Powerd NewsWrap 1st April 2026

Vision Australia ID  0:00  
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Speaker 1  0:21  
on the Vision Australia at reading radio networks. This is the Powerd news,

Sam Rickard  0:26  
rap, G'day. I'm Sam Rickard. It's the first of April 2026 we're reading articles from the Powerd dot media website. And of course, joining me today is Emma Myers, the writer of these articles, or in this case, a podcast. G'day. Emma, hello. So what we're starting off with is, is you said last week a podcast within a podcast. But before we start, we actually have some late breaking news, don't we? Every state in Australia and federally have now opted for a Human Rights Act.

Emma Myers  0:57  
You mean we don't have to worry about equality ever again.

Sam Rickard  1:01  
That's exactly right. Apparently, now the employers are calling disabled people and saying, Please work for us. It's completely remarkable. Also, I'm seeing an article here that's suggested that within the next year, all disability conditions, if we want, are going to be cured. Happy. April's rules Day, everybody. We've had our fun. All right. So back to this series podcast that you and Powerd media are working on. Maybe you can tell

Emma Myers  1:30  
us a little bit about it. Yeah, so Powerd media have partnered with the federal government to deliver a podcast around each branch under the umbrella of the civilian Disability Strategy. And so we've we've got the wonderful Sam Drummond hosting the podcast. It's called Building inclusion, and the first episode of this was looking at inclusive employment and how it really makes a difference when employers are open to different ways of doing things.

Sam Rickard  2:12  
I think we've all had our experiences on either trying to get work or trying to keep work, and it does come down to an attitudinal thing, to a large degree, in that some people will take on a person with a disability as their civic duty, or something like that, which I

Emma Myers  2:30  
found, which I

Sam Rickard  2:33  
find a tad condescending. Really, there has to be a mindset change, and that is that people like you and me are different. It doesn't mean necessarily that we do things worse than other people or slower than other people. Sometimes we do it means we do things differently to other people, which I think is a bonus to anyone that is willing to take that chance.

Emma Myers  2:58  
Definitely the thing is, then, difference is not always a bad thing. In fact, it can be an opportunity for people to experience getting the same result in a varied, even more positive way,

Sam Rickard  3:17  
indeed, exactly right. And I think that sometimes employers need to accept that the limitations are worth the benefits of employing someone with a disability. All right, so in the meantime, let us head straight over to well, to youth. To start out with,

Emma Myers  3:38  
Youth Works is helping young people to gain work experience and skills for meaningful employment. Volunteers like Caitlin learn and contribute in real workplaces. Sam Drummond spoke with her to learn more about her

Speaker 2  3:55  
passion, but unfortunately, I had a car accident in the middle of it, but luckily, I was able to finish all my coffees after I recovered from my accident.

Sam Drummond  4:06  
What about the other life skills going through to the back of Youth Works? It seems like Youth Works isn't just about employment, but about broader life skills. Are there some things that you've learned that you take home and, you know, do

Speaker 2  4:20  
every day, pretty much, I've actually learned how to cook here. Youth Works has opened my mind to broaden my cooking and life skills. I actually brought a few of those tips home. I've learned how to cut up a salad and then I've cooked chicken before I've even made fried rice, it's just helped me improve my skills.

Emma Myers  4:45  
Caitlin has been passionate about the cafe industry since she was young, and hoped to become a booster. I've been at

Speaker 2  4:54  
youth work since the start of this year, pretty much. Yep, I do. Just joined youth, works for volunteering, workshops and trying to make some new friends, get out of home. That's, yeah, it's been very good for me, and I've been a bit stressed since leaving school because I didn't know what I was going to do. I still don't know what I'm going to do, but I have hopes to become a barista.

Sam Drummond  5:21  
So what sort of opportunities has Youth Works offered you?

Speaker 2  5:24  
Well, they've offered me life skills, workplace skills, different opportunities, like places where I could hang out for free, and I've been learning about budgeting, finance, money, stuff and employment opportunities, we've been going to industry tours, workplace learning about workplace skills, for example, how to act in a workplace, what you're responsible for, what an employee or employer is, and yeah, that's pretty much it.

Emma Myers  5:58  
Program Coordinator at Youth Works. Can you? PD, except the programs are opening conversations about disability in the top end, I

Speaker 3  6:08  
think just people having an open mind and being open to accepting someone who may have a few differences to the rest of the team, but just accepting that everyone has their differences and that shouldn't actually be a problem. I think it's just being being accepted for who they are, then being having an open open mind.

Sam Drummond  6:27  
And are there some adjustments that people here ask for or require to do a job that are really easy to implement for employers?

Speaker 3  6:36  
Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of our young people can't take too many instructions all at one time. So that's one of the biggest things we do when we put young people into employment, or even just right from the start at work experience, is just asking them how they want to learn.

Sam Drummond  6:51  
So Caitlin's gone off this morning to run a grocery program with cheaper groceries than you'd find in the other supermarkets. Is that the main activity that Youth Works is doing, or are there other programs as well that you

Speaker 3  7:06  
no so that food bank activity, volunteer activity, is just one of many activities that we bring into our programs. So the program that Caitlin is in is called encompass and it's for young people with a disability with an NDIS plan. And then we have another program which almost mirrors it, very similar for young people without an NDIS plan, but majority of all our programs here run very similar to a same formula. So we do coaching one on one, which helps them set their goals, their aspirations, tell us about what they want to do, what they want to achieve, and we work with them to build steps into there and help them move towards their goals. Then we have our workshops once a week, and those workshops are around skill building independence, life skills, adulting everything that they need to know to be independent. Young Adult in the big wide world,

Sam Rickard  7:55  
New South Wales transport users with a disability will be pleased to learn that taxi providers who refuse to accept fares from passengers using the taxi transport subsidy scheme, tss could now face up to $3,000 worth of fines. The New South Wales Government has announced that providers that refuse TTSs passengers will face financial penalties. Vision Australia, the peak advocacy body for people who are blind or have low vision, says it hopes the proposed legal repercussions will help put an end to such refusals Vision Australia lead policy adviser Bruce Maguire explains that the blind community often relies on point to point transport, such as taxis, to be active and independent members of the community, and the TTSs is designed to alleviate the financial burden. It has become more and more common for taxi providers to refuse to accept TTSs as part payment of fares when there is really no reason to do so, drivers still receive the full fare if a passenger uses the TTSs and a refusal to accept such a fare only hurts the passenger who may have no other way of traveling, says Mr. Maguire, the TTSs provides eligible people with a subsidy of 50 per cent of the taxi fare, up to a maximum subsidy of $60 the subsidy is paid to the taxi provider at the end of the trip, with the passenger paying the rest of the fare. We know from the experience of people who travel with seeing eye dogs or other dog guides who are often illegally refused from traveling in taxis, that seeking enforcement against drivers and providers can be an onerous process that often leads nowhere. Bruce explains, last year saw a crackdown on such activity when major transport company one three cabs rolled out a policy dedicated to ensuring passengers with assistance animals would not be refused transport based on their accessibility requirements. The company's chief operating officer, Olivia Barry, explained that the trips are monitored via devices which remind the drivers of their obligations to passengers. She believes everyone deserves to travel with. Dignity. The rules have always been there, but the enforcement across the industry hasn't always matched the severity of the offense, says ms Barry, Bruce McGuire, the Vision Australia lead policy adviser, says stronger regulation around the TTSs is very much welcome, and is interested to know how the fines will work in practice, fines are only effective if that can be enforced, and we hope the government will also improve that process. So taxi refusals is a bug bear. It's something that I've seen experienced, and sometimes it seems to be not just guide dogs. It does seem to be certain taxi drivers that don't want to take vouchers or the taxi card as well. I've heard this on a numerical number of occasions. Oh yes, they're gonna find fine them a whole lot for doing something. But one, you got to prove that there's been done that's the big problem.

Emma Myers  10:55  
Well, yeah, and this is what Vision Australia policy advisor Bruce and Maguire were saying it's all well and good, and they're really excited that taxi drivers will now be fined for refusing to take the taxi transport subsidies, game vouchers. But how will they actually enforce these fines? And one such company is trying to enforce its rules and regulations. So the cab company, 13 cabs, ruled out a policy dedicated to ensuring assistance animals would not be refused transport last year, and the COO actually said that the way that they do it is they actually have cameras and monitors and an actual verbal or written reminder for taxi drivers that it's illegal to do this, and so They can actually catch them on their monitors if they don't follow the rules.

Sam Rickard  12:05  
This is actually a reaction to a number of disability discrimination complaints that has been pushed through over the last 10 or so years, and yes, one three cabs was one of the worst offenders as far as this kind of behavior went. So it's a positive thing that I've been trying to get a hold of Olivia Barry myself for quite some time, and I don't think she necessarily wants to talk to someone who gives things too much scrutiny, but the they're at least trying to now fix a problem, even though, yes, it's been in existence for quite some time, and that's really what it comes down to. There needs to be an active interest from the companies themselves. They can't just rely on the drivers to do the right thing, because for every rule that you put in place, they will find a way around it. So it will be an interesting thing to see. I mean, we've myself and my wife at one stage face this one because my wife gave the driver her card, and the driver said, Oh, I forgot my mobile phone. I can't take the card, so, yeah, so, so what's to say the driver hadn't forgotten their mobile highly unlikely, but that's kind of the excuses that get used. So I would be keen to see what happens there. I know this is not an April Fool's joke story, so it's good that they're trying to do something about it, but I will wait to see if the instances go down at all anyway. That is a wrap for this wrap. We will be back next week when we work out what we're doing next week, bye for now and

Speaker 1  13:51  
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. This show was produced by Sam Rickard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia. Radio