Powerd NewsWrap 11th June 2025

Speaker 1 0:00

Sam on Vision Australia and reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news wrap

Sam Rickard 0:14

G'day. I'm Sam Ricard. It's the 11th of June, 2025 we're presenting articles from the powered dot media website, and joining me, as usual, is the writer of these articles, Emma Myers, G'day, Emma, how are you? I am particularly good on this coolish day. You've been pretty busy. I gather

Emma Myers 0:32

I'm worth busy. Sam, you know that? All right, so what is spinning your dial this week? Well, this week we have a senior executive in the NDIA and NDIS has the resigned. Yes,

Sam Rickard 0:45

this is an interesting one. If you listen to how the government's talking, it's all, you know, steam ahead and everything's terrific. But this might suggest something some just a little bit different.

Emma Myers 0:56

Yeah, it's it came as a shock to many people, but this particular executive, Corey McKenzie, she left her position as Deputy CEO of the NDIS service design and improvement department. And what some being said is that she left following a series of unexpected changes that the NDIS just rolled out without telling anyone. And I guess she, like the majority of us, are getting sick of all of these changes happening without any consultation or warning.

Sam Rickard 1:41

So, yeah, it does seem to be that while the intentions are good, there are some other things going on there that yes, and if it's someone of that seniority has resigned, then I think that I'll be worthwhile looking at. I mean, anyone sort of setting things specific about why she would have resigned. She

Emma Myers 1:59

resigned following the changes to the roll out of foundation supports, which have now been pushed to the end of the year, and also another change that occurred in the wake prior to her departure, was this new legislation, which now dictates that funding periods must be set at 12 months or less for participant plans. I've heard feedback from a few people who said that that's just really an insensitive move on the schemes apart because no one can predict what they'll need in the next 12 months.

Sam Rickard 2:45

Indeed, I mean, it's either too short or it's too long for some of us, really. And now with the news, our guest reader for the week, Maria Burse,

Speaker 1 2:53

thank you, Sam. A top executive has resigned from their position at National Disability Insurance Agency NDIA, amid a series of controversial reform Corrie McKenzie has left her position as Deputy CEO of NDIS service design and improvement following changes to the rollout of foundational supports And the new NDIS legislation, which indicates that funding periods must be set at 12 months or less for individual plans, as Ms McKenzie was an instrumental part of the CO design process. It would seem that the changes have been sprung upon the former executive and those receiving NDIS funding with little warning. While she may be hesitant to comment on the departure, many in a disability community are sharing their thoughts. Dr George thayle Porus has more than 20 years experience in the disability field, focused on advocacy, human rights, policy and practice, service, development and management taking to LinkedIn. Dr tell Porus dubbed Miss McKenzie as one of the most impressive government officials he had ever worked with. She's an incredible communicator and very hard working. I was very sad to hear about her resignation. I remember many intense meetings where participants would be going hard, raising community concerns, and she always displayed a strong willingness to listen, follow up and make things better, says Dr tal Porus to the CEO of Community Mental Health Australia, Kerry Hawkins, Miss McKenzie was the embodiment of progress for those in the psychosocial disability hoping the NDIS would offer emancipation from a clinically captured mental health system and drive broader mental health reform. Corey McKenzie exemplified the transformational leadership capabilities the Public Service did. Desperately needs to deliver transformational outcomes for people, the only measures that should matter. Ms Hawkins said, meanwhile, concerns around funding insecurity increased administration times and the ever widening trust gap remained for those in the disability community, according to the Disability Support guide, in the wake of Miss McKenzie's departure, comments made by people with disability, Australia's President Trinity Ford regarding the delay of foundational supports has gained added weight. We're calling on the government to communicate transparently about next steps and to ensure people with lived experience of disability are at the center of future planning. Ms Ford said, Liberal Party leader Susan lay has delivered the coalition's shadow ministry naming Senator Anne Ruston and MP Phillip Thompson as Shadow ministers for the disability sector. Liberal Senator Anne Ruston assumes the roles of Shadow Minister for Health and aged care disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, while Philip Thompson will act as Shadow Assistant Minister for the NDIS on the newly appointed role. Ms Ruston says being selected for the position is a privilege. I look forward to adding the portfolio of disability and the NDIS to my responsibilities and to working on solutions to address these challenges together, says Senator Rustin. Ms. Rustin has been a senator since 2012 and as a cabinet minister, held the positions of Minister for families and social services, women's safety and manager of government business in the Senate prior to the 2022 election. As Mr. Thompson, he is an ex serviceman who was injured in Afghanistan, Minister, Thompson says he's passionate about helping others overcome adversity to become the best versions of themselves, according to his website, since joining the Liberal Party in 2019 the former soldier has served as Shadow Assistant Minister for defense, defense industry and Defense personnel. In a statement released by her office. Ms Ruston promised to hold the Labor government to account on all decisions impacting the disability community. The coalition will continue to focus on real outcomes to ensure all Australians have timely and affordable access to the care they need, she says. And we finish with some sport. The Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League gets underway this week with an expanded competition that includes six teams. Organizers are aiming for it to become more competitive in preparation for the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics. Triple Paralympic medalist and co founder of the Victorian wonders, Shelley Matheson started the team earlier this year with Paralympic team mate Leanne del tozo. She shared the story of the team's journey with community radio's current affairs show the wire, Ms. Matheson says the team was formed from the ashes of a prior team which crumbled in the wake of COVID 19. The Victorian team has been strong in the league for a number of years. When COVID happened, the team fell over. Undeterred. She pushed on. We knew that there were women in Victoria that wanted to play sport, so we put together that play on program with the intention in mind that we needed a Victorian women's wheelchair basketball team to play in the National League. Ms Matheson says, with both Paralympians putting pressure on clubs and associations around Victoria to house women's wheelchair basketball basketball, Victoria ended up stepping in and committing to the sport for the next three years. Ms Matheson says she wants the National Women's team the gliders, to be successful in the lead up to hosting the 2032 Paralympic Games, all of Australia will be watching. We need women's wheelchair basketball represented in that tournament so the public can see it. We need to be back on the world stage by then. Says Miss Matheson, the three time medalist, believes young girls in Australia need to see themselves in team sport and know that there's an option for them. I grew up in regional Victoria. I didn't see another disabled person until I was 13 years old. I don't want that for the next generation. Ms Matheson says she advocates for an increase in teams to make the sport more local, spending much of her time on the road, traveling as a teenager due to most events being held in metropolitan areas, the Victoria. Own wonders left the co founder wanting less time in cars and more time on court for players today, I don't want people to have to travel three or four hours just to play basketball. I want them to have sporting opportunities in their backyard. Grassroots is super important, because we just want everybody experiencing community connection, she says. And now back to Sam and Emma.

Sam Rickard 10:25

So the biggest question I've got, usually with the opposition at the moment, and this shows how much they've impacted on things, is, how do you pronounce the opposition leader's name? Is it Lee or lay? Do we have a consensus in Canberra yet? Lee season? Lee. That is okay. No worries. Really, a shadow cabinet doesn't have a lot of power as far as what goes on. Their main role does seem to be to complain when things aren't going right. What is your take on the appointments, or what you can actually

Emma Myers 10:55

see of that? Well, look, I think to a degree, the shadow ministry is there to keep the parliamentary covenant honest in their decisions and their decision making. They're there to provide a counter argument, just so we don't have this whole one sided decision making process. And

Sam Rickard 11:19

that actually comes back to what we were talking about before we went to the news, and that is that some decisions at the moment are being made on the fly, and somebody does actually need to look into them. They have to get their act together, really, in order to one, perform their job as an opposition and then two, potentially hold the government to account. All right, so we move on to a bit of fun, and that is a bit of sport. This is a new development, and that is a local Basketball League, or an Australian Wheelchair Basketball League,

Emma Myers 11:50

yes, so the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League has kind of made its debut and was an expanded competitions with six teams. So the team Victoria wonders was formed from the ashes of a prior team which kind of disintegrated in the wake of COVID and the two co founders, Paralympians themselves, and so they wanted some competition. They wanted more women to be interested in wheelchair basketball.

Sam Rickard 12:33

So anyway, what have we got to look forward to next week? Apparently, you've had some excitement recently with oh, well, you had to be evacuated.

Emma Myers 12:43

I had to be evacuated from my apartment building recently, and to be honest, Sam, I was waiting for the day that I'd have to be evacuated because myself and many of us in the disability community don't actually know the protocol for evacuating due to our disability. You know, we all went down in the lift, which we're told not to do. So it was very odd. Well,

Sam Rickard 13:14

this is as we find in broadcasting and in media in general, if there's a something that is traumatic or a nuisance or whatever, it is also very, very good fodder for a show or an article. So we look forward to that next week, but until then, it's time to wrap this wrap up. So bye, from

Speaker 1 13:34

me, bye. You can find these articles and more by going to Powerd, spelled, P, O, W, E, R, D, dot media, along with the podcast of this show, the Powerd news wrap was brought to you by disability media Australia. This show was produced by Sam Rickard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai