DARU Update
30 May 2011
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IN THE NEWS
Raw Deal for Access to Buses in Rural Victoria
VCOSS Media Release, 26 May 2011
Rural Victorians who can’t climb into an old school bus will be left behind if the Australian Human Rights Commission approves a request from the Department of Transport (DOT) to exempt 27 new rural bus services from accessibility standards.
‘These are new bus services that were trialled through the Transport Connections Program to provide public transport to people in small towns who are struggling to get to shops, banking, health care and social services in nearby towns,’ said Cath Smith, Chief Executive Officer of VCOSS.
‘Those who are most likely to need the new bus are also most likely to need it to be accessible - including many frail older people, parents with small children, people using shopping trolleys and many people with disabilities.’
‘This reveals a wider problem of the lack of accessible transport options in rural Victoria, where school bus services are not required to meet the accessibility standards.
‘Instead of working with local rural communities to invest in better access, the DOT is trying to wriggle out of its responsibilities to rural Victorians – and the most vulnerable will be the losers.’
The DOT’s application letter, and a full list of services proposed for exemption, is available from the Australian Human Rights Commission website:
For more information, phone Marie McInerney on mobile 0418 273 698.
Minister's Error Sinks Equality Law Change
The Age, David Roo, May 27, 2011
The Baillieu government has failed to pass its own controversial equal opportunity bill, after Women's Affairs Minister Mary Wooldridge missed a vote on the legislation.
In an embarrassment to Premier Ted Baillieu, Ms Wooldridge was locked out of the parliamentary chamber yesterday afternoon after failing to make the vote in time, highlighting the fragility of the government's slim majority in Parliament.
Following parliamentary convention, Liberal Speaker Ken Smith cast his vote with the opposition on the bill, giving a 44 to 43 vote to Labor and defeating the legislation.
The changes to the equal opportunity laws would have given faith-based organisations the right to reject workers on the grounds of religion, sexuality, marital status and gender, and limit the powers of the Equal Opportunity Commission.
Opposition leader Daniel Andrews seized on the minister's gaffe, saying the Baillieu government's dithering had extended to the floor of Parliament. "They are so indecisive they can't even vote for their own legislation," he said.
In a statement, Ms Wooldridge said she was embarrassed at missing the vote on legislation she supported and would explain what happened to Parliament.
Government Leader of the House Andrew McIntosh said it was unfortunate that Ms Wooldridge had missed the vote, and the government would try to have a fresh vote taken when Parliament resumed next week.
The government believes there is precedent for a new ''division'' or vote when there has been confusion, error or ''misadventure'' - as in Ms Wooldridge's case. But Labor argues the government may have to prorogue or end the session of Parliament without an election to bring the legislation back
To read the full article, visit:
Victorian Coalition Government Responds to Draft Report into National Disability Insurance Scheme
Media Release, The Hon Mary Wooldridge MP Minister for Mental Health Women’s Affairs and Community Services, 23 May 2011
The Victorian Coalition Government today released its submission in response to the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Disability Care and Support.
Releasing the submission, Minister for Community Services Mary Wooldridge together with chair of the Victorian NDIS Taskforce and former Chief Executive of Yooralla Bryan Woodford, said the government welcomed the draft report and reconfirmed the Victorian Government’s commitment to the development of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
“The Victorian Coalition Government agrees with the commission’s view that the provision of disability services in Australia is ‘underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient’,” Ms Wooldridge said.
“The Victorian Coalition Government is committed to being a driving force for the reform process and believes we can do better as a nation by delivering major reform to the disability service sector through the establishment of an NDIS.
“Our commitment to support the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme was made in response to calls from people with a disability for respect, to be acknowledged as experts in their own lives and to have the same opportunities as everyone else in our community to make choices and pursue opportunities to reach their potential,” Ms Wooldridge said.
Ms Wooldridge said Victoria was well placed to host the first stage of implementation of an NDIS and is keen to do so.
“As our submission describes, Victoria has 15 years experience in implementing a self-directed approach to disability services and in developing a market-based approach to their delivery and has an excellent reputation for successfully managing lifetime care and support schemes through the Transport Accident Commission and WorkSafe Victoria,” Ms Wooldridge said.
“Victoria is already playing a key role in leading national work which will be important in establishing an NDIS.
“This includes the development of a common assessment tool, together with Queensland, and the development of a National Quality Framework and Standards, to apply to service providers,” Ms Wooldridge said.
Ms Wooldridge said the Victorian Government’s submission has benefited from the breadth of expertise and experience represented on the Victorian NDIS Implementation Taskforce, which was established in February to provide advice to the Victorian Government.
“Our submission also draws on the expertise of the Victorian Disability Advisory Council, and the experience of people with a disability, their families and carers and service providers consulted at a roundtable in April 2011,” Ms Wooldridge said.
“With the benefit of this community expertise and experience, the Victorian Government’s submission seeks to make a constructive contribution to the Productivity Commission’s final report.
“The Premier and I would like to thank all members of the taskforce for their dedicated hard work in the preparation of our response to the draft report.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the Taskforce through the next stages of planning for, and implementing a NDIS,” Ms Wooldridge said.
The Victorian Coalition Government’s submission to the Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Disability Care and Support can be found at:
Welfare Reform gets Diluted as Government Seeks to Fix all Problems
Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gitins, 23 May 2011
Politicians tend to spread money thinly and try to tackle problems all at once.
Rather than limiting the number of problems they know they can afford to tackle, politicians have a tendency to want to give the appearance of fixing every problem they're asked to fix. Take one of the budget's highlights, its measures to raise the workforce participation of welfare recipients. Except for the package to assist the mentally ill, it's hard to think of a worthier cause.
It ticks so many boxes. We know the mining construction boom will soon create widespread shortages of skilled labour and even unskilled labour. So getting people off welfare and into paid employment - adding to the supply of labour - really helps us cope with the boom in a non-inflationary way.
What makes sense economically also makes sense socially. I have no doubt that getting these people into jobs is the best thing we could do to advance their wellbeing. I don't doubt that most of them would be delighted to have a job, even a job that isn't so wonderful - and even though some have slipped so deep into the Slough of Despond they aren't thinking straight.
Julia Gillard has said we will need to find 2 million extra workers in coming years. It so happens there are 2 million social security recipients of working age: in round figures, 800,000 people on the disability support pension, 450,000 on sole parent benefits, 600,000 on the dole (most of them unemployed for more than a year) and 150,000 on the carer payment.
Of course, many of these people - the seriously disabled, for instance - aren't capable of working no matter how much they'd like to. And there are other sources of potential workers for employers.
But as unemployment falls, those still out of work are the highly disadvantaged. About a third of those on the dole have been out of work for more than two years, and most of these ''very long-term unemployed'' have less than year 12 qualifications.
So a major investment in training, work experience in ordinary jobs, mentoring, child care and health and disability services will be needed.
Gillard makes a good start in the budget with wage subsidies for the very long-term unemployed, vocational training and mentoring for teenage sole parents, and more help from Jobs Services Australia providers for early school leavers to complete their education.
But the scale of these measures is pathetically small: 10,000 wage subsidies a year to share between more than 200,000 very long-term unemployed, and the teenage mums who get special help account for just 3 per cent of all those on sole parent benefits.
Those measures that are on a large scale - such as 11 months a year of intensive job search activity for all very long-term unemployed and quarterly interviews with all disabled people under 35 with some capacity to work - are the ones least likely to get results.
It would be nice to believe the cuts in benefits to some of the most disadvantaged people in the nation were motivated by penny-pinching, rather than a desire to be seen punishing people widely regarded as the undeserving poor. (That news of the ''crackdown'' was leaked to the Murdoch tabloids does make you wonder).
There is a range of likely outcomes from all this: employment gains and better skills for a small percentage of people on social security, financial pain for those whose payments are cut, and little change (apart from inconvenience) for the majority of those social security recipients who have some potential to work.
Lacking enough money to actually fix the plethora of problems they're asked to fix, pollies have a tendency to spread the money they've got very thinly, so that none of the problems get fixed. Everything gets a lick and a promise
To read the full article, visit:
The Gillard Government’s Stance on Migration and Disability is Counterproductive in View of Ongoing Skills Shortage
NEDA Media Release, 23 May 2011
‘Amidst an ever increasing polarisation on the Government’s handling of the global refugee situation, the Gillard Government is losing sight of its own migration policies’, states Sibylle Kaczorek.
In the recent Budget announcements, the Government identified the need for increases to the skilled migration program with an additional 12,000 places allocated to skilled entrants. The prime motivation for this increase is to meet Australia’s labour needs.
‘Despite this very clear message of a need for skilled labour, the Government rejects families able to fill the skills shortage only because a member of these families lives with disability. Apart from these rejections being discriminatory and contrary to human rights approaches, they are entirely counterproductive when considering Australia’s labour needs’ says Juan de la Torre.
‘The National Ethnic Disability Alliance regularly receives pleas for support from families wanting to permanently settle in Australia and support this country with their skills, these families are left in disbelief when they are told that their skills are welcome but not the person with disability in their household’, Ms Kaczorek adds.
The Proom family is a case in point. Mr. Proom is a computer professional with his specialisation continuously being identified on the Department of Immigration’s Critical Skills List. This lists notes that occupations identified are in critical shortage and are eligible for priority processing.
Ms Kaczorek suggests, ‘one would think that the application of the Proom family would be welcome in Australia, also considering that Mrs. Proom is a primary school teacher. However, their application was rejected because their six year old child was diagnosed with the condition of Cognitive and Language Delay.’
‘Another case brought to NEDA’s attention was that of the Lucas family. In their case, we have two IT professionals who were rejected because of their youngest daughter’s diagnosis of microcephaly, a neurodevelopmental disorder.’
‘With a quarter of professions on the Critical Skills Lists relating to computer/IT skills the fact that professionals like the Lucas family are denied entry into Australia, beggars belief’ says Ms Kaczorek.
‘No matter how much evidence the Lucas family provided to illustrate the lack of financial imposition of their family onto the Australian Government, there simply are no options available within the current migration law and regulations, leaving these families distraught and disillusioned’ Ms Kaczorek adds.
Mr. de la Torre urges ‘the Government to embrace those who have a passion to build this country further. NEDA exists to promote cultural diversity and disability rights as part of an inclusive and equitable Australia. NEDA calls on the Government to change its approach of its migration policy and to welcome individuals and families, including those with disability, who want to contribute to this country.’
The Government has repeatedly stated that a decision on the recommendation to the Enabling Australia Report will be made in the first half of 2011. The report was an outcome of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Inquiry into migration with disability, released on 20 June 2010. The report recommends changes which would allow families such as the Proom and Lucas families to successfully migrate to Australia.
Ms Kaczorek states, ‘Now is the time for the Government to demonstrate its acceptance of human rights for people with disability and to get rid of barriers that prevent the skills shortage from being addressed.’
For more information, contact Sibylle Kaczorek on mobile 0407 878 933 or Juan de la Torre on mobile 0427 480 671.
Equality Chief Lashes Mooted Law Changes
The Age, Farrah Tomazin, 22 May 2011
The state's equal opportunity commissioner has raised concerns about the Baillieu government winding back her power to investigate serious allegations of discrimination at a time when complaints are "going through the roof".
Figures from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission show racial prejudice and sexual harassment complaints have risen sharply in the past 12 months.
But the proposed laws to be debated in Parliament this week would limit the ability of the commission to tackle systemic discrimination in the workplace.
"Discrimination is no different to occupational health or safety, or business regulation," Dr Szoke told The Sunday Age. "It's a law and you shouldn't breach it. As someone regulating that law, we'd prefer to have a suite of ways we could address it."
Under the changes, the commission would no longer have the power to conduct public inquiries when serious cases of discrimination occur and would be able to conduct general investigations only with approval of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Attorney-General Robert Clark said the proposed laws were designed to "restore balance and common sense" to Victoria's equal opportunity laws.
But legal experts said the changes would allow abuses to flourish and go unchecked.
And Dr Szoke said now was not the time to be limiting the commission's powers and allowing serious cases of abuses to fall through the cracks.
The commission's figures show that in the past 12 months complaints of sexual discrimination have increased by 55per cent while racial complaints jumped by 42per cent. Sexual harassment complaints increased by about 22per cent, while cases involving pregnant women or people with a disability increased by almost a quarter.
Dr Szoke questioned why the commission's powers were being wound back, given that other regulators, such as WorkSafe and the Environment Protection Authority, had the ability to conduct investigations.
The changes introduced by the government would amend Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act, winding back some of the reforms initiated by the former Labor government. If passed, the laws would also mean:
Religious bodies would have the right to refuse to employ staff if they do not uphold the same values.
Sporting clubs would be allowed to hold single-sex competitions.
Political clubs and the Victorian Electoral Commission could refuse people based on their political views.
Human Rights Law Centre executive director Phil Lynch said restricting the powers of the Equal Opportunity Commission would enable discrimination to grow while weakening the commission's ability to promote equality and deal with abuses.