bobb's blog

John Stanhope, the former ACT Chief Minister, called for national laws on industrial manslaughter. He said:

...

Second, Australians die in mental health institutions. The Age, for example, reported in September 2011 that 36 people died unexpected, unnatural or violent deaths in Victorian mental health facilities alone between 2008 and 2010 according to Coroner's Court files.

A report¹ says "the growth rate for the [Disability Support Pension] DSP is falling, with a 1.4 per cent drop in the rate between June 2010 to June 2011, compared with the previous year".

In the 2011-12 Federal Budget, the Government announced changes² that it said would reduce DSP recipients by around 40% ... so an outcome of 1.4% can hardly be said to confirm reforms are working as intended; this is just spin.

The Commonwealth Government quickly accepted many of the Productivity Commission's findings on Disability Care and Support (see http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/disability-support/report). Members of the Government said:

Governments are working through COAG to plan and implement a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Based on past experience with the Closing the Gap initiative for Indigenous Australians and similar initiatives, COAG involvement may be very bad news for people with a disability.

A damning review of federal spending on Indigenous programs found billions of dollars paid out had dismal results. The previously secret Cabinet review says past approaches to fixing Indigenous disadvantage clearly failed.

The Government wants people with a disability to go to work (see benefits tighten to get more working) ... but the Government and its close friends in big business (see Business Council of Australia gives simplistic and morally bankrupt advice) are employing fewer people with disabilities.

The ABC 7.30 Report had a story about schools physically restraining students with ASD (see Hidden shame).

Other schools just kick students out ... which forces their parents out of work. This practice is encouraged by the legal system (see http://a4.org.au/a4/node/338 and http://a4.org.au/a4/node/353).

The 7.30 Report story blames the chronic lack of teacher training, but the problem is exacerbated by the lack of trained psychologists and ASD-specialists in Australia.

Find the great story, “Tales from the Rudely rock n roll road 2010”, at the link http://rudelyinterrupted.com/about-the-band (scroll down a bit).

Band tours are always "interesting" ... always eventful with huge swings in emotions. The Melbourne rock band, Rudely Interrupted, steps the band tour experience up another level (or more).

The Australian published a beat-up "Disorder in the classroom on the rise " by Jane Hanson, 18/9/2010 (see http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/disorder-in-...).

I'll step through some of the issues ...

• "an epidemic of autism" is dramatic but true.

For the first time, the major political parties have raised disability as an issue in a federal election.

The attached item is my 2000 words responding to their offerings so far for children with a disability.

Both Liberal and Greens had some autism/ASD specific elements in their policies before the 2010 Tasmanian election.

The ATAC group (see http://www.atac.asn.au/2010elections.html) asked a few specific question of the parties and published an advertisement in local papers publicising the positions of the parties (see http://a4.org.au/a4/sites/default/files/adwed17.pdf).