<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-30/disability-support-pension-partner-income-test-dsp-centrelink/105366402>
'If Naomi Kilmany falls in love, she's worried her income will be halved — or
cut off completely.
Like almost 800,000 Australians, the 24-year-old is on the Disability Support
Pension.
She earns the maximum rate of just over $500 a week, which helps her cover
things like groceries, medical expenses and rent in a Melbourne share house.
And like so many of her peers, she is also active on dating apps.
"I really want the opportunity to be happy and find love and to have that be as
joyous and light as it should be," she told
triple j Hack.
"But I enjoy my independence, I enjoy my freedom and I never really want to be
financially dependent on someone [and] risk being controlled … or have them
resent me."
Naomi's worried about the partner income test, which lowers the amount of
welfare someone can receive if their partner earns too much.
She says it "makes disabled people feel really undesirable," when her health
means she "already feels like a burden".
Now, there's a campaign to scrap partner income testing altogether.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
