News
With 9 days left until the Federal Election, Australia’s top disability representative organisations have come together with solutions to relieve cost of living pressures on voters with disability.
El Gibbs, CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia, says voters with disability have been largely ignored in this year’s election campaign.
Cost of living is hitting people with disability particularly hard, and yet it has not featured in the campaign, so we have come up with our own solutions that are ready to be actioned on day one of the new government
El Gibbs
The National Blueprint for Economic Justice, developed by and with people with disability, identifies income support, employment and housing as the key areas which need improving. It also explains how people with disability bring valuable perspectives and innovative problem-solving skills to workplaces and communities when barriers to participation are removed.
With 4.4 million Australians living with disability, and just over 1 in 10 people with disability on the NDIS, advocates say its time for a complete overhaul.
Jenny Karavolos, Co-chair of Australian Autism Alliance, argues that everyone deserves enough money to live with dignity and participate in society.
By redesigning the Disability Support Pension to reflect the real costs of disability and removing barriers to work, the next Government can ensure all disabled people have the economic security needed to thrive
Jenny Karavolos
Tennille Lamb, Director of Strategy, Policy and International at First Peoples Disability Network, says First Nations people with disability know exactly what is needed for economic security, but decision-makers have routinely ignored their expertise.
Governments make choices about what to prioritise. Creating economic justice for people with disability is a choice the next Government can and must make to fulfil our rights and strengthen our entire society
Tennille Lamb
The country’s top disability representatives explain the National Blueprint presents clear, achievable actions for the next Government to transform critical areas, boasting of a watershed moment as disabled people demand economic justice ahead of the federal election.
Trinity Ford, President of People with Disability Australia, echoes the sentiment many peak bodies are voicing: disabled people want the same things as everyone else - housing that meets their needs, a fair job and enough money to live safely and with dignity.
Right now, too many of us are locked out from these basics. Our Blueprint shows what needs to change. We need the next government to act.
Trinity Ford