Geelong has been at the forefront of the Every Australian Counts Campaign lobbying for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). At a press conference yesterday morning (Wednesday 10 August), the Gillard Government announced that they share the vision of the Productivity Commission Report and will be committing $10 million to start the work and lay the foundations to get Australia NDIS ready.
‘Karingal is pleased and proud to be an active supporter of this campaign and that our voices have been heard,’ says Daryl Starkey, Karingal Chief Executive Officer. ‘However, the campaign is not yet over. We have a long way to go between yesterday’s announcement and the implementation of an NDIS. We hope that the Commonwealth & the States will work productively together so that the implementation of the scheme can be expedited.’
‘An NDIS has the potential to revolutionise disability services,’ Mr Starkey says. ‘More than 53,700 peoples have registered their support for this vital campaign and it is important that the numbers of supporters continues to grow.’
The National campaign saw Geelong as the locality of a number of ‘firsts’ amongst organisational supporters: City of Greater Geelong was the first municipality to register its support; Point Lonsdale Primary School was the first primary school in the country to do so and G21 as a regional body was also a frontrunner.
The Productivity Commission said in its report that the current system is broken, unfair, under-funded and inefficient. The recommendations would see the proposed scheme implemented with a personalplan tailored to the needs of each person with a disability and their families.
Geelong resident Lynne Foreman believes that a disability insurance will have a positive impact on her life. ‘We need a national scheme so that it will be more straightforward for people with disabilities to get the services and equipment we need. Currently it takes too much time and too much red tape to get my needs met.’
All over Australia, as part of the Every Australian Counts campaign over the past several months, thousands of people with disabilities and their families and carers have contacted their local federal politicians, demanding they exert pressure on their political parties to overhaul Australia’s current dysfunctional disability system
For further information regarding the developments in the Every Australian Counts Campaign, please contact:
Jacqui Pierce NDIS Coordinator 5258 4205 or
j_pierce@bigpond.net.au