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Help Victoria get an NDIS

The Federal Government is currently in negotiations with the New South Wales and Victorian Premiers to try and reach an agreement on the funding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Yesterday, many states agreed to chip in to start rolling out the NDIS. But Barry O'Farrell and Ted Baillieu are currently refusing to move an inch in the negotiations. If they don't budge, people in NSW and Victoria with disabilities will miss out completely.

The NSW, Victorian and federal governments are sitting in emergency netotiations all today. Can you email Premier Baillieu, asking him to strike a deal that will help thousands of families with disabilities? Email using our tool on the right.

Want to know more about the NDIS? Our friends at Every Australian Counts have put together a pretty comprehensive guide to it, which you can see below.
Recent research into disability support repeatedly confirms what people with disabilities and their families know by bitter experience:  Australia's old-fashioned, unfair, welfare system of piecemeal disability service damages the lives of many Australians.

The current system is based on a view of people with a disability as grateful recipients of charity rather than potentially empowered consumers capable of choosing what works best for them. People want removal of the many barriers to their full inclusion in the community and their participation in the social, economic and cultural life of the nation.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is an entitlement-based funding mechanism, which will provide flexible, person-centred supports so that people can participate in ordinary, daily life.

More info at: http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/
People with disability and their families are one of the most disadvantaged groups in Australia, with sub-standard outcomes on most indicators of community participation and social and economic wellbeing.
- 50% progress past year 10 at school, compared with 80% in the general population.
- 31% participate in the labour force compared with 83% for people without a disability.
- Two-thirds earn less than $320 per week compared with one-third of the general population.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Family carers have the lowest level of wellbeing of any group, as found by a 2007 study by the Australian Centre on Quality of Life and School of Psychology, Deakin University found that family carers have the lowest level of wellbeing of any group.

If more people with disability receive the right supports when needed, they will be able to participate and learn more at school, go to TAFE and university and get jobs that use their skills and enable them to contribute productively to the nation.

They won't need to live on the disability support pension or beg charities to help pay for essential disability equipment.  And they won't need to rely on a lifetime of unpaid support by families.

Enabling more people with disability to enter paid employment will have a positive flow-on effect, as more family carers are then able to re-enter the workforce. Most family carers cannot work now, because their lives are dominated by the need to provide support to their family member with disability, sometimes around the clock, 24/7.

There is no doubt Australia could do a lot better – we have the lowest rates of employment of people with disability of any OECD nation

More info at: http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/
  • A National Disability Insurance Scheme would provide people with a disability and their families and carers with the regular care, support, therapy and equipment they need. As a Medicare-type scheme, it would provide a secure and consistent pool of funds for these services and support.
  • It would be fair, efficient and effective. It would focus on early intervention and delivering those supports which produce the best long term outcomes. It would maximise opportunities for independence, participation and productivity.
  • It would be individualised and person-centred. Support would be based on the choices of person with a disability and their family.
  • The scheme would reframe support as investment rather than charity. Timely interventions, appropriate aids and equipment, training and development would become investment in individual capacity rather than welfare. The scheme would therefore lead to more positive results for people with a disability, their families and carers as well as being fiscally responsible.
  • All Australians would benefit from this scheme because disability can affect anyone, anytime. Everyone will benefit from building a more inclusive, more diverse community.

More info at: http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/

Email Ted Baillieu


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