Broadcast Center

5 days ago

If Naomi Kilmany falls in love, she's worried her income will be halved — or cut off completely.
Like almost 800,000 Australians, the 24-year-old is on the Disability Support Pension.
She earns the maximum rate of just over $500 a week, which helps her cover things like groceries, medical expenses and rent in a Melbourne share house.
And like so many of her peers, she is also active on dating apps.
"I really want the opportunity to be happy and find love and to have that be as joyous and light as it should be," she told triple j Hack.
Naomi's worried about the partner income test, which lowers the amount of welfare someone can receive if their partner earns too much.
She says it "makes disabled people feel really undesirable," when her health means she "already feels like a burden".
Now, there's a campaign to scrap partner income testing altogether.
The Disability Support Pension (DSP) was introduced in 1991 to support people who have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric impairment that prevents them from working more than 15 hours a week.
To get the DSP, applicants have to meet a set of eligibility criteria.
DSP payments are then cut if a recipient's income — or their income combined with a partner's — goes over a set amount.
Those cuts are 50 cents for every dollar over $218 a fortnight for a single, or $380 combined a fortnight for someone in a couple.
But advocates like Sophia Redjeb say the test is unfair.
Their petition, which has attracted almost 20,000 signatures, is calling for the partner income test to be scrapped altogether.
"Why is the government forcing some of Australia's most vulnerable to be financially dependent on their partner?" Redjeb says.
"Disabled people are already more likely to experience intimate partner violence and have a cost of living that's higher than those without disabilities," they said.
The 20-year-old isn't the first to call for change.
In 2021, there was a Senate committee inquiry into the DSP, where advocacy group People with Disability Australia requested the government "immediately remove" the partner income test "to restore financial independence for people who rely on the DSP".
While the committee didn't include the partner test in its final inquiry report, it did recommend the government reconsider the income test as a whole, and suggested raising the threshold at which payments start being cut.
But the government never responded to the inquiry's 30 recommendations; it didn't table its official response until late last year, when it stated that a "substantive government response [was] no longer appropriate" due to "the passage of time since the report was tabled".
A similar petition calling to scrap the partner test was rejected in 2023, with the government explaining it as a "needs-based" system.
Tai, 29, had to quit his job as a retail manager because of his dissociation disorder, which can prevent him from functioning for weeks at a time.
At first, being approved for the DSP gave him the "peace of mind" he needed, knowing he was backed up if an episode came on.
That was until his payment was more than halved by the partner income test, leaving him with about $330 last fortnight — or just over $160 a week — to contribute to the mortgage, bills and groceries of his young family.
He says it's left him and his wife living "pay cheque to pay cheque," with his wife picking up a second job "just to pay for the house".
"It's a bit messed up that they expect them to work full-time and come home and look after us as well, and for us to use their money when they work for it.
A spokesperson from the Department of Social Services said partner income testing, which applies to all welfare payments, is based on the principle that couples are able to pool their resources and share living costs.
The spokesperson also said people could be excluded from partner income testing in cases of hardship, abuse or family and domestic violence, enabling the higher single rate to be paid.
For Tai, while he says he understands the argument behind the income test — reasoning that if someone had a rich partner "it'd almost feel like you're robbing people" — he doesn't feel it reflects the current era, calling it "prehistoric".
Naomi also believes it's outdated, and says most young Australians aren't considering their partner's income.
"Maybe they will get some extra gifts at Christmas time, but they're not sitting there every day like; are you ready to pay my rent, pay for my surgeries, pay for my medications, my food," she says.
"It's not a hundred years ago when it was more normal to be financially dependent on your partner.
"Our dating culture really has changed."
Sophia's petition calling for an end to partner income tests is currently awaiting a government response.