The government wants to deny disability payments to anyone with a disability caused by substance abuse.
From July this year, drug users and alcoholics will be made ineligible for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) for medical conditions “caused solely by their own substance abuse”.
Anyone looking to receive the DSP in the future will be required to undergo treatment for their substance abuse before being assessed for their scale of functional impairment on the DSP Impairment Tables.
People can only qualify for DSP on the basis that the loss of their functional ability to work results from a medical condition, the office for social services minister Christian Porter told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday.
"The DSP is for people with disabilities, and it is only responsible and fair that if people are seeking to claim a higher benefit payment on the basis of a disability that is a result of their own actions of taking drugs and being inflicted by alcohol abuse, well I don’t think the Australian people are going to wear that," Treasurer Scott Morrison said.
"There are other forms of support for people in those situations, but it won’t include the DSP."
The government estimates fewer than 450 people out of the 770,000 on the DSP will be affected by this measure. It will save $21.7 million over five years to 2021.
The government also predicts 90% of those booted off the DSP will end up on Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance (Other), making them up to $370.80 a fortnight worse off.
Their fortnightly payments would drop from $808.30 on DSP to $535.60 on Newstart, or $437.50 on Youth Allowance.
Anyone with a DSP start date before 1 July 2017 will not be affected unless they are medically reviewed.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert told BuzzFeed News the measure lacks compassion and doesn't fit the Treasurer's description of the Budget as "fair".
“Heartbreakingly, the tail end of the treasurer’s Budget speech said that they would deny income support for a disability caused by substance abuse," Siewert said.
"Shame on you, Treasurer, this could hurt people who off the back of their addiction have a physical or mental disability and desperately need help. Where is your compassion?”