By Samantha Jenkinson
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, Chairperson

The federal government's announcement of the social inclusion agenda left people with disability feeling hopeful. The further announcements of the National Disability Strategy (NDS) and the National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy (NMHDES) made us feel that maybe change can happen.

We are hopeful because the disability service system and the response to people with disability across government is a fragmented, inflexible mess at the moment. A person might be on a waiting list to receive services to support them to live, while being expected to find work, or not be able to move interstate for work or to be close to family because support, accommodation and services may not be available or there are waiting lists. People with disability often have little choice or control of the services that are available to support them, while system and environmental barriers to their participation lie unaddressed elsewhere.

The Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) categorizes the funding that goes to states as well as splitting funding between commonwealth and state which maintains a fractured system. It also fragments a person's life into sections with specific outcomes tied to certain funds. Income support and direct assistance for people with disability to find work comes from the Federal government. The support a person needs to live in their own home or to get transport to and from work is provided by state governments.

People with disability have been calling for more flexible and streamlined approaches for support, funding and access. We have been highlighting the often overlooked need for support and resources to remove environmental barriers, and increase education and support in mainstream services. Suggestions that have come from the disability sector through forums and reports suggest a multi-level approach is needed, working with different stakeholders at each level. The trend internationally is towards models of service and support which are 'whole of life' where people with disability are in control of their supports and decisions, and supported to be active participants in their own lives. This is consistent with the thrust of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability that the Australian Government has just ratified, and should provide a firm foundation for all government policy.

So we ask “Will a National Disability Strategy provide this?” At this point in time we don't know a lot about what the Strategy will look like or the effect it might have as consultations with the sector have not yet commenced. The FaHCSIA website states that “The NDS will provide an overarching policy statement and action framework, setting out the national view, directions and priorities for the development of legislation and policy.” The website goes on further to say there will be action plans developed and research areas identified.

There is an expectation that the NDS will put the responsibility to deal with the issues faced by people with disability onto every government department. Certainly people with disabilities are looking for action to occur with the NDS, however there is a fear that with limited resources for implementation it will, like much other policy in the area of disability, say all the right things on paper but provide little real change.

Existing legislation, and strategies such as the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, will continue in their current form but be connected through the policy framework of the NDS. For people with disability, we hope this means there should be better connections across government departments on disability issues. The CSTDA is a significant mechanism that under the NDS should make those connections between people getting effective accommodation support and their ability to actively look for and participate in employment. Having the employment strategy being managed under the NDS should also reinforce this as well as improving the transition from support in school, to support in employment no matter where it may be.

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations lobbied hard in the lead-up to last year’s Federal Election for the development of a national disability employment strategy which addressed the real barriers to employment (cost of disability, fragmented approaches to support and an inaccessible environment). Specifically we lobbied for people with disability who receive Newstart (Partial Capacity) payment to have their payments lifted to pension level. It is our hope that the substantial work done during this year to develop the NDS and National Disability Employment Strategy will lead to a tangible outcome of a 2009/2010 Federal Budget that tackles the costs of disability and provides people with disability with better financial security. Certainly the recent changes to the job capacity assessment process for people on the disability support pension that takes away the drop to Newstart, goes a long way towards recognising the need for retaining a reasonable income while looking for work and facing increasing costs associated with disability.

A research agenda under the NDS should include issues such as the real costs of living with disability, and the environmental barriers to participation in the comunity by people with disability such as transport, access to the built environment, access to communication and access to technologies and equipment.

So far the only thing which we know the NDS will include, is the development of the Harmonisation of Accessible Parking Schemes initiative. This will provide improved access to parking options for people with disability and their families. It is certainly needed however it is a far cry from addressing the big issues which include:

• A declining workforce in the disability support industry nationally including interpreting services,
• A lack of accessible taxi's and accessible public transport,
• Waiting lists for essential aids and equipment,
• Easy and effective integration between state and federally funded initiatives and life transitions.

The newly appointed Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes has great hope for both the NDS and the NMHDES. In a recent speech he stated that early reports are that the two strategies will be based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability which will give them, and subsequent government policy, a great human rights grounding. There is also hope in that two innovative and creative thinkers in disability from the Victorian and South Australian state governments have been seconded to work on the strategy, Claire Thorn and Maurice Corcoran.

There is always a time of change with a change of government and for the first time people with disability may be seeing significant impact. There is a lot of effort being expended, with major consultations occurring on all of these strategies, however it is important to note that there are no new resources going in to the development of the NDS. This is where we have concerns since resources are needed to ensure people with disability are included in policy development at all levels. There is also the question of ensuring implementation of the action plans and strategies. Who will be responsible in ensuring the strategies are put in place? What happens if they are not?

The potential for a positive impact on the lives of people with disability is significant if the promise of the National Disability Strategy and National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy comes to fruition. The federal government is making a commitment which people with disability will be holding them to. We hope the states and all government departments will also take this commitment seriously to ensure the connections across all levels will provide real connections for people with disability.