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.
Senator Jordan Steele-John talks about why the proposed NDIS Streamlined Governance Bill should not be passed.
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.
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.
The Victorian Disability Advisory Council provides advice to the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers Luke Donnellan on what the Government can do to build a more inclusive Victoria and to increase opportunities for people with disability. The Victorian Disability Advisory Council members are: Brent Phillips (Chair), Colin Hiscoe, George Taleporos, Amanda Lawrie-Jones, Astrid Edwards, Caitlin Syer, Eliza Hull, Gabrielle Hall, Jax Jackie Brown, Karen Fankhauser, Martin Heng and Sholam Blustein.
The department held an all-staff forum last week to update employees on the ongoing changes occurring as part of the NDIS. Employees already working in the disability sector would be transferred to other agencies and non-government providers, not federal agencies.
A South Australian living with a disability says accessing the services of a sex worker is a lifeline to intimacy. It comes as a bill to decriminalise sex work is being debated in SA’s Parliament.
“I see the heartbroken families of people who try and try to get funding but can’t, robbing them to be independent, contributing members of society. Fix it.”
The federal government spent $4.6 billion less on the National Disability Insurance Scheme than expected because of delays getting people into the program, new budget figures reveal.
A temporary spike in international iron ore prices and a $6.4 billion “underspend” on disability and other welfare services enabled the Liberal-National government to declare last week that it had almost eliminated the federal budget deficit for the first time since the 2008–09 global financial breakdown.
Would it hurt to stay in debt and spend the money on services that society needs? Yes, because that is SOCIALISM!
Over 5500 Department of Health and Human Services staff currently employed by the Victorian Government in the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will have their jobs transferred to federal agencies and non-government providers.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has admitted to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety that the Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) initiative will not capture people who aren’t eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Ahead of giving evidence at the Aged Care Royal Commission hearings in Melbourne this week, Luke Bo’sher outlines his key arguments around why young people end up in aged care and what can be done to stop it happening.
Australia has changed the way it decides whether children with Down syndrome and other conditions, can migrate permanently to Australia. But the changes don’t go far enough, according to Mary Crock.