PWD E-Bulletin

Welcome to PWD’s e-bulletin. The e-bulletin goes out to members and interested others regularly by email. For members who do not have access to email, a printed version of the e-bulletin will be sent by post. To be added to or removed from our mailing list, or to change your email address, please contact Allyson Campbell at PWD on email pwd@pwd.org.au or on one of the numbers listed at the end of this bulletin.

Contents

New South Wales news

• Public schools and children with challenging behaviour
• City of Sydney - Disability Action Plan
• New Mental Health Laws?
• Housing for people with disability
• Accessible taxi fleet on the way
• More funds for attendant care
• Crackdown on disabled parking cheats
• Arts - Small grants for regional and rural organisations
• Family Advocacy Annual General Meeting
• Positions vacant

Other state and territory news

• WA action on voter discrimination

National news

• Advocacy review
• Work Choices Legislation and Minimum Wages for Employees with Disability
• Inquiry into the funding and operation of the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement
• Action on voter discrimination: Update
• Young People in Nursing Homes (YPINH)
• Payphone Accessibility
• Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD): An update
• Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) Notice of Annual General Meeting 2006

International news

• Convention consensus
• Pacific Disability Forum – leadership role

The inside story

• PWD Annual General Meeting 2006

New publications and resources

• Study scholarships and Ethel Temby Study Tour awards

Conferences and events

About PWD

• PWD's training services

Privacy statement

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NSW news

++Public schools and children with challenging behaviour

PWD, Family Advocacy and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre are jointly hosting a meeting to discuss the legal implications of the Department of Education and Training's responses to students with challenging behaviours.

Discussions will refer in particular to: the new enrolment procedures requiring that parents disclose certain past behaviour as a condition of enrolment; the occupational health and safety justifications offered by the Department for these new procedures; and the associated growth in 'behaviour schools'.

Further meetings about a broader set of advocacy strategies around these issues are also proposed. PWD will keep members informed as our approach to these issues progresses. For further information please contact Matthew Keeley, Senior Legal Officer, PWD.

++City of Sydney - Disability Action Plan

The City of Sydney is proceeding with development of its Disability Access Plan (DAP) for 2006-2009 (see E-Bulletin 33). WestWood Spice has now been contracted to undertake an Inclusion Study, and PWD has been invited to be a member of the Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) to assist with this work.

PWD has requested that the City of Sydney put in place a system to provide people with disability with more help to access the services they need. Under the proposed system, when inspectors enter boarding houses to check for fire safety, they will also report to the City’s Community Services if they believe that there is a person in the premises who would benefit from these services. We have also asked that where there are two or more people with a disability residing in one premises, this matter be referred to the Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care (DADHC) as the premises should be registered as a Licensed Residential Centre under the YACS Act 1973.

++New Mental Health Laws?

The NSW Government is reviewing the Mental Health Act, 1990 (NSW). It has prepared an 'exposure draft' of a new Mental Health Bill, 2006. A copy of the exposure draft can be found on the department website.

PWD will be commenting on the draft Bill; note that submissions close on 3 November 2006. For more information, please contact Matthew Keeley, Senior Legal Officer, PWD.

++Housing for people with disability

PWD is participating in a project that aims to identify shared equity models of housing for people with disability. The project has been commissioned by NSW Housing and is being conducted by Alt Consulting. Throughout Australia there are a number of similar models already in operation.

PWD is pleased to see NSW Housing taking an innovative approach to the housing needs of people with disability. At a consultation meeting, PWD stressed that any housing provided under this scheme must be compliant with the Disability Services Act and other legislation. Along with other advocacy organisations we pointed out that shared equity might be a solution for some people with a disability, but was an unlikely source of housing for many others and should not be allowed to be used as a replacement for government assistance.

For further information please contact Digby Hughes, PWD.

++Accessible taxi fleet on the way

PWD has consistently argued in favour of a universal design for taxis, a position that has been resisted by the taxi industry on the whole and unsupported by the Ministry of Transport.

A new player in the taxi market has now emerged with a commitment to accessibility. The whole fleet of Lime Taxis: www.limetaxis.com.au will be wheelchair accessible. Recently Lime Taxis visited PWD with one of their vehicles. Although there are still some areas that require modification, PWD was pleased to see a major provider liaising and consulting with the disability sector in an attempt to ‘get it right’.

Lime Taxis aim to have 240 WATs on the road within the next 12 months. For further details please contact Digby Hughes, PWD.

++More funds for attendant care

++Crackdown on disabled parking cheats

++Arts - Small grants for regional and rural organisations

Accessible Arts is offering a series of small grants of between $200 and $500 to organisations coordinating International Day of People With Disability (IDPWD) arts events in rural and regional NSW. These funds can enhance planned IDPWD celebrations by, for example, paying for a professional artist, or gaining further resources to undertake a workshop or access tour. These grants have been made possible as a result of support from the Department of Ageing, Disability and Homecare.

++Family Advocacy Annual General Meeting

Family Advocacy’s AGM will be held on Friday, 22 September 2006 at 10.30 am, at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, Ryedale Road, West Ryde.

Special guests include the Deputy Ombudsman (Community Services Division), one of the Deputy Directors of the Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care, and a senior bureaucrat from the Department of Education and Training.

++Positions vacant

Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW (MDAA) has two positions vacant.

(1) NSW Network of Women with Disability Project Worker. For an information package call Judith on (02) 9891 6400. For enquiries about the job call Sharon on the same number.

(2) Trainer/Community Development Worker. For an information package call Judith (02)9891 6400; for further details call Maureen on the same number.

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Other states and territory news

++WA action on voter discrimination

The Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) is developing its Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2007-2012. The plan will include these provisions:

• people with disabilities have the same opportunities as other people to access the services of, and any events organised by, the Commission
• people with disabilities have the same opportunities as other people to access the buildings and other facilities of the Commission
• people with disabilities receive information from the Commission in a format that will enable them to access the information as readily as other people
• people with disabilities receive the same level and quality of service from the staff of the Commission
• people with disabilities have the same opportunities as other people to make complaints to the Commission, and
• people with disabilities have the same opportunities as other people to participate in any public consultation by the Commission.

The Commission invites any person with a disability, their families, carers, representative groups or organisations to forward suggestions verbally or in writing. Comments are invited on any of the services provided by the Commission to assist in the development of its future strategies. Submission should be made to Katrina Collins, Western Australian Electoral Commission, Level 2, 111 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000 by 27 October 2006.

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National news

++Advocacy review

A delegation from the disability advocacy sector, including PWD President Heidi Forrest and CEO Alastair McEwin, met with the Hon John Cobb MP, Minister for Community Services, in Canberra on 12 September 2006 to discuss the National Disability Advocacy Programs Review.

This review is linked to the Inquiry into the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA), due for release in June 2007.

PWD is eager to collaborate effectively with FaCSIA during the review, to achieve a productive outcome for people with disability. We are also aware that the outcomes of the review will impact on the CSTDA inquiry. PWD has forwarded submissions to both of these inquiries.

Advocacy is fundamental not only to addressing and identifying gaps and barriers within society, but also is an effective and important mechanism to identify innovative and cost-effective reforms for the whole society.

++Work Choices Legislation and Minimum Wages for Employees with Disability

PWD and the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre (DDLC) recently presented a written submission to the Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) regarding the new 'Work Choices' legislation and how the proposed 'Special Federal Minimum Wage' for employees may impact on people with disability.

The AFPC website: www.fairpay.gov.au/ states that the AFPC was established:

To set and adjust the federal minimum wage to promote the economic prosperity of Australia…The Commission replaces the wage-setting and adjusting functions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission... In preparing to set the federal minimum wage, the Commission will consult widely with stakeholders and the community, seeking information, insight and impacts about the minimum wage.

The Australian Fair Pay Commission will make its first minimum wage decision in Spring 2006.
Amongst other things, the AFPC is charged with responsibility for

• setting and adjusting the federal minimum wage
• setting and adjusting minimum classification rates of pay in Australian Pay and Classification Scales, and
• setting and adjusting the federal minimum wage for juniors, trainees (including school-based apprentices), and employees with disabilities.

PWD and DDLC submitted that the present economic climate provides scope and opportunity to improve the real level of minimum wages for all Australians, including all employees with disability, so that those on the lowest incomes can better share in the growth in prosperity that higher waged Australians have enjoyed in recent years. We wrote that the AFPC should take advantage of this opportunity to increase minimum wages.

Our recommendations included:

• The Supported Wage System Model Clause should be incorporated in every Australian Pay and Classification Scale (APCS) not already containing it to allow those people with disability in the target group (as defined in the Model Clause) to access productivity-based wages in industries or with employers not previously covered by the Supported Wage System Model Clause. This would require a decision to adjust wage rates within all such APCSs rather than a 'Special Federal Minimum Wage' for employees with disability, and would greatly contribute to the ongoing Award simplification process.
• Minimum wage rates for people with disability under the Supported Wage System Model Clause in each and every APCS should be increased in line with the recommended rise in the Standard Federal Minimum Wage and reflect the current income-free threshold of the Disability Support Pension, and should be reviewed annually.

We reviewed ACROD’s submissions and lend our cautious support to the creation of a Special APCS for employees of Supported Employment Services, but subject to qualifications:

1. A Special APCS must cover all employees of all Supported Employment Services, and permit no exemptions as currently advocated by ACROD.
2. A Special APCS should contain the Supported Wage System Model Clause, adjusted as required.
3. A Special APCS should not replicate or permit the multiplication of wage assessment tools in the sector as is the current situation. Rather, there should be one wage assessment tool applying in the sector, and this should be based on the Supported Wage System Assessment Tool, adjusted as required.

++Inquiry into the funding and operation of the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement

PWD recently presented our written submissions to the Senate Community Affairs Committee for its inquiry into the funding and operation of the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA).

Any human rights analysis has been totally absent from debates and inquiries around the three CSTDAs to date. In contrast, our submission explored the fundamental human rights purposes served by the CSTDAs, and made recommendations regarding how these human rights purposes might be better provided for within the forthcoming CSTDA.

Our recommendations were:

1. Disability services, and policies, agreements (including the CSTDA) and programs relating to them should be framed clearly as the provision of services necessary to overcome barriers experienced by people with disability to the equal enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

2. Disability services should clearly be held accountable for any breaches of human rights, and should state clearly which barriers they will address, and be monitored and have their quality judged against such outcomes.

3. The forthcoming CSTDA should contain a provision obliging each of the Commonwealth, states and territories to include/ continue to include rights-based principles and objectives within their disability services legislation, and to make the ongoing funding of disability services contingent upon conformity with these principles and objectives.

4. The Commonwealth, states and territories must agree to implement a monitoring framework that places the human rights outcomes of service users with disability at its centre. In this regard we referred the Committee to current work being undertaken to develop a range of ‘human rights indicators’ for people with disability.

PWD hopes to expand on our written submissions at the Committee's public hearings, currently scheduled to be held in Sydney in the first week of October.

++Action on voter discrimination: Update

The Federal Cabinet recently decided to conduct a trial of Electronically Assisted Voting (EAV) at the next federal election, to be held in 2007.This will enable many people with a disability to record a secret and verifiable vote for the first time.

The trial will be conducted at 30 selected voting centres throughout Australia. This is the first time that EAV has been trialed at a federal election, although it is to be trialed at the upcoming Victorian State election. If these trials are successful then we should see an even greater level of accessibility at subsequent elections.

PWD will continue to work with electoral authorities throughout Australia to ensure that these first movements pave the way to a fully accessible voting system for all Australian citizens.

++Young People in Nursing Homes (YPINH)

Recently the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous affairs (FACSIA) issued a request for information (RFI) on innovative methods for providing support and supported accommodation for younger people with disability in residential aged care.

PWD’s response reflected our position that the support needs of each individual with disability should be adequately assessed and understood. PWD believes that to propose a one size fits all approach would be almost as damaging to the individuals concerned as their remaining in an aged care facility.

PWD believes that any solution must include the following key components:

• compliance with the Disability Services Act 1986 (Commonwealth) and complementary state and territory legislation
• access to independent advocacy and, where necessary, formal guardianship
• single room occupancy
• small group living; any group environment must be limited to a maximum of five residents in any one location
• community integration and participation must be at the forefront of any service model
• people with disability must have choice about where they live and from whom they receive support.

PWD has consulted with the Disability Discrimination Legal Centre (DDLC) and the Brain Injury Association of NSW (BIANSW) to ensure that the rights of young people currently residing in aged care facilities are not overridden by service providers and profit-driven companies.

PWD continues to work with the National Alliance of Young People in Nursing Homes (YPINH). Over 7,000 people under the age of 65 currently reside in Aged Care facilities throughout Australia.

++Payphone Accessibility

PWD recently made a submission to the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) on an industry guideline for the accessibility of payphones. PWD recognises that while the increasing use of mobile phones has led to a decline in payphone usage generally, a review of payphone policy conducted by the (then) Australian Communications Authority concluded that people with disabilities constitute a significant user group for payphones. The same review also confirmed the existence of various barriers to payphone access by people with disabilities.

In our submission we questioned whether the development of a guideline was the best way of guaranteeing access for people with disability. Instead, we called for Action Plans to be developed and lodged with HREOC as one method of working towards a greater certainty of access.

++Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD): An update

ANUHD will be hosting a national forum on universal housing design in November 2007. Speakers at the forum include the Federal Minister for Ageing, the Hon Santo Santoro and Ms Ita Buttrose AO OBE. Plenary sessions will cover topics including marketing and designing lifecycle housing, and universal design and sustainability.

Assistance with the forum has been provided by The Disability Council of NSW, The Independent Living Centre of NSW, The Ramsay Rebuild, Queensland Government Department of Housing and the Australasian Housing Institute. Full details of the forum can be found on the ANUHD website.

++Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) Notice of Annual General Meeting 2006

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International news

++Convention consensus

On 25 August 2006, the text of the International Convention on the rights and dignity of persons with disability was agreed to by delegates attending the Eighth Session of the Ad Hoc Committee of the United Nations in New York.

The last days of the session featured intense debate, negotiation and some compromises. The final announcement brought cheering from delegates and thanks for the active contribution of all delegates, particularly for the critical role played by the Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Don MacKay from New Zealand.

The next stage will be the presentation of the convention text to the UN General Assembly in 2007.

Read PWD’s media release and the United Nations media release on this historic agreement of the first human rights instrument for the 21st century.

++Pacific Disability Forum – leadership role

The inside story

++PWD Annual General Meeting 2006

The Annual General Meeting of People with Disability Australia Incorporated will be held on Saturday 18 November 2006.

The AGM will be held from 3pm – 5pm in the Circular Quay Room, Level 1 at the Mercure Hotel, Sydney, 818 – 820 George Street Sydney. A Cocktail Party will follow this from 5.30pm – 7.30pm in the Museum and St James Rooms on Level 1.

Publications and resources

++Publications and resources

Study Scholarships and Ethel Temby Study Tour awards, offered by Disability Services, a Division of the Department of Human Services, State Government of Victoria, Australia. For information, go to: http://hnb.dhs.vic.gov.au/ds/disabilitysite.nsf?. For further information, contact Bernie Ross, Scholarships Coordinator, on (03) 9096 1406, or email bernie.ross@dhs.vic.gov.au. Closing date for applications is 22 September 2006.

Conferences and events

++26 September 2006

++30 September – 2 October 2006

++4-11 October 2006

++25 October 2006

++25-27 October 2006

++I November 2006

++8 November 2006

The Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD)’s Inaugural National Forum on Universal Housing: Unlimited by design will be held on 8 November 2006 at the Avillion Hotel, 389 Pitt Street, Sydney. This event is supported by PWD and the Disability Council of NSW. Presentations by leading national speakers on housing research, planning, design and construction will present various perspective on key issues.

++15-17 November 2006

++16-17 November 2006

++23-24 November 2006

++2-5 January 2007

++12-13 March 2007

++2-3 April 2007

The ACROD 2007 Ageing and Disability Conference at the Hilton Hotel, Adelaide aims to integrate policy, research and practice to improve society’s response to the needs and lifestyle preferences of older people with disability.

ACROD Limited is calling for the submission of abstracts from people wishing to present papers at the Conference. Abstracts are due 9 October 2006. Enquiries: Philippa Angley, ACROD Victoria, Ph 03 9362 0800 or 0411 773 707, philippa.angley@acrod.org.au ; www.acrod.org.au/conferences/a&d2007/home.htm

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++About PWD

People with Disability Australia Incorporated (PWD) is a national disability rights and advocacy organisation. Its primary membership is people with disability and organisations primarily made up of people with disability. PWD also has a large associate membership of other individuals and organisations committed to the disability rights movement. PWD was founded in 1981, the International Year of Disabled People, to provide people with disability with a voice of our own. We have a cross-disability focus; we represent the interests of people with all kinds of disability. PWD is a non-profit, non-government organisation.

For information about membership of PWD, contact Allyson Campbell, PWD.
or on one of numbers below.

++PWD's training services

PWD has extensive experience in the development and delivery of professional training across a wide range of disability areas, including:

• Disability awareness
• Communication with people with disability
• Developing information in alternative formats
• Human rights and disability
• Effective consultation with people with disability
• Anti-discrimination
• Disability, development and capacity-building
• Diversity in the workplace and employment of people with disability
• Creating flexible and accessible services for people with disability

Training packages developed are flexible and tailor-made to meet the needs of the particular organisation. To find out more about PWD's training services or to discuss your specific training needs, contact our Senior Education Officer, Samantha French or Ph 02 9370 3100.

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++Privacy statement

We are committed to protecting your privacy. In doing so, we commit ourselves to conforming to the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000, which came into effect in December 2001 and the National Privacy Principles issued by the Australian Privacy Commissioner.

This newsletter is distributed by email. You have provided us with an email address. This email address will be used only for the purpose for which you have provided it and you will not be added to any other mailing lists unless you specifically request that this be done.

Your email address will not be disclosed without your consent. You can have your email address removed from the mailing list for this newsletter by sending an email to Allyson Campbell, PWD.

This newsletter contains links to websites. We cannot be held responsible for the privacy practices (or lack thereof) or the content of such websites.

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People with Disability Australia Incorporated
PO Box 666 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
Phone 02 9370 3100, toll-free 1800 422 015
TTY 02 9318 2138, toll-free 1800 422 016

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