This was a key finding the Community Visitors Annual Report, tabled in State Parliament today. Nearly half of all serious incidents in disability group homes reported by the visitors each year relate to violence between co-residents, with 133 notifications being made this year to the Disability Services Commissioner (DSC). [p. 19]
The independent body set up to ensure the quality of the National Disability Insurance Scheme revealed it had received almost four complaints a day in its first year of operations – a total of 1422 complaints over the year.
Despite advocates fighting for decades to have a royal commission, Children and Young People with Disability Australia chief executive Mary Sayers said the process since it was announced in April has been “rushed”. “What’s a stake is we’ve got a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We know that students with disability have a really rough time in school … and they start behind and don’t catch up,” Ms Sayers said.
Melbourne is the only Australian capital city where it is legal for motorcyclists to park on footpaths as long as they do not obstruct access. But as the city becomes more congested, obstacles on footpaths including motorcycles, bikes, A-frame signs and cafe tables, are making pedestrian crowding worse and life very difficult for people with disabilities. On Tuesday, the council will install “no stopping” signs along footpaths next to more than 50 disability parking bays in the CBD. The fine is $165.
A spokesperson for the NDIA said while the NDIS provides some assistance, the states and territories are responsible for making transport accessible.
The head of People with Disability Australia, Jeff Smith, was pleased by the staffing boost and welcomed Hoffman’s appointment but also called on the NDIA to keep looking for opportunities to employ people with disabilities.
This is a great win for union members and delegates who have been actively campaigning to scrap the staffing cap across the APS. The staffing cap is driving the use of labour hire worker and outsourcing arrangements and increasing workloads and pressure on staff.
Martin Hoffman has been appointed chief executive of the National Disability Insurance Agency for a three-year term starting on November 4. Hoffman, who was a department head in the New South Wales public service until April this year, will take over the challenging job fresh from a short-term role guiding a program of reform in the Department of Human Services signified by its rebranding as Services Australia.
During a session at the Victorian Homelessness Conference, panellists from across the social sector discussed how the NDIS was catering to people with disability who were homeless or at risk.
Staffing at the NDIA is currently set at just over 3000, after a cap was introduced by the Abbott government in 2014. Before the federal election, Labor pledged to remove the cap, arguing this would enable the NDIA to better support clients.
People with disability are afraid to challenge problems in their National Disability Insurance Scheme funding plans because they have been told they risk having other services cut if they do so, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
A parliamentary inquiry is investigating the NDIS. Source: AAP
A lack of specialist support services has meant Australians of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds struggle to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme, advocates say.
UPDATEDUPDATED 08/10/2019
A woman living in the Ballarat region with a rare leg amputation has spoken out about her two year battle to secure funding for a prosthetic leg through the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
For the past five years, the National Disability Insurance Agency has squabbled with state governments over who pays to support children with a profound disability. In that time, hundreds of families have been pushed to the brink. The care they were promised never came.
“It is a significant betrayal of trust by a person employed to care for the most vulnerable members of our community,” NSW Police Superintendent Paul Devaney told 9News.