EXCLUSIVE
Compulsory work for the dole and tougher tests for disability pensioners are the centrepiece of an $11 billion welfare crackdown developed by Tony Abbott. The changes would be part funded by a rise in tobacco and alcohol excise and a possible increase in the pension age.
Days before he became opposition leader, Mr Abbott proposed that all unemployed people under 50 be forced to work for the dole after three months, a move he estimated would cost $10.5 billion over four years.
His submission in November to the Coalition's expenditure review committee, obtained by the Herald, also advocated that disability pensioners with "less serious medical conditions" - about one-third of the 700,000 receiving the benefit - be forced to take annual medical reassessments and sit two interviews a year "to encourage them into employment".
He proposed a $500,000 review by the National Audit Office to decide eligibility rules for the disability pension "to ensure that only those who genuinely deserve this benefit receive it".
The third "key policy" was welfare quarantining much tougher than the Rudd government's recent changes. Mr Abbott advocated all welfare-dependent families with children should have half their income held back for food and essentials.
He said "reliable costings" for the quarantining plan were difficult and he provided none to the expenditure review committee. Trials have cost between $6875 and $10,500 a person but Mr Abbott said, "we expect substantial economies of scale to develop over coming years''.
To pay for the crackdown, he proposed a 10 per cent increase in alcohol excise to raise $4.2 billion in the first year, and a 20 per cent increase in tobacco excise (about $1.44 on a packet of 25 cigarettes) to raise another $7.7 billion.
And he floated the idea of raising an extra $20 billion over 10 years from further increases in the pension age to fund the welfare plan and other family payments such as a universal family tax benefit for all mothers of children under five.
"If a universal family tax benefit payment needs to be fully funded it could be done by further increasing the retirement age," Mr Abbott said, and included parliamentary library calculations to estimate a net saving based on how many of those forced to retire later would keep working and how many might claim the dole.
Under existing rules the unemployed can choose work for the dole, work experience or part-time study to meet the requirements after one year on benefits. Disability pensioners are reviewed only if there are specific concerns. But the government has been struggling to find ways to contain a huge blow-out in the cost of the benefit.
Legislation before Parliament proposes the quarantining of welfare benefits for the long-term unemployed in the Northern Territory. A review in two years is to decide whether it should be extended to "disadvantaged" communities across Australia.
Mr Abbott has so far avoided detailed policy announcements - instead keeping pressure on the government - but the plan echoes arguments in his book, Battlelines, published last year. He argues that "allowing people who could readily work to stay out of the workforce for long periods is cruelty and not compassion".
In his paper, Mr Abbott conceded that most unemployed parents would already spend at least half their dole on necessities, but "because of the difficulty in making distinctions in this area, this (quarantining) rule should apply to every welfare-dependent family".
A spokesman for Mr Abbott told the Herald: ''There are ongoing discussions about policy ideas. No final decisions have been made in these areas.''
Compulsory work for the dole and tougher tests for disability pensioners are the centrepiece of an $11 billion welfare crackdown developed by Tony Abbott. The changes would be part funded by a rise in tobacco and alcohol excise and a possible increase in the pension age.
Days before he became opposition leader, Mr Abbott proposed that all unemployed people under 50 be forced to work for the dole after three months, a move he estimated would cost $10.5 billion over four years.
His submission in November to the Coalition's expenditure review committee, obtained by the Herald, also advocated that disability pensioners with "less serious medical conditions" - about one-third of the 700,000 receiving the benefit - be forced to take annual medical reassessments and sit two interviews a year "to encourage them into employment".
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The change was costed at $683 million, with the new rules
applying to disability pensioners "in the less serious areas within the
psychological/psychiatric and musculo/skeleton categories". Mr Abbott,
then the opposition spokesman on families, calculated that if 24,000
disabled pensioners returned to work, the strategy could pay for itself.He proposed a $500,000 review by the National Audit Office to decide eligibility rules for the disability pension "to ensure that only those who genuinely deserve this benefit receive it".
The third "key policy" was welfare quarantining much tougher than the Rudd government's recent changes. Mr Abbott advocated all welfare-dependent families with children should have half their income held back for food and essentials.
He said "reliable costings" for the quarantining plan were difficult and he provided none to the expenditure review committee. Trials have cost between $6875 and $10,500 a person but Mr Abbott said, "we expect substantial economies of scale to develop over coming years''.
To pay for the crackdown, he proposed a 10 per cent increase in alcohol excise to raise $4.2 billion in the first year, and a 20 per cent increase in tobacco excise (about $1.44 on a packet of 25 cigarettes) to raise another $7.7 billion.
And he floated the idea of raising an extra $20 billion over 10 years from further increases in the pension age to fund the welfare plan and other family payments such as a universal family tax benefit for all mothers of children under five.
"If a universal family tax benefit payment needs to be fully funded it could be done by further increasing the retirement age," Mr Abbott said, and included parliamentary library calculations to estimate a net saving based on how many of those forced to retire later would keep working and how many might claim the dole.
Under existing rules the unemployed can choose work for the dole, work experience or part-time study to meet the requirements after one year on benefits. Disability pensioners are reviewed only if there are specific concerns. But the government has been struggling to find ways to contain a huge blow-out in the cost of the benefit.
Legislation before Parliament proposes the quarantining of welfare benefits for the long-term unemployed in the Northern Territory. A review in two years is to decide whether it should be extended to "disadvantaged" communities across Australia.
Mr Abbott has so far avoided detailed policy announcements - instead keeping pressure on the government - but the plan echoes arguments in his book, Battlelines, published last year. He argues that "allowing people who could readily work to stay out of the workforce for long periods is cruelty and not compassion".
In his paper, Mr Abbott conceded that most unemployed parents would already spend at least half their dole on necessities, but "because of the difficulty in making distinctions in this area, this (quarantining) rule should apply to every welfare-dependent family".
A spokesman for Mr Abbott told the Herald: ''There are ongoing discussions about policy ideas. No final decisions have been made in these areas.''
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