YES. THIS BUDGET’S FOR YOU
It’s not only people with a disability who should be cheering the budget’s $1 billion commitment to a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Every one of us should be applauding like mad.
Because perhaps, finally, Australians are beginning to understand in a profound way that disability is a part of life.
That people with disabilities are not the invisible “other”. They are us.
Supporters of the NDIS this year. Photo via The Geelong Advertiser.
Already, almost one in five Australians lives with a disability.
Today, a baby will be born with a disability.
Someone’s beloved child, a treasured friend or family member will be incapacitated or diagosed with an illness and life will never be the same again.
It could be me. It could be you.
Accidents, strokes, heart attacks, disease, congenital disorders. Such is life.
My journey with the NDIS began some four years ago when Bill Shorten asked me to become a member of the National People With Disabilities and Carer’s Council - the peak community advisory body to the Federal Government.
Why me? I’m not entirely sure.
But I’m so grateful to him because it’s not often you are able to watch, up close, a pillar of the nation’s social architecture being fashioned and hoisted into place by so many willing hands.
It’s been eye-opening for me to meet the incredibly hard working members of the Council. I take my seat next to those who are blind, deaf, have a brain injury or who are in wheelchairs – all with extraordinary stories to tell and all who are tireless in their campaigning for a better deal. I leave every meeting feeling inspired.
My council’s chair, Dr. Rhonda Galbally AO, herself a person with a disability, thought the day for the NDIS would never come.
“I’ve been around fighting for the rights of people with disabilities and their families since 1979,” she told me when I interviewed her recently on ABC RN’s Life Matters program.
‘This is really giving us hope like we’ve never had before. This is about people coming out and taking their place alongside every other Australian.
There has been tremendous, overwhelming support from people in the street, trade unions, business. They know this can happen to them, any time.
Disability is a part of life, part of living, part of being alive. Part, I think, of the value of life.
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26 Responses to this article
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the*sparrow May 9, 2012
Fantastic achievement for the Gillard government and for all of us. It sounds corny, but it makes me feel proud to be an Australian!
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Carly Findlay May 9, 2012
I tire of the us and them with disabilities. There is a lot of social awkwardness when discussing disability.
You’re right Wendy, the NDIS is for everyone. -
julie May 9, 2012
Good on you, Wendy. I’m so fed up with the automatic ‘no,no,no’ response to everything this government does. Swan and Gillard have pulled off something quite remarkable by making deep cuts to defence to fund education, sharing mining profits with those of us who actually own the stuff that’s in the ground (the miners don’t), and trying to offer some level of protection to the environment and the disabled. AS George Megalogenis said this morning, Wayne Swan has taken a radical path back to surplus by combining deep cuts with new spending. When did Australians become such whingers, and talking the country down so appallingly become a national sport? Oh yes, when the Hansons and Abbotts of the world told us too! BE RADICAL -say something positive!
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Kylie May 9, 2012
Thank you Wendy for saying it so much better than I can. I am a single Mum with two sons who have Autism, and I acknowledge that as far as disabilities go, we are lucky. I have supportive family and the boys attend schools that meet their needs well. I am educated and capable of advocating for them, and even then it is difficult to jump through the hoops to get them what they need. I worry for my boys. What would happen if something happened to me? One of my sons will likely need lifetime care. I worry for their sisters and the impact that this could have on them. I am thrilled that we are seeing the start of this scheme. Many, many thanks to those who have worked so hard to get it to this point.
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Joni Ibarra May 9, 2012
We appreciate everyone who have made this possible. My kid has spina bifida & I constantly worry for her future. The NDIS gives me a peace of mind & hopefully will make things she need more accessible.
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Pam May 9, 2012
Congratulations to the NPDCC, you have done a wonderful job of achieving an initiative that will advance the wellbeing of all Australians.
Not only will the NDIS provide better support for people with disabilities and their carers, you have made Australia a better country for all of its citizens.
After years of shame and embarrassment at the inhumanity of some policies and practices your hard work means I can again feel proud that we really do care about fellow Australians and can enact policies, program and practices that support them in achieveing their potential, and the quality of life we all aspire to.Your work inspires me and encourages me to believe that your achievements can be emulated for others currently suffering disadvantage and discrimination.
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Kerrie May 9, 2012
Plaudits to the Gillard Government for behaving like traditional Labor. Better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Not happy with the slashing of foreign aid, however.
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MrsP2011 May 9, 2012
Very good news. Well done Wendy for the part you have played. I know a family with a son who has a disability. This will be a great help to that family.
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mez May 9, 2012
Another cruel hoax or a diabolical shambles.
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dramaqueen75 May 9, 2012
I worked with people with disabilities for many years. We had a situation where an awesome young man full of life and cheek had been in the same wheelchair since he was 12- he was now 16 and in the same chair.
Anyone who knows teenage boys and their growth can see this is ridiculous. Anyone except the funding body! It was appalling – the kid was in pain and the physios could see many problems for him in the present and the future. In the end the only way to get him a chair quickly was to do the fundraising ourselves.
It made me ashamed to think that in this country the Howard government was trowing bonuses and dropping tax to middle and upper income earners and people in real need were slipping through the cracks. People I knew were getting new plasma TV’s with their new found money while this poor guy was still waiting for the right sized wheelchair.The NDIS has been a long time coming, but i am glad it is here.
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Stevo May 9, 2012
Thankfully it still makes me mad, and not sigh in despair, when the media focus on the small amounts of crap from todays budget, and not honestly embrace the efforts of practical and tangible initiatives of this government.
Strangely the upside of Labors record low ratings is that they have nothing to lose…so all they can do is what is the ‘right’, and often unpopular things and hope that somewhere in the whirplool of media beat ups…the reality of carbon and mining taxes etc at some stage reasonate with people in a quiet moment of contemplation.
Sail on regardless Julia and Wayne. Yes some screw ups, but in the big picture you are trying to take us into a new generation of thinking.
Fat cats Gina, Clive supported Joe Hockey …or fallible humanitarians…I know who and why I choose. -
Mick May 9, 2012
Bravo Wendy. The measure of a civilised society is the care available for its weakest links. As you say, a pillar of social infrastructure” and in my simple approach, creating a society as if people actually matter. MICK
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Brendan May 9, 2012
Dear Mez, I’ll ‘kick in’ for you if you want, you sad idealogue. The windfall the GST landed should have immediately gone to this instead we bumped up funding for elite schools, everyone gets a flat screen tele and mining magnates suffocate under the weight of their personal wealth…this is beyond politics yet strangely only one side of politics was ever going to be serious about initiating it. Now perhaps the magnificent management systems of the opposition will, when they take over, squeeze every scintilla from every cent provided in an inspiring display of economic rationalism to make it sing.
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Bev May 9, 2012
Well done Wendy to you and the Committee and all those who fought so hard for an NDIS.
Huge congratulations to Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan and Bill Shorten for making the scheme possible. They have paved the way for the rest of us to accept we need to help our fellow countrymen when in trouble not of their own making.
How did the Howard Govt. myth of being a good government come about. Imagine the good work Labor could have done if it had been lucky enough to have the barrels of mining gold that Howard/Costello had. Most of it was wasted on handouts to the wrong end of our society.How sad that a bullying Opposition and compliant media have allowed the good things Labor has done to be seen as negative.
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Susan May 9, 2012
Thanks Wendy. It’s refreshing to hear that someone not personally touched by disability ( forgive me if this assumption isn’t correct) ‘gets it’. This will benefit my family no end and I’m glad to have paid an active part in the campaign. Thanks so much for helping get our message across. What you say is so true. Disability can affect any person at any time.
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Kate May 9, 2012
This is a wonderful thing. Long needed, long fought for. It is a shame about foreign aid being decreased, but one little part of me says “charity begins at home”. I’m happy to take the bad with the good and hope we can do more in that area next time. A good article, Wendy, as the responses to your post show that many people have been waiting for this. Except for Mez, who sadly will spend his/her life swimming upstream, I fear.
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Elisabeth Wynhausen May 9, 2012
Excellent article, Wendy, and great responses by and large – just keep your head down, Mez, and we’ll pretend you’re not there, so we can go on being pleased Wendy is saying what needs to be said.
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The Huntress May 9, 2012
As an RN who has worked in a major trauma setting and seen first hand the devastating impact of sudden disability, I cannot applaud the Gillard government enough for finally taking action. There is now hope that families can receive true, individualised, holistic care to support their needs and allow everyone to be the best they possibly can. The system has been chaotic shambles for far too long – I look forward to seeing the changes in the lives of Australians with a disability.
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Genevieve Tucker (@mulberry_road) May 9, 2012
Thanks for your eloquent support of us all, Wendy. You have made me a bit teary reading this. Such a long road, can’t believe we’ve almost made it. YEAH.
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Prue May 9, 2012
The NDIS is so long overdue and so welcome. Thank you Wendy for putting it so well : This budgetary measure is for all of us, yes you too Mez! I wish all involved the best of luck in establishing the system – may it become as entrenched as Medicare!!
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Susan May 9, 2012
Two years ago we were hit by a truck on the Hume Highway just north of Albury. I now have a Brain Injury which has not stopped me walking or talking or typing for that matter. It has stopped me reading to any extent and I can n longer multitask…. I cannot drive ,I have double vision. I cannot go out in any sort of noise…..and the list goes on and on….so I guess I fill the category of disabled…..We are covered by Third Party Insurance here…. Not… Long story…however when you look at the things I cannot do-it sounds bad but when You look at the things I can do with help the list is ENDLESS. This government and the hard working community committees have done well. The endless moaning about this Government is unwarranted. It is time we stood up and started supporting unconditionally our first female Prime Minister and her exceptionally talented Ministers, and realised that we are living in a very civilised society . We are well off and we are lucky to be here. We are not being invaded by”boat People”, We are not about to grow broke. We are in good nick and we should be proud of it…
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Tunji is a good dog May 13, 2012
Let’s be grateful for this long awaited development to our society. Let’s be grateful for so MANY other good things we have; especially the freedom to discuss important issues and make far reaching changes.
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Dawn May 13, 2012
I hope the disability scheme gets the government over the line at the next election. Julia has great initiatives and needs another term or 2 to fine tune them and deliver.
As a mother of a teenager and step mum to a severely retarded autistic child her policies are close to my heart.
Go Julia!! -
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