Disability News: Vol 1 No 3 - Wednesday, 1 June 2005
Enhancing post secondary education, training and employment opportunities for people with a disability RDLO & DCOs National Website http://www.adcet.edu.au/rdco/	Compiled by Timothy Hart DCO for Northern, Central and Southern Sydney

To return to the DCO Disability Newsletter archive page go to http://www.cdds.med.usyd.edu.au/dco/newsletter or click here

Education:
Strikes greet Howard changes
Dorothy Illing
June 01, 2005
UNIONS covering 60,000 staff across universities and TAFE colleges will stage a national protest today against the Howard Government's industrial relations changes.
Stoppages at eight universities, rallies and public meetings are scheduled in main metropolitan and regional centres as part of the action.
Eight unions yesterday called on the Government to scrap its plan to tie public funding to new industrial conditions.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15469793%255E12332,00.html

Fewer locals find a place
Samantha Maiden
June 01, 2005
OVERSEAS students have delivered record enrolments to Australia's universities but the number of domestic students has again declined.
The latest analysis of enrolments across the nation's universities reveals Australia is approaching the 1 million mark with student numbers rising by 15,000 to 944,977 last year.
However, the number of Australian citizens attending university dropped by 3000 students last year.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15469795%255E12332,00.html

Debt deters students
Alexandra Blair
June 01, 2005
AS many as one in four teenagers from single-parent families are deterred from thoughts of university by the prospect of getting into debt, a British study has found. White working-class boys are worst affected.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15468503%255E12332,00.html

More help for students with disabilities
By Claire Miller
May 29, 2005
Students with disabilities will be given more help to integrate into schools after teachers and parents warned that the present system is close to collapsing.
Extra staff and resources will be devoted to the Education Department body responsible for administering the integration program in Victoria.
And a taskforce of specialists will be set up to advise Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan directly on what needs to be done to fix the program and to oversee change.
The group will include school-based integration and specialist staff, representatives from professional associations, including speech therapists, and principals. Ms Allan wants it established by term three.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/More-help-for-students-with-disabilities/2005/05/28/1117129931541.html

Nelson 'reviewing' student fees plan
By David Wroe
Canberra and David Rood
May 27, 2005
A compromise model may allow universities to charge compulsory fees for services only.
University sports clubs and essential student services may be granted a reprieve from a Government plan to abolish compulsory student unionism.
The Age has been told Education Minister Brendan Nelson is reviewing aspects of his tough voluntary student unionism legislation, which would stop universities charging a compulsory fee to students.
The $160 million in compulsory student fees universities collect each year are used to pay for student services, sports and recreation as well as student political activity. Universities say the legislation, if implemented, would destroy campus services and sports.
Liberal MP Kym Richardson, a member of the Government's education backbench policy committee, told The Age Dr Nelson was reviewing aspects of his plan.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Nelson-reviewing-student-fees-plan/2005/05/26/1116950821733.html

Student ousted for ruse
Brendan O'Keefe
May 25, 2005
THE University of New England council has expelled a Young Liberal student who passed himself off as a Green and handed out beer while spruiking near a voting booth on student election day.
Wade McInerney, president of the UNE student union, has also been banned from voting or standing in student elections until November next year.
The union, which has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years running the university bistro, a pub in UNE's northern NSW home town of Armidale and an on-campus conference centre and restaurant, has been placed into administration after its board was suspended.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15395045%255E12332,00.html

Unis face crunch: RMIT head
May 24, 2005
Australian universities' reliance on overseas student revenue could cause fee increases that would deter students from studying in Australia, the head of RMIT has warned.
Vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner said the Federal Government had created an incentive for universities to look offshore for funding by putting them in the situation where international students were cross-subsidising the education of Australian students.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Unis-face-crunch-RMIT-head/2005/05/23/1116700649786.html

Call to mix uni, vocational courses
Ebru Yaman, Higher education editor
May 24, 2005
UNIVERSITIES should be allowed to offer higher education and vocational training concurrently, according to RMIT vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner, who says it would allow an engineering degree to be offered alongside a plumbing certificate.
In her inaugural speech as the head of RMIT in Melbourne, Professor Gardner said Australia's qualifications framework was "too rigid" and that qualifications should be more easily transferred between states and countries.
"We can take the strength that comes from offering both vocational and higher education qualifications and drawing on research by providing new combinations of these forms of education and training," Professor Gardner said.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15387024%255E12332,00.html

Higher fees to slug 400,000
Ebru Yaman, Higher education editor
May 23, 2005
MORE than 400,000 university students will be hit by the Howard Government's 25 per cent fee increase within three years.
Estimates provided yesterday by the Department of Education, Science and Training provide a state and institutional breakdown of the number of students who will be liable for the higher HECS schedule, year by year to 2008.
The figures – based on 2003 data, which does not take into account new university places allocated across the nation last year – show NSW will have the most students paying more for their courses, with 123,756 expected to be affected by 2008.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15374713%255E2702,00.html

$6m boost for young disabled
May 23, 2005
THE New South Wales Government has announced $6 million in additional funding to ensure disabled young people receive at least three days' support a week.
NSW Minister for Disability Services John Della Bosca today said the extra funds would help people struggling to care for disabled family members.
"This additional funding will alleviate pressure on families and allow for a major redesign of post-school programs to give better options," he said.
"Young people with a disability who now receive less than three days will have their support increased."
To curb the rising cost of support care, Mr Della Bosca said service providers would be subjected to a competitive tender process.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15376216%255E1702,00.html

TAFE teachers reject AWAs
Susan Price
Workers at TAFE colleges across the country were issued with an ultimatum by the federal government on May 11: Unless state and territory employers offer TAFE teachers Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), Commonwealth funding will be withdrawn.
The federal government tabled the Skilling Australia’s Workforce Bill on May 11. The bill stipulates that funding for TAFE/VET colleges will cease from July 1 unless states and territories agree in writing to the conditions set out in the government’s legislation.
On May 19, the Australian Education Union (AEU) announced that TAFE teachers around Australia will be taking protest action on June 1 to defend the national training system. They will join protests called by the National Tertiary Education Union for that day.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/627/627p6b.htm

Disabled students suffer as integration cut
By Claire Miller
May 22, 2005
Harriet Houghton has just about seen it all in more than 20 years integrating disabled students into schools.
But what she can't see is why the State Government is letting a hitherto successful program slide into chaos.
"I don't think they are heartless - I just don't think they understand," she said.
A Sunday Age investigation has found that the once innovative integration program for students with disabilities and impairments is struggling after years of inadequate resources and professional training, staff cuts, poor accountability and budget-driven tightening of eligibility criteria.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Disabled-students-suffer-as-integration-cut/2005/05/21/1116533580361.html

Employment:
Disabled workers paying the price
Matthew Davis, Perth
The federal Coalition government, through its May budget, has introduced tax breaks for the rich and a “blame and shame the poor” approach.
The measures, which will take effect on July 1, include tightening eligibility for the Disability Support Pension (DSP) to those unable to work 15 hours or less per week. Currently those unable to work for up to 30 hours a week are eligible. This restriction, along with other measures including subjecting new DSP applicants to a work test, is estimated to save the government $1.4 billion.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/628/628p7.htm

Half of next PS graduate intake will be disabled
By Paul Malone Public Service Reporter
Saturday, 21 May 2005
Half of next year's ACT Public Service graduate intake would come from people with disabilities, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope announced yesterday.
Mr Stanhope said the Government had set a target, not a quota, and all recruits in the graduate intake of 20 next year would have to meet skill and qualification requirements.
The Opposition spokeswoman on disability, housing and community care Jacqui Burke said it was a positive move.
The awarding of jobs should be on merit "but let's not forget that there are some very talented people out there with a disability that are overlooked".
For the rest of the article go to
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&story_id=395406&category=General+News&m=5&y=2005

Welfare:

Glenn Milne: Ambushes on the road to reform
May 30, 2005
THE federal Government is about to confront a powerful corollary of its new-found dominance in the Senate: its unexpected ability to push through more radical reforms than it previously considered politically possible will also, in turn, galvanise a coalition of interest groups opposed to those reforms.
The danger for the Government will be if these groups coalesce to form a broad front of combined sectional concerns campaigning together at the next election for Kim Beazley.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15444398%255E7583,00.html

Disability sector to target marginals
By Danny Rose
May 30, 2005
THE peak body for Australians with disabilities has outlined a plan to pressure the Federal Government where it hurts – in marginal seats – over its attempt to slash its $30 billion welfare bill.
Australian Federation for Disability Organisations (AFDO) today highlighted 14 seats where it said the number of people on the Disability Support Pension (DSP) exceeded the number of votes needed for the seat to change hands.
The organisation opposes the Government's DSP reforms outlined in the federal Budget, which include redirecting many new applicants into a different pension system based on job-search.
The AFDO says people on the new scheme will be on average $44 a week worse off, while those on the existing scheme will receive less help to obtain work.
AFDO chief executive Maryanne Diamond said Bass, in northern Tasmania, was one example of a seat where it would seek to pressure the Government into change.
For the rest of the article go to
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=3205497

Govt under pressure over welfare cuts
The peak body for Australians with disabilities has outlined a plan to pressure the federal government where it hurts - in marginal seats - over its attempt to slash its $30 billion welfare bill.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Govt-under-pressure-over-welfare-cuts/2005/05/30/1117305545968.html

Howard's income claims an 'illusion'
Mike Steketee, National affairs editor
May 30, 2005
A LEADING charity has challenged John Howard's claim that low-income households have enjoyed the fastest growth in earnings and says there has been a serious widening of the income gap.
A study to be released today by the St Vincent de Paul Society warns that Australia is making a "headlong dash into the chasm of inequality".
The paper, The Reality of Income Inequality in Australia, accuses the Prime Minister of relying on mathematical illusion for his arguments.
It tackles him on what it calls his "remarkable conclusion", repeated in parliament last Thursday, that low-income households have enjoyed the strongest growth in private incomes.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15448256%255E2702,00.html

Budget's hidden 'reform': a two-class welfare system
By Ross Gittins
May 30, 2005
MONDAY COMMENT
All those decrying the federal budget as a missed opportunity have missed the great "reform" it contains. They've missed it because it's not something the Government has wanted to draw attention to.
And if I was responsible for it, I wouldn't want to draw attention to it, either.
Hidden behind all the worthy talk about encouraging sole parents and the disabled back into the workforce is a much more cold-blooded decision to switch the nation to a two-class welfare system - a system where some people get benefits a lot higher than others.
For the rest of the article go to
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/05/29/1117305499088.html

Media Releases:
30 May 2005
*16 New Ambassadors to Help Australians with Disability*
Today the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations has launched /Campaign Enable/ to fight the Government’s changes to the disability support pension made in the recent Federal budget, and to secure a better deal for Australians with a disability.
For too many years the Howard Government has talked about the need to reform the assistance available to people with disabilities but has done very little in a practical way to actually assist people with a disability to find and keep employment.
The Government’s changes to the disability support pension will NOT assist people with disabilities get a job, but will mean they are $44 a week worse off and receive less assistance when looking for work.
This is just not fair.
For the rest of this Media release and Campaign Kit go to
http://www.enable.net.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=enablenet.news.full&article=1158

Vinnies Challenges PM’s Views on Income Inequality
MONDAY, 30 MAY 2005 “Contrary to recent assertions made by the Government and certain researchers, income inequality in Australia is growing.” This is the opening claim of the paper launched today by the St Vincent de Paul Society in response to what it describes as ‘the mischievous and dubious media hype denigrating the fact of inequality and the questionable research that supports this denigration.”
“Many higher income Australians realize, but do not want to recognize, this growing income gap and the inequality associated with it, because it disturbs their comfort zones,” says the Social Policy Issues Paper, The Reality of Income Inequality in Australia, www.vinnies.org.au “The remarkable conclusion that private income growth is strongest at the bottom end, cited by the Prime Minister, is based on a mathematical illusion of comparing percentages on margins. This is like arguing that an income rise from $10 to $50 (i.e. 500%) is better than an income rise from $1 million to $1.5 million (i.e. only 50%).”
The paper describes Australia as having “differentials in income levels ... so great that low income families are unable to enjoy even a minimum standard of living, allowing them to live their lives in dignity and to participate in the wider community.”
Refuting the NATSEM claims that the welfare state has successfully moderated income inequality in Australia, the Vinnies paper demonstrates that, in real dollar terms, income inequality continues to flourish:
Between 1994/5 - 2002/3, real mean incomes grew at the following rates:
Low Incomes - real mean weekly income of $269, 12% rise was $32.28 Middle Incomes - real mean weekly income of $449, 14% rise was $62.86 High Incomes - real mean weekly income of $975, 16% rise was $156.00 ABS Household Income and Income Distribution 6523.0, Page 5 The Vinnies paper slams the Federal Budget, warning that “there is no doubt that income inequality will grow even further once the tax cuts and welfare reforms are implemented.” The question is
begged: “Why do governments and some people seem to accept that, in order to work harder, the rich need more money, while the poor need more penalties?”
Regarding the myth of Australia’s welfare largesse to the poor, it states that “45% of the population, who are not low income, derive major gains from welfare [and this] does not fit in with the continual bombardment in the media of those on welfare being, lazy, good-for-nothing, dole bludgers, shirkers, child-bearing girls that only want the income support payments, injured workers feigning back and other problems, or disabled people who won’t work when they can.”
The paper points out that, while income inequality is most easily identifiable and most amenable to short term action, other areas such as health, education, housing and the like are central to any strategy for addressing inequality and deprivation and that such a strategy is impossible without real co-operation between the Commonwealth and the States.”
Contact:
Terry McCarthy (02) 6281 1673 / 0410590506 John Wicks (02) 6286 1442 John Falzon (02) 9572 6044 IO421332247 Anthony Dalton (03) 9879 0894 Gavin Dufty (03) 9895 5816
For full copy of the Issues Paper:
www.vinnies.org.au

MEDIA RELEASE
Senator Chris Evans
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Shadow Minister for Social Security
30 May 2005
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES TO LOSE $215 EACH FORTNIGHT People with disabilities will have their income slashed by up to $215 a fortnight as a result of the Howard Government's budget welfare changes (see table below). (NB not attached - formatting lost) No wonder the Australian Federation of Disability Support Organisations is campaigning against the Howard government in its marginal seats.
Like the cuts faced by the families of working single parents, this massive slug on people with disabilities flies in the face of the Government's rhetoric about increasing the incentive to work.
The cut in income for people with disabilities comes as result of new applicants for income support being forced onto the disability dole after 1 July 2006.
For the rest of this Media release go to
http://www.chrisevans.alp.org.au/media.php?rID=127

155/05 20 May 2005
People With Disabilities Urged To Apply For Act Public Service Jobs

Jon Stanhope MLA

CHIEF MINISTER

155/05 20 May 2005
Half of next year's ACT Public Service graduate intake could be people with disabilities under a groundbreaking ACT Government scheme, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said.
"People with disabilities are valuable community members whose worth too often goes unrecognised," Mr Stanhope said. "Canberrans with disabilities make up a potential labour pool of more than 53,000 people - that's almost one in five members of the city's potential workforce. Getting more of these people in to work will be good news for everyone - the community, public service and people with disabilities."
And to help promote the ACT Public Service graduate program to a diverse range of high-calibre graduates, the ACT Government will have a display at the upcoming Careers Expo 2005, which begins in Canberra today (Friday).
For the rest of this press release go to
http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/mediareleases/fileread.cfm?file=155.txt

Low Cost Internet Services for Australia’s Aged, Veterans, And People With Disabilities.
About 250,000 aged, Veterans and people with disabilities throughout Australia will have access to a low cost Internet service thanks to a partnership arrangement negotiated by Technical Aid to the Disabled Australia.
Details of the partnership between TADAust and the internet services provider ISPOne were announced on Friday, 20 May in a joint statement by the ACT Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, John Hargreaves and ACT Liberal senator, Gary Humphries.
The partnership will enable the aged, veterans and people with disabilities to go online at the vastly cheaper rate of only $5.50 a month. Such internet services usually cost $30 to $40 a month.
For the rest of this press release go to
http://www.acrodnsw.net/membersnsw/Info-Es/ACROD%20NSW%20Info-E%20Low%20Cost%20Internet%20Services.htm

New Resources:
Facts for Features from the Census Bureau
15th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act: July 26, 2005 [online 26 May 2005]
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/004998.html
or
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2005/cb05ff-10.pdf
[full-text, 3 pages]

Employment and Disability Institute (EDI)
Cornell Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Economic Research
on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities
Policy Brief
Has the Employment Rate of People with Disabilities Declined? [December 2004]
David C. Stapleton
Cornell University Institute for Policy Research
Richard V. Burkhauser
Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University
Andrew J. Houtenville
Employment and Disability Institute, Cornell University
The Urban Institute
Go to--
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/publications/PB_EmpDecline.pdf
[full-text, 10 pages]
or
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/publications/PB_EmpDecline.txt
[text format]

Vol 1 No 3
Compiled by Timothy Hart DCO for Northern, Central and Southern Sydney

To return to the DCO Disability Newsletter archive page go to http://www.cdds.med.usyd.edu.au/dco/newsletter or click here