News
Changes to the NDIS and the introduction of Foundational Supports, which are on the agenda of the newly returned Labor 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 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 puts 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.
Mark 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 medicalised—something advocates have been fighting against for decades.
In a report by The Australian, CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (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.
Ross Joyce
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 AFDO’s 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 recognised 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 PM’s 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 Secomb.
“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.