Powerd NewsWrap 21st May 2025

Speaker 1 00:08

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

Sam Rickard 00:13

G'day. I'm Sam Ricard, and joining me, as usual, on the other side of the desk is Emma. Myers, hello, Emma, how are you going? Good. Thanks. How are you? I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. You've been having a rough time recently. You've been a bit sick.

Emma Myers 00:26

Yeah, yeah, bit bit down in the dumpster. You know, when rains pause. So, so forgive me if I sound a bit clogged up, but you know, Sailor me, it

Speaker 2 00:41

happens to the best of us anyway, but it hasn't kept you down in all senses, because we've got two wonderful articles that the wonderful Anna foll is going to read for us. Now. What sort of preparation do you do when you're doing the research for these normally,

Speaker 3 00:57

I would ring around to the context that I've got in the disability sector, because they're usually my first point of reference, and they're spot on 100% of the time. Otherwise, I check the Australian Bureau of Statistics, because they're always a good indication of the information that I'm putting out. But occasionally I use a site that hasn't really got that much of a platform that still has quite relevant information. Well, let's

Speaker 2 01:37

delve into these now. So over to our guest news reader for this week. ANNA foale,

Speaker 1 01:42

thank you, Sam the peak advocacy body people with disability Australia is calling for the appointment of a designated Minister for Disability in the wake of Labor's landslide election win, prior to the reinstatement of the Albanese government, advocates from across the country, outlined their recommendations for a more disability inclusive Australia, and now PDA has weighed. In a statement released by people with disability Australia called for seven key priorities for the community, which included the creation of a Minister for Disability Inclusion in federal cabinet and the establishment of a dedicated department of disability equality and inclusion. CEO of physical disability Australia, Jeremy Muir, has gone one step further, calling on the Labor Government to prove that it has heard the disability community, those of us living with disabilities must be at the forefront of disability inclusion, disability policy and disability programs, says Mr. Muir, our lived experiences of disability need to be the foundations from which real and positive change grows. The notion of a dedicated minister and department for disability has been the subject of numerous debates since its appearance in the disability Royal Commission recommendations, which were released in September 2023 in the lead up to the election green Senator Jordan still John, a member of the Australian Senate from Western Australia, who lives with disability, had previously announced the party's intention to create a Minister for Disability within the federal cabinet. Jordan still John said the following, it will give us the opportunity to actually ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard within government, and that disabled communities have an individual to hold accountable when government lets us down. PDA was quick to congratulate Labor's Ali France, who has an acquired disability, on winning the seat of Dixon in Queensland, in doing so, beating Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton. The peak body also shared congratulations with Senator Jordan still John on his re election in a statement on their website, PDA claimed that much of the disability community feels a sense of optimism. Let's hope that the voices of these two representatives are heard and listened to by government, and that positive change is on the cards. It read, Vice President of physical disability Australia, Mark peach says, people living with disability belong in the room where the conversation takes place. We're not an afterthought. We're citizens, leaders, parents, professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, voters, we are the faces, minds and bodies of disability, and we're ready to shape the future of this country for people living with disability, changes to the NDIS and the introduction of foundational supports, which are on the agenda of the newly returned Labor government. Government will be the challenge of two ministers new to the role of leading on disability issues following the government's reshuffle, the Minister for Health and aged care, Mark Butler will share the role of NDIS minister with Senator Jenny McAllister, the former minister for emergency management, Mark Butler has been a member of the Labor Party and the Federal Parliament since 2007 he has held the ministries of housing, homelessness and social inclusion, to name a few. As for Senator Jenny McAllister, she has held senior roles in both the public and private sectors. Ms McAllister previously held the position of shadow Assistant Minister for the communities and the prevention of family violence. Both politicians claim to be very community minded. Ms McAllister is passionate about managing the economy to achieve social justice and social inclusion, points that she flagged in her recent campaign page in the run up to the election, while the Health Minister claims to have worked for some of the most disadvantaged people in the community as an official with united voice on his newly appointed position, Mr. Butler said he would ensure labor put systems of care and support as well as patients and people, first, our task is crystal clear, to strengthen Medicare, protect the PBS, deliver generational reform to aged care and secure the future of the NDIS, said Mr. Butler, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, addressed the decision to merge NDIS with health, stating the move has been a long time coming. This is something that we were discussing even when Bill Shorten was still here. The pm said, while the government's decision to combine the NDIS and health portfolios has not been made lightly, it does pose a potential risk of the disability community being overly medicalized, something advocates have been fighting against for decades. In a report by the Australian CEO of the Australian Federation of disability organizations, afdo Ross Joyce, noted the uncertainty felt in the disability sector surrounding the move, placing the NDIS with the health portfolio potentially risks medicalising disability and undermines the scheme's social model foundations, which are based on choice, control and inclusion. Mr. Joyce said, while advocates are currently pushing for political policy development using a human rights based approach. Previous perceptions surrounding disability have been based on the medical and social models of disability. According to a fdos website, the medical model of disability says people are disabled by their impairments or differences, and focuses on what is wrong with the person, not what the person needs. Whereas the social model of disability says that people are disabled by barriers in society. In a statement on people with disability Australia's website, it says the social model of disability is now the internationally recognized way to view and address disability. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD marks the official paradigm shift in attitudes towards people with disability and approaches to disability concerns, although the government has been pushing its positive stance on genuinely co designing an accessible and inclusive Australia, the PMs comments could be interpreted as ignoring concerns put forward by the country's Disability Rights Advocates, which was noted by the community radio network's political reporter Noah Seacom, advocates have been vocally opposed to this approach, which gives the impression the government isn't consulting with the community as much as it has promised. The reshuffle sees Labor's outgoing Minister of Social Services and the NDIS Amanda Rishworth take on the role of Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations again.

Speaker 2 09:27

Thanks Anna for the lovely news reading. So both of these articles are sort of related in a way, because we're all still trying to work out where we stand with this. It's not a new government, but it's a new confident government.

Speaker 3 09:44

Yeah, definitely. And I think that's been quite a diverse reaction among the disability community, because on one hand, we've now got Ailey France and Jordan city, or John i. Obviously Jordan, still, John is a green Senator with cerebral palsy, but we've got Ailey fancies labor, and she's not only a woman, but a woman with a disability who kicked Peter Dutton out of his eight that he's out for, what, 24 years, something like that, and so that's a big feat in itself, but it's a huge feat with the disability community, because we've now got two prominent politicians with disability fighting for the rights of our community. But on the other hand, with the appointment of Mark Butler, who's the Minister for Health and aged care, you've got this sense that we could see decisions being made more around the medical model of disability, which, if You don't know, is kind of the view that people with disability have, and I quote, in air quotes, something wrong with them and that they need to be fixed. Whether, up until recently, we've been looking at disability through the social model of disability, which puts disability as defined by social barriers, rather than putting the disability on the person. And so the Australian Federation of disability organization, CEO Ross Joyce said that putting the NDIS underneath a portfolio that's handled by the Minister of Health, risk medicalizing disability and we could see the community treated in a completely different way because of it. After the article went out, I also received a text message from the CEO of women with disability, Sophie Carter was who also backed up Russ Joyce's claim. It

Speaker 2 12:14

is an interesting thing. Amanda, it's the way that we're viewed as a population is sort of seems to have overflowed to some degree into government, hasn't it? It's so I mean, a large proportion of people out there would assume that, yes, we're somehow sick in some way, that we need to be made better, or something like that. I think what that means for us as a community too is it gives us an opportunity to lobby government ourselves and maybe make them think, you know, think differently as well. I think that's one thing, and that was that that was that was read out, dealt with the fact that a lot of organizations now are looking at, well, uh, lobbying for a specific disability minister, yeah, you

Speaker 3 12:59

are. And the green Senator Jordan, CEO John actually introduced a policy during the election that, should they be re elected. They wanted to introduce not only a Minister for Disability, but in office of disability. You know, in my previous talks with Senator do John He made the valid point that we have a minister for First Nations, we have a Minister for Women, but we don't have a Minister for Disability. And I think that's a great comparison, and it begs the question, why don't we?

Speaker 2 13:44

Indeed, and it probably would mean that, yes, the you could roll in things like health and and the NDIS and things like that, so that they can work independently from each other, but also there'd be some form of communication. That's the way I'd see it anyway, yeah,

Speaker 3 13:59

and look, I think, I think in a way, just because Mark Butler handles both the health portfolio and the NDIS portfolio doesn't mean that they're going to be merged together. However, it does pose a risk of intersecting on the odd occasion, and the fact that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese actively said, we're moving the NDIS into health sparked concern and

Speaker 2 14:34

valid concern, as well as I said it just it goes for people like ourselves to actively lobby and to say, hey, there's more to our life than getting better, as it were anyway, that is a wrap for this wrap. How's your chase for the new member for Dixon going?

Speaker 3 14:53

I'm still on that trail, but I can't worry if it doesn't happen in. Next two months, it'll definitely happen. I am not giving up. I will have my moment with Ailey, France, brilliant.

15:07

Bye. For now, bye.

Speaker 1 15:09

You 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 powerdnews rap was brought to you by disability media Australia. This show was produced by Sam Rickard in the Adelaide studios of Vision Australia radio you.