DARU Update
21 May 2012
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IN THE NEWS
Charges Laid Over Alleged Sexual Assaults
Kirsten Veness 7.30 Report 18 May 2012
Police have laid charges over alleged sexual assaults on intellectually disabled women in a DHS care home.
To view the story visit:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-18/charges-laid-over-alleged-sexual-assault/4020666
Extra $37 Million for VIC Government Students with Disability
Media Release, Senator the Hon Jacinta Collins, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations, 18 May 2012
More than 33,000 students with disability in Victorian government schools will have greater access to classroom support and specialised equipment thanks to $37 million in funding from the Gillard Government’s More Support for Students with Disabilities initiative.
Parliamentary Secretary for School Education, Senator Jacinta Collins, said this funding is in addition to the previously announced funding to Independent and Catholic Schools, bringing a total of $47.8 million to help better support Victorian students with disability.
“This funding, part of our overall $200 million national initiative, will provide much-needed specialised support and assistance to thousands of students in government schools across Victoria,” Senator Collins said.
“Children with disability can face disadvantage in achieving education and employment outcomes, and without this type of support they are less likely to reach their full potential, putting them at greater risk of unemployment and social exclusion.”
Under the More Support for Students with Disabilities initiative, Victorian government schools will receive:
· $2.7 million to provide assistive technology to students with visual impairments, as well as deaf captioning technology to improve access to programs for students with hearing impairments;
· $2 million to develop support centres which provide professional expertise, support and targeted consultation for teachers of students with hearing impairments, autism and Down syndrome;
· $17.5 million to provide professional learning programs, including a program for specialist school leadership to help schools better support the needs of students with extreme and challenging behaviour;
· $7.9 million to support teachers better meet the needs of students with disability, including Autism teacher coaches to provide professional support to schools with high numbers of students with autism.
Senator Collins said the Gillard Government was committed to giving Australians with disability the same opportunities as every other citizen, including access to a great education, and participation in the workforce wherever possible.
“We’re making a real difference for families through our initiatives such as the $220 million Helping Children with Autism program and the $147 million Better Start for Children with Disability program. We’re also developing the nation’s first National Disability Insurance Scheme,” she said.
“Rolling out the More Support for Students with Disabilities funding is an important part of this commitment.”
To read this article online, visit:
http://www.ministers.deewr.gov.au/collins/extra-37-million-vic-government-students-disability
Improved Services for Children with Disability in Regional and Remote Australia
Joint Media Release, Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Minister for Disability Reform and Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 17 May 2012
A new service will put children with disability living in regional and remote Australia in touch with specialists in the city, through a $4.1 million investment from the Gillard Government for the Remote Hearing and Vision Services for Children initiative.
The new initiative will harness the National Broadband Network (NBN) to provide video and online access to allied health and education professionals for families and children with hearing and vision impairment living in regional and remote communities.
Vision Australia and the Cora Barclay Centre are both part of the VidKids Alliance, which has been chosen to deliver the Remote Hearing and Vision Services for Children initiative.
Minister Macklin said the initiative will support around 125 additional children with hearing or vision impairment in regional and remote Australia. This builds on the support already provided by the Government through a similar initiative.
“The NBN will revolutionise the way we deliver disability services. It allows allied health services to be provided into the homes, schools and communities of children with disability living in regional and remote areas, many for the first time,” Ms Macklin said.
“Children and their families will be able to meet with specialists and receive information, guidance and help to develop their life skills.”
The Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Jan McLucas said the Remote Hearing and Vision Services for Children initiative will reduce the stress and pressures on families trying to access allied health services only available in large towns and cities.
“This initiative will make an enormous difference in the lives of children with disability, by teaching families strategies they can adopt in their day to day lives to help these young children meet their development milestones,” Senator McLucas said.
“This enables families to receive services via the NBN – they can literally undertake a therapy consultation online.
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy said the NBN provides the best and most reliable channel for families in regional communities to access important services online.
The VidKids Alliance comprises Vision Australia and First Voice who work in partnership with the Shepherd Centre, the Hear and Say Centre, Cora Barclay Centre, Telethon Speech and Hearing and the Advisory Council for Children with Impaired Hearing Victoria.
To read the full story, visit;
http://www.janmclucas.fahcsia.gov.au/mediareleases/2012/pages/children_with_disability_17may2012.aspx
Hockey at Odds with Abbott on Disability Scheme
Judith Ireland, The Age, 16 May 2012
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has accused the government of a ''cruel hoax'', arguing the Labor Party has announced a National Disability Insurance Scheme without the funding to back it up.
His stance puts Mr Hockey at odds with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's call for bipartisan support for the NDIS. Mr Hockey insisted that he supported the NDIS but raised doubts over his commitment to delivering the scheme when he said he would not raise ''false hope'' by committing to promises a Coalition government could not fund.
''You've got to live within your means and the government is engaged in a cruel hoax in saying that it's getting on with the job of the NDIS and then under-funding it,'' Mr Hockey said. Mr Hockey said that the government had put the ''cart before the horse'' on the issue by committing $1 billion in funding before securing how much money the states could contribute.
'A number of state treasurers have said to me they haven't got the money the government is claiming they may have for the NDIS,'' Mr Hockey said.
This week, Mr Abbott signalled his commitment to the NDIS, calling for a multi-party parliamentary committee to oversee implementation of the NDIS, which Ms Gillard rejected.
Mr Hockey said the government had not engaged ''properly'' with the states on the scheme because they were afraid of the states reactions to the size of the cost.
The shadow treasurer said that one of his first acts as Treasurer would be to meet with state and territory treasurers to determine how much the states needed to pay.
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/hockey-at-odds-with-abbott-on-disability-scheme-20120516-1yqr0.html#ixzz1v78TaCDN
Unlocking Housing Key to Disability, Aged Care
Sarah Toohey, Australians for Affordable Housing representative The Age, 14 May 2012
The big social reforms outlined by the government last week - the aged-care package and the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme - will revolutionise the way we provide care in Australia. The tricky thing is, by the time these reforms are up and running, the foundations on which they are built - namely widespread home ownership and the availability of affordable secure rental housing - will be crumbling.
Rates of home ownership among 24 to 35 year olds have been declining over the past 20 years and recent reports suggest two-thirds of Sydney residents age 35 and under are completely locked out of home ownership. Those who do own their own home are carrying more debt and paying off mortgages for longer, often into retirement. We are seeing a seismic shift in housing in Australia, yet governments seem oblivious to the consequences.
If fewer people own their homes outright, staying in the family home and paying for the aged-care services to do that becomes harder. If people with a disability cannot get affordable and secure housing, no amount of support will help them to live lives of dignity.
Of course, housing security doesn't have to be about home ownership. There's no reason that home care and disability services can't be provided to people in a rental property.. The trouble is that tenancy laws in every state and territory are heavily skewed to the interest of landlords and away from long-term housing security for tenants. Current tenancy laws make it easier for tenants to be evicted for no reason, or with little notice, and harder to get any property changes or improvements.
Here's a real life example: An elderly tenant was living independently in a rental home but needed the bathroom modified to remove a step, so he could get in and out of the shower. He found a grant to pay for property modifications but his landlord refused the changes. Instead, the tenant needed home help to be washed by hand and eventually moved into a residential care facility. This is exactly what the federal government's reforms are trying to avoid but it's a future many older tenants and people with disabilities will face.
Aside from having little control over your home, imagine having to house hunt at the age of 75 because your landlord wants to sell. This is not uncommon and it is going to get worse.
Traditionally these problems have been overcome by public housing that offers more security to older people and people with a disability who don't own their own home. But the public housing system is not what it used to be. Recent reports in NSW and Victoria have revealed massive maintenance backlogs and decaying public housing stock. Across the country, waiting lists have expanded as the number of properties available has declined.
The public housing system has become financially unviable, not because there's something wrong with the system, but because successive governments have forgotten a simple truth - it's not profitable to provide low-cost housing. That's why businesses don't do it and why governments need to subsidise it.
If younger generations are locked out of home ownership, it will be harder to deliver aged care services in the home. If our public housing system crumbles, people with a disability will be stuck with properties that make living independent lives harder. If we do not reform the private rental market, the people least able to afford it will be bounced from rental home to rental home.
And yet the budget had no new money or initiatives to improve housing affordability. While funding for housing was urgently needed in this budget, by next year it will be critical. The same way it takes long-term planning and commitment to build a home, it takes long-term planning and commitment to build a housing system.
Housing is the most basic building block of life - you cannot age well or live a life of dignity without it. So while the national disability insurance scheme and aged-care reforms are bold moves, it is astounding that such a big reforming budget failed to address the very foundations upon which every other social reform depends.
To read the full story, visit:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/unlocking-housing-key-to-disability-aged-care-20120513-1ykrg.html#ixzz1unu1E1Yf
Delivering Quality and Stable Employment Services for People with Disability
Joint Media Release, Hon Bill Shorten MP Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Financial Services and Superannuation and Hon Kate Ellis MP, Minister for Employment Participation and for Early Childhood and Child Care, 14 May 2012
The Australian Government has announced that future contracts for Disability Employment Services-Employment Support Service will run for five years to ensure greater stability and continuity.Minister Ellis said .“All Australians have a right to the dignity and self respect that employment brings and without access to paid employment, people with a disability risk life on the margins of our community,” Ms Ellis said. “As our Government invests more into disability employment services than ever before – supporting new programs and subsidies to help job seekers find work – we also have to make sure those services are of the highest possible standard.”
“By moving to five year contracts for these services we will ensure greater stability and continuity for the job seekers with disability who rely on them.”
Today the Australian Government released the Disability Employment Services Star Ratings – which reveal the services that are performing well and those that need to improve. These March quarter Star Ratings will be used as a basis to determine, which service providers will be required to re-bid for their existing business later this year. Services performing at the 4 and 5 star level will not be required to re-tender but will be given the opportunity to expand and assist more job seekers in new areas.
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Bill Shorten said that the decision to tender for these services would mean people with a disability, their families and carers can be sure that the best possible service is being provided. “The decision to tender for these services was made with the interests of people with disability at the very centre of our Government’s thinking,” Mr Shorten said.
“This competitive tender process is an important step to ensuring those organisations best placed to deliver services are able to continue to help some of the most disadvantaged people in the labour market.” “Delivering quality and stable employment services is a critical part of our Government’s commitment to supporting people with a disability to have genuine choice and control over their lives.”
The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Disability Employment Australia have welcomed today’s announcement of a contract extension to five years and the release of the star ratings. Lynette May of Disability Employment Australia said that “This is an excellent decision by the Minister, it will provide much needed stability, which we haven’t had in this program since its inception.”