Powerd NewsWrap 10th December 2025

Speaker 1  0:00  
Welcome to a Vision Australia radio podcast. Love our podcasts. Why not listen to us live, tune in anywhere, anytime, ask your smart device to play Vision Australia radio or visit va radio.org

Speaker 2  0:22  
on the Vision Australia and reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news, rap,

Sam Rickard  0:34  
G'day. I'm Sam Rickard. It's the 10th of December, and we're reading articles from the Powerd dot media website joining me, as per normal, as we rush towards the end of the year is Emma Myers. Hello, Emma, Hello. Have you got anything planned over the Christmas break when, when you're actually not here,

Emma Myers  0:50  
I am going back to my parents and just staying with them for a few weeks.

Sam Rickard  0:56  
That's nice. I mean, yeah, I don't have a home to go to anymore, so no, I'll be heading out bush, as it were, anyway. So we've got a couple of articles here that. Well, it's sort of par for the course at the moment. Now, what this one, first one interests me a little bit, and that is, it's the Disability Assistance card when it comes to natural disasters. We covered this early on in the year.

Emma Myers  1:17  
Yeah, yeah, we did, Sam, and you're right. It's a national assistance card would transit. So if you're someone who has autism or an acquired brain injury, you can produce this card to let emergency service responders know how to communicate with you and how to help you in the event of an emergency.

Sam Rickard  1:44  
One small problem with that, and it's a teeny tiny little problem, is that people don't know what the

Emma Myers  1:49  
card is, yeah. That's the little um yeah.

Sam Rickard  1:54  
And also, there's another even more teeny tiny problem, and that is they don't know what to do, even when they do know that what the card is,

Emma Myers  2:00  
yeah, look, it's as with everything a role, it's never going to be as smooth as it Sam,

Sam Rickard  2:07  
well, you could always hope, as someone who used to work in it, it always, always hoped, but nothing's always go wrong.

Emma Myers  2:13  
What I find interesting about this program Sam is that it's only for people with autism and brain injuries. It's not for the wider disability community, although it did specify that they were looking to expand to more types of disability because, in retrospect, because I think it's actually quite important to expand for more disability, because it's not just people with autism and acquired brain injury that need assistance during emergency situations, or

Sam Rickard  2:56  
maybe if there was some sort of system in place where identified people who are vulnerable living in particular areas, then that would also negate the use of need of a card, really, because if you have a disability, whether you look obvious or not, then if there's something popping up in their system saying, hey, there's people you should be paying certain attention to,

Emma Myers  3:18  
well, there is something like that, that it varies state by state. I know that the Rural Fire Service of New South Wales has something like that, that, as for the rest of the country, I'm not entirely sure. And this

Sam Rickard  3:34  
is the problem with our federal system, is you really don't know what you're going to get where whichever state or territory you're living in. I mean, in your case, here in Canberra, it things might change drastically the moment you step over to toggernong, for example.

Emma Myers  3:49  
Yeah, that's right, Tim, you never know, even within a state, you've got Council jurisdictions that are different from one another, so you never going to get the same thing to us, unfortunately,

Sam Rickard  4:02  
all right, so now we're going to cross over to Markell talikas once more for the news.

Speaker 2  4:11  
Thank you. Many in the disability community struggle to have their needs understood during emergency situations, but a new campaign is helping emergency workers recognize and respond to people's varying access requirements. The National assistance Card Scheme, an assistance program which has been operating for three years nationwide, after starting in Tasmania over 20 years ago, has launched its new my card, my voice campaign. According to the website, according to the National assistance Card website, the Australian Government Department of Social Services providing funding to the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania to expand the assistance card system nationally with a project now being funded by the Department of Health, disability and aging. Yeah. Executive Officer at the Brain Injury Association of Tasmania, Marie Claire Cooper, says the campaign is calling on the wider community to recognize the program as it aids people with disability in communicating their needs when they feel distressed. For people who find it difficult to communicate, everyday situations can quickly become overwhelming and unsafe. In January, the National assistance card program recently expanded to include people within the Autistic community. According to the national website, South Australian disability advocate Kadee shabla describes herself as a black autistic person and believes the intersecting parts of her identity adds extra layers of complexity when trying to communicate with my accent, disability and race, interactions are not always safe or understood. The National assistance card gives me something tangible I can show which helps people understand my needs, support me appropriately and treat me with dignity. Powerd media contacted a spokesperson for the National assistance card organization, who revealed that a survey of its card holders had been conducted back in July of the 154 survey respondents, 68% of participants felt more comfortable asking for help. However, Powerd media also learned that some card holders reported experiences where emergency workers did not know how to respond when the card was presented or ignored. It altogether. In light of this, New South Wales, ses have shared a dedicated information document for emergency services on their website, which allows responders to educate themselves on how to approach situations where individuals may require a different method of communication. South Australian CFS community risk reduction manager David Hughes believes clear communication can save lives. The National assistance card helps emergency responders understand and provide the support people need during a crisis. He claims survivor of the 2004 Boxing Day Thailand tsunami, Liz Hills lives with an acquired brain injury. She says she carried her card everywhere. People don't always understand how big these challenges can feel for someone with a hidden disability, the card gives me freedom and confidence knowing I have support if I get stuck. Looking forward, the National assistance card organization hopes that the program will expand to include all people with disability across Australia, as stated on the website. If you would like to know more, go to www dot national assistance card. That's all one word.com.au. Dot com.au,

Sam Rickard  7:45  
so you may be wondering why we spell the name of the website. The way we do that is because P, O, W, E, R, E, D, dot media is a completely different website. If you want Media Management, by all means, go to that website if you want us, go to P, O, W, E, R, D, dot media now back to the show.

Speaker 2  8:13  
For many people with disability, safety and wellbeing is a primary concern, which is why the Australian Government is calling for consultation with the disability community to develop a newer, stronger disability support, quality and safeguarding strategy. Those with disability often have to rely on the physical, intellectual and emotional support of family, friends and carers, but being on the receiving end of such support can also leave people with disability open to harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. According to the findings from the disability Royal Commission, the department behind the new proposed framework, the Department of Health disability and aging, claimed that the updated strategy could encompass five components of effective safeguarding techniques, such as building capability, co design, person centered support service, accountability and system coordination. Australian healthcare associates, Australia's largest health and human services consulting firm has been chosen to facilitate the consultation, having had vast experience handling past disability related government projects, our approach will ensure that the views of the disability community and sector are considered at all stages of developing the framework and the strategy, the ah web page For the disability safeguards consultation claims it will be working with disability advocacy groups in a collaborative capacity. Our partnership with the Australian Federation of disability organizations will ensure that we engage inclusively with people with disability throughout this project, the statement reads to ensure the voices of the. Disability Community are genuinely involved in shaping the final framework and strategy. Those seeking to participate have been asked to submit their testimonies via a number surveys, interviews and written responses as outlined on the Department of Health website. Responses provided during the consultation period will inform decision makers about what safeguards people with disability engage with the issues faced when engaging with them, and how communities assist people with disability to engage with safeguards. According to the Department of Health, consultations for the new disability support quality and safeguarding framework will remain open until the 22nd of December, according to the website.

Sam Rickard  10:53  
Thank you. Mark hella, all right, so the second article, I've got to admit, I'm sort of a bit out to see, because it's sort of consultation on something I really don't know a lot about in any way.

Emma Myers  11:03  
Yeah, so it's pretty much the Disability Support quality and safeguarding strategy. Is a system in place meant to guard the rights for people with disability to feel safe in whatever situation they find themselves in, and the governments now are calling on the disability community to provide consultation to develop a stronger version of this strategy in line with the findings from the disability Royal Commission, right?

Sam Rickard  11:43  
And, I mean, one thing you sort of got to ask about is it's one thing to seek consultation. It's the other thing to actually listen

Emma Myers  11:49  
to it. Yeah, that's right. And you told that the decision makers actually listen to the feedback that they're getting. But it all comes down to how much funding is involved. Unfortunately, well,

Sam Rickard  12:05  
yeah, and sometimes governments or government departments do come into a consultation wanting to hear certain things, so the questions will be framed in a particular way. And if they don't hear what they want to hear, then that particular consultation will just suddenly disappear.

Emma Myers  12:24  
Yeah, that's right, it's a very complex system, and I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes out of the consultation period. Well, that is

Sam Rickard  12:35  
basically a wrap for this week. What have you been working on for our basically last regular show for the year.

Emma Myers  12:41  
Well, the big story at the moment Sam is that the NDIS is going to be using a computer generated program to spit out dedicated funding plans for people on the scheme. But the issue there is, once the plan is emerging, you can't change it or review it. You then have to do it a completely new plan.

Sam Rickard  13:11  
Yeah, nothing can possibly go wrong with that. It sounds ideal.

Emma Myers  13:15  
Have we not? Have we not learned from robodebt?

Sam Rickard  13:17  
I was not going to say that word, but anyway, we can leave that till next week. We will be going through to the end of the year, but we've got a few special things signed up before then, but between then and now, bye. For now, bye. You

Speaker 2  13:41  
can find these articles and more by going to Powerd spelt P, O, W, E, R, D, dot media, along with the podcast of this show, the Powerd news rap was brought to you by disability media Australia. The show was produced by Sam Rickard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai