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CONTENTS
- Review
of Personal Assistance and Support
Services
- NSW
Bus Review Interim Report Published
- Productivity
Commission Inquiry into the DDA
- Jewish
Film Festival to Remain Inaccessible
- Australian
Electoral Commission National Workshop
- PDCN
AGM 2003
- Join
the PDCN FORUM
- About
the PDCN BULLETIN
Welcome to Issue No: 24 of THE PDCN
BULLETIN, our topical issues resource and information
source for opinion formers, decision-makers and others
interested in disability sector topics. The bulletin is
produced by the Physical Disability Council of New South
Wales (PDCN). We are the peak body representing people with
physical disability across the State.
Our aim is to provide readers with
accurate, up-to-date and timely information, comment and
analysis of disability sector issues from the perspective of
people with physical disability in NSW, including children
with disability and their representatives.
1. Review of Personal
Assistance and Support Services
The PDCN President, David
Brice, and our Executive Officer met with DADHC staff on
Wednesday, 12th November to talk through progress towards
implementing recommendations of the DADHC working party
established last November. DADHC was represented by
Marcia Dwonzcyk (Deputy Director General Policy), Claire
Vernon (Director Community Support) and Toni Adams
(Manager, Systems Development Unit).
We were presented with information
about progress towards implementing recommendations that
the working party made to the Minister's Office in
August. We hope that the Minister will make announcement
before Christmas. We remain hopeful that the key ideas we
have been working to promote will be endorsed. These
include:
- The creation of a single
programme or service stream for adults with physical
disability with significant levels of need for
personal assistance.
- Eligibility criteria that will
be defined as 16 - 64, people with a physical
disability who can direct their own
arrangements.
- Service hours that would be
broadly comparable with the current Attendant Care
Programme plus some enhancement.
- A staged implementation of
reform to allow DADHC to sensitively manage the
processes of change from the old, fragmented
arrangements with various eligibility criteria to the
new arrangements with new criteria.
- Commitment to a statewide,
pooled programme during the period of staged
implementation and possibly longer.
- As we recommended, we hope the
Minister may announce the creation of a follow-up
sub-group or working party to look at implementation
issues around quality improvement and capacity
building of service systems and service
users.
- A spectrum of service delivery
options that could include a framework for a direct
payments trial / pilot project for the population
group targeted by the reforms.
100 NEW ATTENDANT CARE PROGRAMME
PLACES ACTIONED
At the meeting between DADHC and PDCN on 12th
November, the Department's staff confirmed that work has
started on the assessment of applicants to the Attendant
Care Programme whose places will be funded as a
consequence of the premier's announcement last January.
PDCN believes it to be essential that all 100 new places
be allocated within the timetable set by the Premier,
which means no later than June 2004.
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2. NSW Bus
Review Interim Report Published
The NSW Minister for
Transport Services, The Hon Michael Costa MLC, has
published the Interim Report of the Inquiry chaired by
former Premier, Barry Unsworth, into bus services in NSW.
The interim report can be viewed on the web site of the
Ministry of Transport at:
 www.transport.nsw.gov.au/busreview
Responses to the Interim Report
must be submitted by 19th December.
We've not had time yet to read the
whole report but we will do, making a formal response
before the deadline of 19th December. Based on our
initial scan, however, we have some concerns that the
interests of bus passengers who have a disability may be
marginalised by the thrust of the review.
- The proposal to increase the
'concession' ticket price from $1 to $2.50 takes no
account of the realities of the financial position of
people with physical disability. Most people with
disability (as many as 80%) live on fixed incomes.
Most people with physical disability have additional
non-discretionary costs of living attributable to
their disability. Large increases in 'concession'
rates have the potential to place additional burdens
on people living on low incomes.
- The proposal to prohibit
'concession' tickets before 9.00 a.m. takes no account
of the diverse lifestyles of many people who do not
work but participate in many other aspects of
community life. Just because you are a person with a
disability on a pension does not mean you have no need
to travel before nine o'clock in the
morning.
- Creating strategic corridors
for efficient, faster travelling by bus is almost
certainly a good idea. We believe, however, that any
concentration of services along strategic corridors
must be matched by a greater commitment to increasing
accessibility of buses.
- If strategic corridors become
the core model of service development any and all
'feeder' services linked to those strategic corridors
must be no less accessible than the services running
on the strategic corridors. Any lesser commitment
makes the strategic corridors potentially off limits
to people with mobility impairment.
- If the Government intends to
re-negotiate contracts with private bus operators
movement towards greater accessibility of contracted
services must be a minimum requirement of the new
service agreements.
The PDCN response to the Interim
Report of the Unsworth Inquiry will be posted to the PDCN
web site.
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3.
Productivity Commission Inquiry into the DDA
The Productivity Commission
published its draft report on the Disability
Discrimination Act on 31st October. The report, which is
a massive document, is available on the Commission's web
site at:
www.pc.gov.au/inquiry/dda/draftreport/index.html
The PDCN submission to the
Commission's Issues Paper is available on our web site
at:
www.pdcnsw.org.au/docs/03/dcpc.html
Our initial response to the
Productivity Commission draft report is disappointment.
Although the submissions to the Inquiry and the text of
the draft report contain a wealth of information and
considerable insight into aspects of discrimination, we
feel the report's analysis of the DDA and context of
anti-discrimination law and practice understate the
complexity and profundity of the problems we face and
overstate the effectiveness of the DDA in addressing the
challenges that confront all of us.
PDCN will respond in detail to the
draft report. We hope to give additional verbal evidence
to the Inquiry when public hearings recommence in January
2004.
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4. Jewish
Film Festival to Remain Inaccessible
The organisers of the Jewish
Film Festival have created new barriers to film goers
with mobility impairment, particularly wheelchair users.
Two members of PDCN have alerted the community to
discriminatory action that looks set to be repeated in
future years. They write:
"In 2002 the Jewish Film
Festival was moved from the wheelchair accessible
Chauvel Cinema to the upstairs cinema at Double Bay.
As a result patron who use wheelchairs and those who
have difficulty with stairs were unable to attend.
This continues today."
Aggrieved patrons who lodged a
complaint with HREOC sought to find a solution to the
problem through conciliation. They report
that:
"A resistant response by
the Jewish Film Foundation led HREOC to judge that
there was no reasonable prospect of the matter being
settled by conciliation. As a result the matter was
referred to the Federal Magistrate's Court."
Unable to take on the financial
risks of a contested case in the Federal Court the people
raising the complaint have withdrawn the case. But the
matter does not rest there. We can and should lobby the
Foundation to seek a reversal of its intransigent
position. So, if you believe that wheelchair users and
other people who have difficulty with stairs ought to be
able to attend future Jewish Film Festivals, get writing
to:
The President
Jewish Film Foundation
C/- Marshalls and Dent Solicitors
Level 13 / 459 Little Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
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5. Australian
Electoral Commission National Workshop
The Australian Electoral
Commission (AEC) and the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission (HREOC) held a national workshop
on Friday 14th November to consider movement towards more
inclusive and accessible voting arrangements for future
Federal elections. PDCN participated in the workshop with
our Executive Officer attending on behalf of the Physical
Disability Council of Australia.
There was an impressive array AEC
staff present at the workshop. The Commission seemed
genuinely committed to moving towards greater inclusion
of people withy disability in the normal processes of
election. The agenda looked at access issues from
enrolment to voting on the day and public awareness /
publicity campaigns. At our suggestion, the AEC is likely
to agree an 'aspirational statement' indicating its
intention to move from its current position of 75% of
polling places being accessible (independently or 'with
assistance') to 100% of polling stations. There will be
additional work carried out on electronic voting although
that will require a change of electoral law.
A report of the meeting will be
produced. We will circulate details when they are issued.
It was agreed that a regular forum be created to meet
throughout the year to advise on the processes of reform.
We'll keep you informed.
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6. PDCN AGM
2003
Just over thirty members of
PDCN turned out for the Annual General Meeting held at
the new office of Paraquad on Sunday, 9th November. The
Annual Report and Accounts were approved by members and
the new Management Committee was confirmed, in accordance
with the Returning Officer's Declaration of Election. The
members of the PDCN Management Committee for 2003 / 2004
are:
Individuals with physical
disability
BRICE, David
BYRNE, Kevin
DISON, Iain
DONALDON, Bruce (non metropolitan member, Wagga
Wagga)
FALLON, Chris (on metropolitan member, Dubbo)
FURMAGE, Ann-Mason
MOXON, John
NEVINSON, Wayne (non-metropolitan member, Albury)
RAINNIE, Alex
RAYMOND, John
REDMAYNE, Glenn
RELF, Mark
RESPANTI, Carmelo
ROWLES, Kim
SUTTON, Edward
Representatives of children with
physical disability
ACAR, Justine
HAND, Graham
Other interested
individuals
TURNER, ROSS
The AGM also agreed to amend the
PDCN constitution to reduce the size of the Management
Committee elected from next year from 21 members to 15
members.
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7. Join the
PDCN FORUM
The PDCN
Forum is an email list
where people and ideas come together around issues of
concern and interest to people with physical disability
across NSW. The PDCN Forum is about people with physical
disability in NSW and how we can contribute to re-shaping
the society in which we live, making it more accessible,
more inclusive and better equipped to ensure that the
rights of people with physical disability are met.
We're not trying to re-invent the
wheel here. PDCA
and OzAdvocacy
provide forums for national discussions, which we are
part of. Our Forum focuses on NSW.
The PDCN Forum is for people with
physical disability and others interested in the issues
that concern the Physical Disability Council of NSW. We
hope people will share ideas, debate issues and formulate
new strategic directions for disability policy about and
in New South Wales. The list is managed by Dougie Herd,
PDCN Executive Officer and administered by our Project
Officer, Craig Andrews.
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8. About the
PDCN Bulletin
The PDCN BULLETIN is compiled
by Dougie Herd (PDCN Executive Officer). The views
expressed in the BULLETIN are not necessarily those of
PDCN. If you wish to comment on the BULLETIN or submit a
short article for inclusion please contact:
Dougie Herd
PDCN Executive Officer
St Helen's Community Centre
3/184 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW 2037
Email: pdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au
Tel: (02) 9552 1606
Freecall: 1800 688 831
Fax: (02) 9552 4644
Privacy
PDCN respects the right to privacy
of all people receiving information by electronic or
other means. PDCN distributes electronic mail to list
members in such a way that no address or contact details
are obtainable by others. PDCN does not release any
information about individuals without
permission.
Previous bulletins can be
downloaded from the PDCN Web site
PDCN welcomes comments and feedback
about the bulletin. And please forward it to anyone who
would find it useful. If you would prefer not to receive
our bulletin please let us know and your address will be
removed from list.
Dougie Herd, PDCN Executive Officer
St Helen's Community Centre,
3/184 Glebe Point Road,
Glebe NSW 2037
Email: pdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au;
Web: www.pdcnsw.org.au
Tel: (02) 9552 1606; 1 800 688
831
Fax: (02) 9552 4644
PDCN produces its electronic BULLETIN every fortnight. The
BULLETIN is compiled by Dougie Herd (PDCN Executive
Officer). The Editorial Board is PDCN's Executive Committee,
although the views expressed in the BULLETIN are not
necessarily those of PDCN or its Executive Committee. If you
wish to comment on the BULLETIN or submit a short article
for inclusion please contact: pdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au
PDC NSW Inc is funded
by the NSW Government's Ageing and Disability Department.
Views expressed by PDC NSW Inc are not necessarily endorsed
by the NSW Government.
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