Australian Federation of Disability Organisations

Happy New Year and welcome to what is proving to be a very busy 2008. So far it has been a whirlwind start to the year. In the first 2 months it has been all go and it doesn’t look like it will slow down any time soon. I’m still trying to find my feet as CEO but with the help of Collette, Brenda and Samantha I’m starting to come to grips with what is required of me as well as AFDO in general.

Since the election of the new federal government, we have had the opportunity to meet with Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for FaHCSIA on four occasions to discuss a range of issues. These issues have included but were not restricted to Welfare to Work, Access to Premises Standards, UN Convention, Business Services and wage assessment tools, Young People Living in Nursing Homes, National Disability Advocacy Program, Job Capacity Assessments/ Disability Employment Networks and of course Social Inclusion. We have made it very clear how important it is to have people with disabilities involved in the consultation and development of a Social Inclusion agenda. We have found these meetings to be very positive and useful for both parties and we look forward to an ongoing and healthy relationship with Mr. Shorten. We have also met with Senator Brendan O’Connor, staff from Minster Kim Carr’s Office, FaHCSIA, and the Attorney General’s Department.

In December 2007, we held our AGM and made some minor changes to our governance manual, elected a new Executive of the Board and introduced two new Board members. We would like to welcome Dean Barton-Smith from Deaf Australia and Frank Nowlan from Blind Citizens Australia to the Board. We look forward to utilizing their expertise on AFDO’s ongoing strategic direction. We held Board inductions for both Dean and Frank and they both have expressed that they found the process extremely helpful and believe it has only enhanced their ability to participate as effective board members. I also found the inductions useful for gaining greater understanding of the relationship between the board and the CEO.

The new Board Executive is:
Chair – Samantha Jenkinson
Deputy Chair – Graham Douglas-Meyer
Treasurer – Frank Hall-Bentick

One of the big items to come out of the AGM was agreement and commitment to hold the first AFDO Conference in 2008
There have been a number of other tasks that AFDO has commenced over the previous few months and these have included:

• The Impact of the Ratification of the UN Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities – interim report delivered to FaHCSIA on the 15 February

• Commencement of the conference organisation
• Members meeting to be held in Sydney

We look forward to big 2008 with it being a busy but productive year.

Regards

Jeremy Muir
CEO