My defence mechanisms are
not running at full capacity.
Before the pandemic,
I'd been advised to keep
two metres away from
other people,
to avoid confined,
crowded spaces,
and to be careful about things like
washing my hands.
It felt like every germ in the world
was coming after me, whereas
now there's just one particular
virus that's coming after everybody.
Which is sort of, you know,
a plot twist.
In 2006, Shakira was diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis.
The multiple sclerosis has affected
my energy levels and
my mobility,
my vision to the point that I can't
safely drive.
Well, I was in my 40s before I was
able to buy this unit.
It was a welcome surprise,
I'd long since resigned myself to...
renting for life.
I have a carpark space
in the apartment but given that
nobody's visiting me at
the moment,
I've figured that I might as well just
use it as a garden.
It's not exactly going to be
of interest to Gardening Australia,
but you know, it gives me
something to do.
Shakira is on the
disability support pension,
which for her means
a bit over $900 a fortnight.
But it's not enough for her to
live on alone, so she also does
occasional work as a
guest speaker and a writer.
This is about supercharging
the safety net.
The measures will double
income support for those
on JobSeeker.
They will help Australians
to access more of their own
resources to get through this time
of crisis.
The coronavirus supplement is
$550 a fortnight,
and goes out to almost all
welfare recipients from job seekers
to widows, young people
to parents.
But the 750,000 people on the
disability support pension
have been left out.
You know, you're sitting there,
you're watching him go through
the list of folks that will receive
the extra support.
Um, and you...
There was a moment where
I just kind of thought,
did I... did I miss it?
Jordon Steele-John is
a Greens Senator
in Western Australia.
He's the youngest person to
take a seat in the Senate and
the first with a disability.
Why has the government
failed to recognise that
we need support too.
I think there's this assumption
that we're in the same situation
as we always were.
But we're not.
Amongst other things,
food has gotten more expensive
and shifts for casuals and
freelancers have dried up.
People with disability are
disproportionately likely to be
in casual employment because
it's the only way that
many of us can find
flexible employment.
Leaving many like Shakira
without access to
the JobKeeper payment either.
My savings are pretty well gone.
Ultimately of course, I might
need to sell the unit,
which would be...
which would leave me in an
extremely precarious situation.
We are already seeing people choose
between eating and
buying their meds.
We are already seeing
mums and dads going without
meals to feed their kids.
We're talking about
people's health, their wellbeing,
and ultimately their lives.
Well Scott Morrison has his
mantra that if you have a go,
you'll get a go.
Well disabled people have a go,
every time we wake up in
the morning really,
to not have our financial needs
recognised, just reiterates that
it doesn't matter how much we
have a go,
we can't expect to get a go.