An open letter to all members of Australia’s next Federal Parliament
More than 50 disability advocacy organisations representing millions of Australians are urging the next Federal Parliament to reverse the “death by a thousand cuts” that is devastating the lives of people with disability and undermining the NDIS. In the Open Letter to Australia’s Future Parliament released today, the disability advocacy and support organisations are calling on future MPs to back key reforms that will ensure no one with disability who needs support is left behind. Read and sign the open letter here.
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Explainer: What were the original intentions of the National Disability Insurance Scheme?
One of the things people with disability and families have been asking their federal election candidates to reflect on this year is a promise to bring the NDIS back on track with it’s original intentions. To look at why we all fought so hard for the NDIS in the first place. What were the ideas, intentions and principles behind the idea for an NDIS? Our friends from PIAC have written a new helpful explainer…
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Vale Wendy Lovelace and Matt McCracken
The Every Australian Counts community is greatly saddened by the recent passing of two passionate inclusion and disability advocates, Matt McCracken and Wendy Lovelace.
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Media release: Labor and Greens have committed to fixing the NDIS – Morrison Government must detail its plans now
Media release, 19 April 2022: The Every Australian Counts campaign has today called on the Morrison Government to explain its plans for the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), following the welcome release of NDIS policies from Labor and the Greens.
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Explainer part 3: New changes to the NDIS Act
Last year thousands of you emailed our Senators urging them not to support certain changes to the NDIS Bill as originally proposed by NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds. And your message got through loud and clear – the changes were changed! The NDIS Bill was voted through parliament recently – thankfully our friends from PIAC have another explainer to help us all make sense of it all…
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Which NDIS recommendations has the Federal Government actually delivered on?
How many? Which ones? Why? We know a lot of those recommendations were made because of you. You have made thousands of submissions via us – and directly to the inquiries over the years. So how many of the recommended changes were actually made? What has been ignored and forgotten? Thanks to a new tool from our friends at Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), it’s easier than ever to find out…
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Is your organisation returning to face-to-face meetings? You need to read this…
Lockdowns have lifted – and some disability organisations are moving back to face-to-face meetings, and interstate travel. The pandemic is not over. People with disability are still at risk of serious health complications and death – even with some protections from vaccines. And apart from that – we cannot now or ever forget the enormous gains mainstream society has made in online accessibility over the last couple of years. Our friend Dr George Taleporos has some important advice for these organisations based on his recent personal experience.
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Goodbye Mum, I’ll be okay
“Like most parents, my mum wanted to know that I was okay. But unlike most parents, her middle-aged son needs round-the-clock support from others, to stay alive.” Our good friend Dr George Taleporos has an important message for NDIS decision-makers, following the recent death of his Mother. “When we say the NDIS is for 450,000 Australians with disabilities – we are leaving out millions of family members who rely on the scheme to provide them with the assurance that their loved ones are going to be okay when they die.”
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Safety net in danger: High price of changes to NDIS legislation
Jessica*, 23, is working with her occupational therapist, to build the living skills she needs to move out of her parents’ home. She lives with both cerebral palsy and autism, and hoped to apply for NDIS supported independent living.
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Planning for life with COVID – getting some answers on what people with disabilities need to know to stay safe
As Australia opens up despite ongoing COVID community transmission, people with disabilities need to work through some complex questions. One of these questions hits our friend Dr George Taleporos a bit too close to home – so he got some answers to share with all of us in his new series of Reasonable and Necessary.
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Every Australian Counts website blocked from Federal Parliament wifi
Several people have reported getting “access denied” when trying to visit the Every Australian Counts website on Parliament House wifi today.
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Australia should invest in the NDIS to help the economy after COVID
Emma Dawson, head of independent think tank Per Capita has had a good look at the numbers behind the NDIS – and the Federal Government’s cost-blowout scare campaign. While people with disability and families are all aware of how valuable the NDIS is when it’s working well, Emma also found that for every dollar invested in the NDIS, $2.25 is returned to the Australian economy. The NDIS is a good investment. Here’s why…
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NDIS was transformational for Australians living with disability
Of all the disappointments from the last decade of Australian political dysfunction, the National Disability Insurance Scheme is not one of them.
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Explainer part 2: What are the proposed changes to the NDIS Act?
On 28 October 2021, the Government introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Participant Service Guarantee and Other Measures) Bill 2021 to the House of Representatives. If passed, this Bill will make changes to the NDIS Act. Our friend Chadwick is a Senior Solicitor from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and he has very helpfully written a follow-up NDIS Act explainer to try and make it easier for people to understand.
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Vaccinating people with disability against COVID-19
People with disability are at much bigger risk of getting very sick or dying from COVID-19. But getting a vaccine has been really hard for lots of people in our community, and vaccination rates are still too low. So we have been asking people with disability, families and the people who support them to tell us about their vaccine experiences, so we can tell the government what they can do to make it easier. Here’s what we have heard so far…
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Inquiries into NDIS, Independent Assessments, and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission have been released by the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS
A huge report on NDIS independent assessments has just been released. Here’s our very quick summary of what the Joint Standing Committee said they heard, and what they recommend the Federal Government and NDIA should do next.
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Left behind – disabled people and the COVID vaccine
A new report from the Disability Royal Commission into the COVID vaccine rollout is just the latest in a long list of documented failures by governments to address the needs and rights of disabled people. In the race to “open up”, governments must prioritise the needs of disabled people and do a much better job of engaging with the expertise of disabled people and the sector’s organisations, says El Gibbs, an award-winning writer and disability rights advocate.
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Explainer: What are the proposed changes to the NDIS Act?
What are the good, concerning, and missed opportunities in the draft NDIS Act and Rules? Our friend Chadwick is a Senior Solicitor from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and he has very helpfully written another NDIS Act explainer to try and make it easy for people to understand.
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Support for decision making and the NDIS
The NDIA have just given everyone an extra two weeks to tell them what they think about support for decision making in the NDIS. We asked our friend Catherine McAlpine from Inclusion Australia to tell us what people with intellectual disability and their families think needs to change, and what Inclusion Australia is already working on.
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Vulnerable Australians forgotten in race to reopen
In January 2021 the Commonwealth government released its COVID-19 vaccine rollout strategy. The plan prioritised those most likely to be exposed to COVID-19, and importantly those most likely to become ill and die from the disease – a sensible approach, similar to many jurisdictions around the world.
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Open letter: Regarding the reality of booking a COVID vaccination for children with disability and medical conditions
This month, young people with disability joined the list of people who are allowed to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Being eligible is one thing – but how easy is it to actually make happen? Just as we have heard from so many people with disability and families in our community – Heike and her son Bodhi found out just how difficult it can be – the hard way. This is Heike’s open letter to the government.
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Why the Federal Government’s story about NDIS funding differences doesn’t add up
New data about NDIS costs has been released by Minister for the NDIS Linda Reynolds and the NDIA in the last week or so. Here’s our quick analysis on what the Federal Government is getting wrong in its story about well-off people with disability in the cities getting more funding than people in rural and regional areas.
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Onwards We Go!
There’s been collective sighs of relief in the aftermath of Independent Assessments being ditched. Now, let’s get on with the real business of making the scheme work and the EAC community are 110% focused on what really matters.
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You did this! NDIS compulsory assessments have officially been dumped
Last Friday, Minister for the NDIS Linda Reynolds met with each of the state and territory Disability Ministers, to ask them to support her plans for the biggest changes to the NDIS since it started – including compulsory ‘independent’ assessments.
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