Policy Mobilities of Exclusion: Implications of Australian Disability Pension Retraction for Indigenous Australians

Abstract

There is growing concern surrounding the retraction of disability social provisioning measures across the western world, with state fiscal policy trends foregrounding austerity as a central principle of welfare provisioning. This is occurring within many of the nation-states that have ratified and legislated rights enshrined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This article undertakes a critical analysis of disability income retraction in Australia since the early 2000s and examines these changes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians living with disability by focusing on Article 20 of the CRPD, the right to personal mobility, a core right for people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples. Beyond economic inequality, the article illustrates that the various administrative processes attached to welfare retraction have implications for the realisation of mobility practices that are critical for individual cultural identity and wellbeing. Disability austerity has resulted in a new form of Indigenous containment, fixing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities in a cyclical motion of poverty management.

Community‐based social care models for indigenous people with disability: A scoping review of scholarly and policy literature

“…While financial relief for carers and people with disability may also be addressed through social security systems in some states, the experience in Australia suggests that social security payments may not adequately support the basic needs of Indigenous people with disability and their carers, and that eligibility criteria may not reflect Indigenous practices of collective caregiving (Soldatic, 2018 ). The Aotearoa New Zealand Funded Family Care program, in contrast, provides remuneration to family carers through a disability stream rather than through social security, and enables the recognition of family caregiving as legitimate work (Paulin et al, 2015 ).…”

“…While financial relief for carers and people with disability may also be addressed through social security systems in some states, the experience in Australia suggests that social security payments may not adequately support the basic needs of Indigenous people with disability and their carers, and that eligibility criteria may not reflect Indigenous practices of collective caregiving (Soldatic, 2018).…”

(Co)-movilidades de personas con discapacidad en la ruralidad del Sur de Chile. Visibilizando redes e interdependencias desde un enfoque etnográfico

“…Muchas veces las personas han tenido que lidiar con las instituciones públicas y sus profesionales, constituyéndose como verdaderas "pacientes del Estado" (Auyero, 2018). Así, si bien se requiere estar en movimiento para garantizar el cumplimiento y el apoyo a las prestaciones que por derecho gozan las personas con discapacidad, Soldatic (2018) afirma que esta movilidad es circular y contenida, se trata de una repetición constante, de presentarse en múltiples espacios para certificar su condición de discapacidad. Es así que las movilidades por motivos de ocio, consumos culturales, paseos y otros, son esporádicas e intermitentes, condicionadas por los recursos de la familia y por la dependencia de tener a alguien que los acompañe.…”