Disability Support Pension - Demographic Data (DSP Blind)

Question

Senator RUSTON: The disability support pension blind-how many people currently receive this payment? Mr Flavel: According to the numbers I've got, 15,745 Senator RUSTON: Is it possible to provide any demographic data on those people in terms of the kinds of demographic data that you publish for a lot of the other payments, around earnings, rates of payment, states that people live in, whether they're Indigenous, partner status, age, gender et cetera? Are those statistics available for this cohort of recipients? Mr Flavel: We'll check, but it's about 1.9 per cent of the total population, so I'm cautious about overpromising demographic data for a group that small. Senator RUSTON: If the reason that you don't publish this particular cohort's demographic data is that, then that's a pretty good- Mr Flavel: We don't publish it, to be clear. Senator RUSTON: No, I know you don't publish it. Mr Flavel: What you're asking is bespoke, which we'll do, looking at whether we hold certain demographic data. The same caveat you made earlier is that once you get to smaller groups, you start to bump into some other issues around confidentiality, particularly when you're talking by location and- Senator RUSTON: I totally understand. I would appreciate if there is some data available-any opportunity for a time series-to show patterns over a period of time so we can get an understanding of if we're seeing an increasing or decreasing number of people who are on this particular payment, and also if the residency status of those people could be identified if at all possible. Are there income and assets testing for this payment? There aren't, are there? Mr Flavel: For DSP? It's not a payment; it's just- Senator RUSTON: DSP blind. Mr Flavel: My recollection is there's not. It's a historical arrangement. But it's not a separate payment; it's a category of qualification for DSP.

Answer

Please see attached answer.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• DSS SQ26-000742.pdf (opens in a new tab)