Thread by @kplyley

#RoyalCommission
ScoMo got emotional, did he? I know I got emotional in 2015 when he was Social Services Minister and called all people under 35 on the DSP a "burden on the system". And started trying to kick as many of us off pensions as possible.

vice.com/en_us/article/…

Remb when @ScottMorrisonMP said he was "cracking down on those who want to game the system" by making 28,000 disabled ppl scared they were about to lose their life-saving pensions, when actually only 0.4% of DSP claimants were found to be dishonestly claiming.
#RoyalCommission

Remb when The Daily Tele announced "HE RORTER BE CONGRATULATED" over a photo of @ScottMorrisonMP because they were so thrilled he was pushing more and more disabled people off the DSP and onto lower or no welfare payments. The most DSP rejections in a decade!
#RoyalCommission

Remb when @ScottMorrisonMP made it his mission to get disabled people "off welfare" and "back to work" even though
- PWD's welfare reliance had already been in decline for 20 years
- DSP recipients are more likely to die than suddenly become nondisabled
#RoyalCommission

All the sudden DSP eligibility reviews for disabled people, the harsher eligibility criteria, the stricter "mutual obligations" and the layoffs at DHS leading to much poorer outcomes for Centrelink customers? Sorry, who was a key player in that? Remind me ... @ScottMorrisonMP

Credit to Labor: it was their harsh policies seeing 10,000s of people pushed off the DSP by the time the Coalition came to power. But who gloried in it, took credit for it, encouraged rhetoric about bludgers and rorters, and restricted DSP eligibility further? @ScottMorrisonMP.

(That screencapped text above is an excerpt from a 2015 Guardian piece by @bkjabour titled 'Newstart becomes de facto disability pension for 25% of claimants', about how a quarter of people on Newstart (the unemployment benefit) were disabled people who had no other recourse.)

(Labor was restricting DSP eligibility but meant to make sure other schemes were replacing that support for PWD. But the Coalition, with @ScottMorrisonMP as Social Services Minister and the face of these policy decisions, just went "we need to cut the DSP to pay for the NDIS".)

Had tears in his eyes thinking about his BIL Garry with multiple sclerosis, did he? Well I have a condition that's almost identical to MS in impairment, and @ScottMorrisonMP threatened my life-saving pension and called me a "burden" less than 4 years ago. Cheers. #RoyalCommission

Hope the #RoyalCommission into the neglect of people with disability starts with you, @ScottMorrisonMP.

Just gonna leave this here :)

https://twitter.com/kplyley/status/1114132434142892032

Thank you to everyone donating to my PayPal, it’s really helping take the pressure off.

I don’t know any of the names coming through and that just makes me feel the kindness of strangers, which honestly is the best thing about the internet. ❤️

https://twitter.com/kplyley/status/1114132434142892032?s=20

(Well, that, and being able to look at @ChrisEvans’s face anytime I want to.)

@ChrisEvans If you don’t know my sitch, I’m a Melb-based disabled freelance writer living with a few chronic illnesses. I live on the DSP + small income from sporadic creative practice (sporadic because illness). My dad died before Christmas and the grief has made it even harder to get by.

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