Community
21 November, 2025
‘My daily battle’
FOR nearly a decade, Graeme Bagnall has navigated the Australian welfare system while living with severe physical injuries.
His hip injury, sustained years ago when he was assaulted, left him struggling to move, each step a test of endurance.
Yet it is the bureaucratic battles, he says, that have caused him the deepest pain.
“I don’t like asking for help for me,” Mr Bagnall said.
“It’s the system that’s broken,” he said.
Mr Bagnall said he was accepted on to the Disability Support Pension (DSP) in 2017 but never received the correct payments.
“They kept changing my paperwork, making me reapply over and over,” he explained.
“Policy abuse, the worst kind of abuse, because it comes from the system itself.”
The shortfall, he claims, amounts to tens of thousands of dollars.
Beyond the financial impact, Mr Bagnall’s story is one of isolation and exhaustion.
He describes living on a cyclone-damaged boat for two years, waiting for funding that never arrived.
Local authorities, he says, appeared more focused on offices, advertising and meetings than helping residents in need.
Despite the frustration, Mr Bagnall finds solace in small gestures of compassion.
One evening, a woman named Angelica checked on him as he struggled along a ramp.
“She was watching me walking from afar … it’s the first act of kindness I’ve felt in a long time,” he said.
Moments like this, he says, give him the courage to continue advocating for himself and others.
Mr Bagnall also highlights repeated rejections, bureaucratic delays and what he describes as collusion between agencies.
He believes the system is designed to wear people down, leaving the most vulnerable trapped in limbo.
A Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety spokeswoman said the department aimed to support Queenslanders affected by natural disasters and works closely with local stakeholders to deliver recovery assistance.
Support is available through Centacare FNQ’s disaster recovery hubs and referrals can be made for residents who do not meet certain grant criteria.
The department also highlighted a $3.8 million Flexible Funding Grants program recently launched for non-government organisations and local councils to deliver community recovery initiatives, including disaster preparedness, business continuity and social services capacity building.
Support continues via the Community Recovery Hotline on 1800 173 349.
For Mr Bagnall, the fight is systemic.
He seeks accountability, transparency and an opportunity for individuals in similar situations to be heard.
“I’ve had enough of the silence. It’s deafening,” he said.
