The Wire

The Federal government has tightened the requirements for the Disability Support Pension, making it harder for future applicants to qualify. Centrelink figures show around 40 per cent of the people who qualified for the pension in the first half of this year wouldn’t be eligible under the new rules. It’s the first real review of the impairment assessment criteria in almost 20 years, a change many say is long overdue. But some critics are concerned the restrictions will simply shift people off the Disability Pension and onto the lower-paying dole.