CONTENTS
- PADP:
IN NEED OF ATTENTION
- ACCESSIBLE
HOUSING IN NSW?
- PROBLEMS
WITH WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TAXIS
- AUSTRALIAN
FEDERATION OF DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS
- WOMEN
WITH DISABILITY NETWORK NSW
- INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
- OUR
RIGHTS, OUR VOICES – ONE DAY FORUM FOR
WOMEN
- RURAL
DISABILITY NETWORK LAUNCHED
- JOB
VACANCY: PROJECT OFFICER - ABORIGINAL DISABILITY
NETWORK
- THE
PDCN FORUM
- ABOUT
THE PDCN BULLETIN
Welcome to Issue No: 28 of THE PDCN
BULLETIN, our topical issues newsletter 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. PADP - IN NEED OF
ATTENTION
PDCN has been coordinating
activity by the NSW disability sector in the weeks since
the New Year started to focus attention on the continuing
need to improve the Programme of Appliances for Disabled
People (PADP). We believe that the programme needs to
accelerate its reform agenda and that additional funds
are required to address unmet need.
We have been working alongside
other disability advocacy organisations and
non-government service providers to achieve the following
reform objectives:
- We strongly believe that NSW
Health ought now be in a position to provide accurate
data about the supply of equipment through PADP and
levels of unmet need, as expressed by eligible
applications waiting to be approved.
- We believe it to be essential
that the new PADP Equipment List, agreed by the
statewide PADP Advisory Committee, be ‘signed
off’ by the Director General of NSW Health for
immediate use.
- We keenly await a progress
report from NSW Health on the development of an
assessment tool for prioritising valid applications
for support from PADP.
- We want to contribute
constructively to developing quality indicators for
PADP services.
- We hope there will soon be a
new, uniform application form for PADP for all
applicants in every area of NSW.
At the root of our concern about
PADP lie two questions:
- Is there sufficient government
investment in PADP to meet existing and predicted
levels of need for equipment that aids daily
living?
- Is the current Budget
allocation being spent as well as it could be so that
every dollar in the PADP budget goes as far as it can
to meet the equipment needs of people with
disability?
We hope to meet with
representatives of the two key government portfolios,
Health and Disability Services, in the near future to
find answers to these questions that can satisfy all
stakeholders. To help us prepare for discussions about
the programme we ask again for you to send us information
about your experiences of PADP. We know that there are
high levels of unmet need. If we are to find ways to
convince the NSW Treasurer to invest more funds in PADP
we need your help to build the base case for
enhancement.
Send your comments to Sharon at:
ppdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au
Finally, two weeks ago PDCN
submitted our response to a departmental discussion paper
about potential reform of the Statewide PADP Advisory
Committee. We recently received confirmation that NSW
Health has decided to maintain the current committee
arrangements, as we suggested in our paper. We applaud
their decision.
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2. ACCESSIBLE
HOUSING IN NSW?
Last Wednesday, 18th
February, The Hon Craig Knowles, Minister for
Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, announced
his initial proposals in response to the review of State
Environmental Planning Policy 5 (SEPP5), which is
currently the principle instrument that makes possible
housing for older people and people with disability. PDCN
is very keen to contribute to the debate sparked by the
review.
- SEPP5 has become discredited in
recent years, in part because some developers have
used it as a tool to force local councils to allow
construction of medium density housing in areas where
other planning considerations would not normally allow
such development to occur.
- It is at not at all clear that
many people with disability genuinely benefit from
SEPP5.
- Increasing numbers of councils
have sought and been granted exemption from SEPP5 but
there has been little, sometimes nothing, presented as
an alternative policy for meeting the housing needs of
people with physical disability and older people with
mobility problems.
- The disability sector in NSW is
keen to reform or replace SEPP5. PDCN is a participant
in the Australian Network for Universal Housing Design
(ANUHD). You can read its position statement on our
web site at www.pdcnsw.org.au/docs/positions/anuhd.html)
PDCN believes that ALL NEW PRIVATE DWELLINGS must be
built to standards that make them visitable and
adaptable.
- The NSW Minister for
Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources
initiated a review of SEPP5 following the election
last March. PDCN was among the disability sector
organisations consulted as part of the
review.
- On Wednesday, the Minister
announced that he had reached decisions on
SEPP5.
- PDCN and
 People
With Disability Australia
shared initial concerns about the new initiative
called ‘Seniors Living Policy’, which made
little mention of access for people with disability
(although the mentions it did make do seem to read
positively from our perspective). We have written a
letter to the Minister seeking a meeting for
clarification of the new policy and its consequences
for planning, designing and building accessible
private dwellings.
- PDCN has been contacted by the
Minister’s Office about the announcement. We were
told these things:
- The Minister’s
announcement deliberately separates density issues
from access questions. PDCN is pleased about
that.
- The announcement of 18th
February is intended to cut out SEPP5 abuse of
density regulations within local council
Development Control Plans (DCP).
- The Minister will soon issue
a separate discussion paper on accessible private
dwellings in NSW.
- The Minister has been
considering the British arrangements known as
‘Part M of the Building Regulations’,
which require all knew private dwellings to be
visitable.
- The Government sees
shortcomings in the SEPP5 because it does not cover
access to all new housing, which we believe is the
way to go.
- The Government is attracted
by the concept of adaptability because building
that in, at design and construction stages, saves
dollars down the track as people age.
- The link for the
Minister’s Report on the SEPP5 review is located
at: www.iplan.nsw.gov.au/taskforce/pdf/sepp_5_review_report.pdf
- Page 4 of the report includes
this recommendation (the use of underline is as used
by the report’s author)
“People with a Disability
and Accessible Housing - Prepare a Discussion Paper to
review methods of achieving greater provision to allow
public debate on the issue
It is recommended
that:
- A discussion paper be
prepared that should canvas options to achieve from
housing a greater level of stock which is
accessible and adaptable for people with physical
disability of all ages.
- Options could include
introducing new controls that would require all new
housing to be accessible to the UK standards i.e.
for private path, entry, ground level circulation
space and visitable toilet that allows use by a
person with a disability
Some developers, such as
Masterton Homes, are to be congratulated for already
incorporating adaptable features in their homes. This
is recognition by the market of the need to make
housing more user friendly for an ageing population
and people with a disability.”
This recommendation has the
potential to dramatically alter the planning, design and
construction of new private dwellings in NSW. There is
clearly an enormous amount of work still to be done to
reach a satisfactory end to this discussion. But it does
begin to look as if, all of a sudden, the terms of the
debate in NSW have shifted.
We urge all Bulletin readers to
check out the Minister’s Report and the ANUHD
position statement. As soon as we receive news about the
discussion paper on visitable and adaptable housing,
we’ll let you know.
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3. PROBLEMS
WITH WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE TAXIS
It truly is a shame that
we have to ask this question yet again: have you had
problems with wheelchair accessible taxis arriving late
to pick you up?
We want to hear from you if you
have. Please contact Dougie Herd, the PDCN Executive
Officer, if you’ve got personal experience of taxis
being late or just not showing up. Send an e.mail to
pdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au
Recently, a wheelchair user in
Sydney waited 110 minutes for a wheelchair accessible
taxi ordered through the ‘Zero-200’ WAT booking
service. It was ordered on a Friday morning, after the
rush hour, on a day of fine weather for an $18 trip
through the Inner West. It was almost two hours between
booking the taxi and the cab arriving.
Using this latest example of
appallingly bad service as an illustration of a common
complaint, PDCN has written to the Minister for Transport
Services, the Minister for Disability Services, the
Director General of the Ministry for Transport, the
Acting Director of the Taxi and Hire Car Bureau and the
Manager of the ‘Zero-200’ WAT booking service.
We hope to meet soon with the key decision-makers to find
a solution to this common problem of unreasonable and
unacceptable delays in the arrival of WAT vehicles booked
through the official booking service.
To help us illustrate the problem
we’re asking for recent examples of delays with
WATs. If you’ve had a problem in the last six months
please contact our EO. Please feel assured that all
responses will be dealt with as ‘strictly
confidential’.
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4. AUSTRALIAN
FEDERATION OF DISABILITY ORGANISATIONS
The inaugural Board meeting
of the Directors of the new Australian Federation of
Disability Organisations (the Federation) took place in
January in Canberra.
The aim of the Federation is to
champion the rights of people with disability in
Australia and help them to participate fully in community
life.
Maurice Corcoran, current President
of the Physical Disability Council of Australia, was
elected as the first Chairperson of the Board and will be
supported by three Deputy Chairpersons:
- Diana Qian, President of the
National Ethnic Disability Alliance;
- Robert Altamore, Blind Citizens
Australia; and
- Roy McAlpine, National Council
on Intellectual Disability
The founding members and their
organisations are:
- Kyle Mier - Australian
Association of the Deaf;
- Robert Altamore - Blind
Citizens Australia,
- Maria McGrath - Brain Injury
Association,
- Ruth Fotheringham - Deafness
Forum Australia,
- Roy McAlpine - National Council
on Intellectual Disability,
- Diana Qian - National Ethnic
Disability Alliance,
- Ros Sackley - National
Indigenous Disability Network,
- Maurice Corcoran -
Physical
Disability Council of Australia;
and
- Samantha Jenkinson -
Women
with Disabilities Australia.
The Federation is the newly formed
national agency funded and recognised by government as
the peak body in Australia representing people with
disability. The Federation is unique because it is the
first cross-disability national body in Australia whose
Constitution specifies that all its Directors and staff
must be people with disability.
Maurice Corcoran, the founding
Chairperson of the Board said:
“It is this very
factor that is the source of the Federation’s
legitimacy because for the first time there is a
national peak that is for people with disability that
will be run by people with
disability”.
The Federation is in the process of
hiring a Chief Executive Officer and Directors are now
very much looking forward to tackling some of the major
issues affecting people with disability across Australia.
However, before this can happen administrative systems
need to be established as well as communication and
consultation strategies. In the meantime, information
about the Federation and its on-going development will be
distributed via regular communiqués and will be
available at www.disfed.org.au
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5. WOMEN
WITH DISABILITY NETWORK NSW
The NSW Department For Women
has awarded PDCN a ‘large project’ grant to
work in partnership with the Multicultural Disability
Advocacy Association to establish a statewide network of
women with disability. The network, which will be
autonomous and directed by the women who participate in
it, will be supported for at least the next twelve months
by staff based at PDCN
The first meeting of the
network’s steering group took place on Wednesday,
18th February. We hope to formally launch the Network in
early March. In the meantime, for more information about
the Women With Disability NSW and how to become involved,
contact Sharon:
- By e.mail on
pdcnsw@pdcnsw.org.au
- By phone on 02 9552
1606
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6. INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN’S DAY – 8TH MARCH 2004
Each year the NSW Department
for Women celebrates International Women’s Day (IWD)
on the 8th of March. The Department for Women coordinates
various activities and promotions to acknowledge and
celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) Week for
Women. It is an occasion for all women around the world
to unite in celebration of their achievements.
A host of activities celebrating
IWD will be held across NSW during the week of Monday 8
March to Sunday 14 March 2004. The theme for IWD 2004 is
'Women Celebrate'.
For more information go to the web
site of the Department For Women.
www.women.nsw.gov.au/iwd/events_list.html
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7. OUR
RIGHTS, OUR VOICES – ONE DAY FORUM FOR
WOMEN
A forum for women and
community groups working with women to discuss, explore
and report on women's rights in NSW.
- 30 March 2004
- Holroyd Centre, Miller Street,
Merrylands
Our Rights, Our Voices is an
opportunity for women and community groups who work with
women to have their say about their experiences. Focusing
on:
- Health
- Housing and
utilities
- Economic security and
employment
- Education
- Law and justice
- Political
participation
- Violence against
women
Our findings will go into a written
report to the United Nations - as part of the "Women's
Report Card" project. The forum is an opportunity for
local women and non-government organisations to have
their voices heard and their ideas and solutions put
forward.
By taking part in Our Rights, Our
Voices you will be able to have your say, learn more
about human rights and share with other women. On the
day, the forum will include storytelling from individual
women, open mike sessions, music, community theatre and
human rights training.
Participatory workshops (talking
circles) will discuss, explore and report on NSW women's
experiences under the main themes of the Women's Report
Card. These will be open to all women. In addition we can
run groups for women with disability, Aboriginal women
and women from culturally and linguistically diverse
communities. These will be facilitated by organisations
such as People with Disability Australia and Immigrant
Women's Speakout.
This event is must for anyone
concerned with human rights and social justice. It will
inform not only the report to United Nations but also
NCOSS social policy agenda. It will set the scene for
ongoing work on women's rights for years to come. Please
come and join us and have your say.
More information:
Phone 02 9211 2599
Email: info@ncoss.org.au
Program, registration and venue details at
www.ncoss.org.au/conferences
The event is free for women from
the community and unfunded organisations. Funded NGO's
will be charged $30 to cover venue and catering
costs.
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8. RURAL
DISABILITY NETWORK LAUNCHED
The Independence Network is a
new network created exclusively for people with a
disability who live in rural areas in Australia.
You can view their web site here:
www.independence.bigpondhosting.com
And if you're in the Cootamundra
area on Saturday, the 6th March, their EXPO from 10.30am
- 4.00pm looks well worth the stickybeak! Check it
out!
www.independence.bigpondhosting.com/events.htm
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9. JOB VACANCY
- PROJECT OFFICER - ABORIGINAL DISABILITY
NETWORK
The Aboriginal Disability
Network of NSW is calling for Expressions Of Interest for
a Project Officer position from March 2004.
Aboriginal people with a disability
are strongly urged to apply and must have high quality
writing oral and communication skills. Applicants must be
familiar with submission writing, networking and liaising
with government and non-government
organisations.
The Project officer will work
closely with the Interim Management Committee and will be
responsible for the expansion of the Network, a variety
of community consultations throughout NSW and the
production and distribution of appropriate materials for
example, newsletters and media releases.
For further information please
contact rsackley@bigpond.com
OR mobile, 0422/91/83/84
Ros Sackley, Convenor
ABORIGINAL DISABILITY NETWORK OF NSW
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10. 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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11. 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.
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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