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Ryan Bridge: We need clarity for disabled teenagers on the benefit · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This story about sick or disabled teenagers getting the doll
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: just doesn't make any sense to me. Government wants to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: cut the doll for teenagers whose parents earn sixty five
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: thousand plus a year. Okay, their justification. If poor old
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: mum and dad have to cover their living cost, then
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  Speaker 1: the teenagers might go out and actually find a job motivation. Okay, fine,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: that's about four eighteen to nineteen year olds they reckon.
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  Speaker 2: But here's what gets complicated.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It turns out that around half that number are getting
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the doll not because they can't find work, but because
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  Speaker 1: they can't work like physically. Have a look at the
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  Speaker 1: whim's website. It lays out the criteria for you. You
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: basically have to prove the reason with a doctor's certificate. Basically,
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  Speaker 1: you can't work full time because you have a disability,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: an injury, or a health condition which prevents it. They
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: mention things like chronic stuff like hemophiliacs asthma sufferers.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the rub.
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  Speaker 1: If little Johnny can't work and we accept that because
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a doctor has said so, and the point of cutting
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Johnny's benefit is to encourage him to work, then we
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: have an obvious problem. You can't encourage somebody to work
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: who can't work, can you? This makes no sense. Either
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  Speaker 1: the government is not believing the health conditions are real
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: or not that serious, or they're saying that parents on
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  Speaker 1: sixty five thousand dollars a year should be financially responsible
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  Speaker 1: for their kids until they're twenty, even if those kids
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: can't work for good reason, which I think is a
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  Speaker 1: bit unfair. Johnny's parents didn't choose I'm sure to have
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a disabled child or a kid injured in a car
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  Speaker 1: crash at home in the prime of their lives.
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  Speaker 2: Ministers, I think need to either.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Explain this announcement better or pull a swift U.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Turn before the ink drives on it. For more from
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio