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Parliamentary Friends of People with a Disability — Ministers Meetings — Disability Assistance Package — Days of Action
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Prime Ministers Speech Media Statements - 28.06.07 NCID |
Disability Assistance Package On 28 June 2007, the Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard MP, announced details of the Disability Assistance Package delivering $1.8 billion in new funding over five years. The Disability Assistance Package gives practical support and peace of mind to older carers of people with disability, delivers assistance to families of children with disability and provides further assistance to disability business services. Prime Minister’s media release The Disability Assistance Package is in addition to the multilateral offer to the states and territories to assist in their areas of responsibility for the next Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA). Disability Assistance Package Factsheets Helping Children with Disability and Their Families - Child Disability Assistance - PDF [35kb] CSTDA Multilateral and Bilateral Agreements Factsheets CSTDA - The Multilateral and Bilateral Offer - PDF [169kb] More Information More information is available from the Disability Assistance Inquiry Line on 1800 101 888 (open 8am - 9pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on weekends). A TTY number is available on 1800 260 402. Media response to Disability Assistance Package. Thursday 28 June 2007 Carers to get a break - Howard's $1.8bn plan to help nation's helpers Author: MALCOLM FARR, Chief Political Reporter Prime Minister John Howard will today announce a five-year spending package for the parents of disabled children. It will include a payment of $1000 a year for about 130,000 disabled children under 16 whose parents receive the carer's allowance. But the primary aim of the package is to provide relief for parents and other carers whose service to disabled relatives prevents them taking breaks and holidays. The issue is constantly mentioned by MPs from all parties and is regularly raised with Mr Howard at government party meetings. A particular area of concern is the plight of elderly parents looking after adult children with disabilities. The package will provide high quality support accommodation for the children of ageing parent carers and give those carers respite by looking after their children at home or elsewhere. The Prime Minister also will promise new in-home support services to assist with personal care, home help, home maintenance and home modification. The aim will be to help keep disabled children at home for as long as possible rather that have their parents forced to put them in institutions. Younger families will be offered increased funds for skilled personnel to look after children so their parents can have a break or go to work. And business will get funds to encourage the employment of another 500 disabled people. The carers issue is almost certain to be at the forefront during the election campaign, and Mr Howard today will show how he intends to use some of the money unallocated in the last Budget to boost his campaign chances. Labor Leader Kevin Rudd today will begin the release of key health policies in the first of a series of speeches. He will highlight the economic effects of poor community health and pledge to make preventive health as a first-order economic issue, with the chief objective the halting of ``lifestyle diseases and illnesses''. A Labor Government would set up a preventive health task force, and end the dominance of ``six-minute medicine'' where GPs favour treating existing ailments over prevention. Thursday 28 June 2007 $1.8bn boost to carers of disabled Author: Steve Lewis, Cath Hart In his latest pre-election salvo, John Howard will also announce plans to help parents of disabled children find alternative specialist accommodation, as the Government responds to growing community pressure to assist carers. As the Government moves on another policy front, Kevin Rudd will also unveil a policy on preventative health today, including an audit of the impact of disease on the economy. In the first of a new series of economic speeches, the Opposition Leader will promise a Labor Government would rank preventative health a ``first order economic challenge''. Unveiling the disability package in Brisbane today, the Prime Minister will promise to offer much greater assistance to carers and families of disabled children, amid concerns that the states have failed to provide adequate funding in the area. Mr Howard receives constant community feedback on the need for more care for disabled children, yesterday even receiving advice during a shopping centre walkthrough in Brisbane. Under the package -- which builds on a $3 billion scheme for carers announced in last month's budget -- families of disabled children will receive a new level of respite care. This will either be provided in-home, with the Government hoping to relieve the burden particularly for elderly parents raising their disabled children. The biggest plank is the new annual payment, which will be paid to families with disabled children aged 16 and under. About 130,000 families and carers will be eligible. It will cost about $700 million over five years. The package will also provide assistance for families to modify their homes to cope with growing children, such as installing special shower equipment and wheelchair access. Today's announcement will increase the pressure on the states to also dip into their coffers to provide more funding. During a speech in Sydney today, Mr Rudd will promise a Labor Government would commission a ``definitive report'' from Treasury on the economic impact of chronic disease in Australia during its first term in office. It would also establish a ``National Preventative Health Taskforce'' of health professionals in an attempt to prioritise preventative medicine and tackle lifestyle diseases. This would include providing ``incentives'' to general practitioners to practise preventive healthcare. Mr Rudd will also promise to use the upcoming Australian Healthcare Agreement negotiations with the Labor states to direct money to preventive healthcare as well as hospitals. A briefing note released by Mr Rudd's office late yesterday provided few practical details of the plan, but said Labor would ``shift Australia's health focus to preventing lifestyle diseases and illnesses''. Details of the policy, called ``Fresh Ideas, Future Economy: Preventative healthcare for our families and our future economy'', will be launched by Mr Rudd at the 6th Annual Health Insurance Summit. ``Federal Labor believes the best way to equip our health system to deal with the challenges of the future is to end the blame game and reinvigorate the role of the primary care system -- the front line of the health system, which provides healthcare to local communities,'' the briefing says. Thursday 28 June 2007 PM pledges $1.8 billion for disabled - Payments direct to children Author: Katharine Murphy and Misha Schubert, Canberra On the campaign trail in Kevin Rudd's home state of Queensland, the Prime Minister will commit to a $1.8 billion Commonwealth disability package over five years. The cash payments, for disabled children whose parents receive the carers' allowance, will flow to about 130,000 children after July 1. The new payment will go directly to the child, but the money will be required to be spent on goods and services to improve mobility and quality of life, such as on wheelchairs, or on conversions to vehicles. The package will also include measures to relieve the burden on ageing parents caring for older children with disabilities. Mr Howard will commit funds for supported accommodation - an issue managed by the states - and for new respite services in the home and externally. The package will commit Canberra to providing additional accommodation services where there are market gaps. Mr Howard's move to soften his social policy credentials follows the government's dramatic plans for a crackdown on abuse in remote Northern Territory indigenous communities. The government has been under pressure from disability groups to boost assistance for struggling families shouldering primary-care responsibilities, particularly for ageing parents looking after older dependants. Backbenchers have also raised the plight of their constituents in several Coalition party room meetings, including one in the last session before the winter break, where MPs urged the government to offer more support to disabled children and their families. The government's pitch comes as the Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, also will focus on health care in his first major speech on the subject since taking the leadership from Kim Beazley last year. Local GPs will be paid to spend more time with patients in a pre-emptive strike on the lifestyle diseases that have sent the national health bill skyrocketing, Mr Rudd will promise today. In a pitch to recast health as an economic issue in the quest to bolster his fiscal credentials, Mr Rudd will focus on preventative health-care measures. Flagging a push to make the health system better at intervening before lifestyle diseases get out of hand, Mr Rudd will commit Labor to moving away from "six-minute medicine" - where doctors tend to race through appointments. He will also pledge to commission a Treasury report on the impact of chronic disease on the economy, and establish a new taskforce to develop reforms for the health sector. And he will offer funding to the states for preventative measures - not only for hospital running costs - in the major health-care finance agreements. In a statement last night, Mr Rudd said spending on health was projected to increase from 3.8 per cent of GDP this year to 7.3 per cent by 2046. Much of the explosion in health costs is being motivated by preventable disease - with half the population already having a chronic disease and three million people predicted to have diabetes by 2030. There are thousands of Australian families dealing with the financial and emotional strains of caring for disabled children. In the May budget, the government announced a $1000 bonus for people on the carer payment and $600 for those on the carer allowance, at a total of $394 million. The money was to be paid by June 30. It has made such "one-off" special payments to carers for the previous three years. Today's package will build on those initiatives. Thursday 28 June 2007 $1000 to families with child disability Author: MARK KENNY, POLITICAL EDITOR, CANBERRA The families of an estimated 130,000 children will be eligible for the payments, to begin next week. In a new emphasis on ``caring for the carers'', Prime Minister John Howard also will announce the bulk of funding will go to disabled people with elderly carers. In some instances, they will be given new supported accommodation, relieving their parents of a burden they are getting too old to carry. The spending is another coup for Family and Community Services Minister Mal Brough, after he gained Cabinet support for the Commonwealth takeover of Northern Territory indigenous communities. The new assistance is thought to reflect rising concern in the Government and community over opportunities and conditions for children with disabilities and their carers. It follows a significant tightening of the Disability Support Pension rules designed to push as many people as possible back into the employee-starved labour market. The Government believes that change has been instrumental in providing an incentive for disabled people to undertake some work where capable. That, in turn, has benefited them and the economy. Australian Census data released yesterday showed one in 10 Australians regularly gives assistance to a person with a disability. About 1.6 million people, aged over 16, provide such care. More than 4 per cent of the population, 822,000 people, require some form of daily assistance. The figures also show Australia continues to age. South Australia and Tasmania led the nation with the median age of their citizens 39 years, compared with the national average of 37. Families with disabled children under 16 can expect $1000 per child per year in extra assistance, provided the parent or carer currently qualifies for the Carer Allowance. Carer Allowance is paid to parents of children with a disability or a severe medical condition who requires a lot of care. Disabled children with ageing parents will also benefit. Thursday 28 June 2007 Carers earn payment Author: Gerard McManus The new payment will be the centrepiece of a $1.8 billion plan for carers of children and adults with disabilities. Full-time carer parents of children with conditions such as autism, HIV/AIDS, cystic fibrosis or physical disabilities could be eligible for the payment. The boost to disability support services will be spent over five years and compares with the $3.3 billion now spent in the sector. Mr Howard will outline full details of his plan in a speech in Queensland today, but the Herald Sun believes it includes measures to help people get more breaks from their lifelong caring roles. The package focuses particularly on ageing carers. It will also provide better accommodation services, different forms of respite help, and in-home help for carers. Better support for carers of people with disabilities is a huge sleeper issue in the electorate and has been a long-standing concern of federal MPs -- both Coalition and Labor. Many of the estimated 100,000 carers spend 24 hours a day with children who have disabilities right through to adulthood at enormous financial and personal cost to the carer. The issue was highlighted recently by the plight of Melbourne mother of four-year-old Tyler Fishlock, who lost both eyes to a rare form of cancer. Ms Fishlock, a kindergarten teacher, had to leave work to care for her son. The Government gave a one-off carer grant in the last Budget, but today's package contains a range of new measures to give families breaks and access to services.
Howard's $1.8b for disability services Author: By Andrew Fraser Political Correspondent As details of the new Howard package came out last night, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd flagged an announcement on fighting chronic disease in the Australian community. The biggest ticket of the Government's disability package is an extra $1000-a-year payment to those who qualify for Centrelink payments as carers of disabled children under 16. It is estimated that there are 130,000 people eligible for the new payment. On top of this, the Government will establish more supported accommodation for the parents of disabled adults to address what it has identified as a significant gap in the services provided through the states and territories. This accommodation will be for longer periods of time than presently allowed, said to be more in the order of a nursing-home stay, although more specific time frames were not available last night. Parents older than 65 will have priority access to the new support because they are becoming increasingly unable to look after their children as they age. The supported accommodation will come with new respite services for shorter breaks for parents. These breaks, for a matter of days, will be provided by in-home workers and by having people with disabilities cared for externally. As well as the financial and time support for parent-carers, a new ''home-support service'' is to provide house maintenance and modification for disabled children or adults. As well as providing items such as wheelchair ramps, the new program will cover simple maintenance, which is often difficult for parents to get around to, given the high level of care their children need. Carers will simply apply for assistance and be assessed under wide guidelines, to be announced. A ''transition support service'' is to be announced, designed to help parents plan for the future of their disabled children as they age and to determine what community support is available when they can no longer provide care themselves. This move will involve a number of new jobs for workers and consultants in the area.
$1000 bonus for carers of disabled Author: Phillip Coorey and Adele Horin The package, designed to help those struggling to care for the nation's 822,000 severely disabled, will also include significant funds to provide respite and permanent care, which will be offered as a priority to elderly carers. The money will be budgeted over five years and is additional to the $3.3 billion the Commonwealth has already offered the states to fund their disability services over the next five years. The $1000 annual payments will be made to parents who are looking after disabled children under 16. There are about 130,000 children in this category. Respite care will be in the form of either in-house help or the temporary use of a care facility. Mr Howard is also expected to announce other forms of in-home support including funds to modify and maintain houses. A transitional service will also be established so that elderly carers can make plans for their disabled adult children. And there will be more funding for existing specialist services such a therapy and education. Funding for the care and support of disabled people has been the subject of deep and longstanding disagreement between the federal and state governments. This has provoked increasingly bitter criticism from thousands of affected families struggling to care for their "eternal children" and anxious about their children's fate once the parents die. A study on the social lives of 5000 carers by the federal Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, together with the Australian Institute of Family Studies, will be launched tomorrow. It is believed to show that a significant proportion of carers had little face-to-face contact with friends or family. Census data released yesterday says about 1.6 million Australians aged over 15 provided unpaid care to a person with a disability in the two weeks before the 2006 census. More than half a million were in NSW. The census data shows that 62 per cent of carers were women. The chief executive of Carers' Australia, Joan Hughes, said the issue of caring for an increasingly aged, frail and disabled population rivalled climate change in its urgency. "The whole issue of care and caring should have the same level of recognition and acknowledgement from government as climate change because it affects everyone's lives." She said the looming carer shortage, which will result from people living longer and alone, was a significant social issue and governments had not come to grips with it. The census revealed about 822,000 people had a profound or severe disability and needed daily help with basic activities such as looking after themselves, mobility or communication. This amounted to more than one in 25 Australians needing assistance to get through the day. More than a million Australians provided unpaid care for children that were not their own. Almost 750,000 were aged 45 or over, and many are presumed to be grandparents. Thursday 28 June 2007 Howard's pledge to help our disabled Author: Clinton Porteous The money will start flowing soon, with a $1000 payment from next week to 130,000 disabled children to help pay for their needs. But most funding will be pumped into new accommodation and services to help parents who are getting too old to look after their disabled kids. The announcement in Brisbane is a victory for Family Services Minister Mal Brough who masterminded the plan for indigenous communities that has dominated the political agenda. The package is further evidence the Government will rollout major spending initiatives leading up to the election, even after the lavish May Budget which included bonus payments for carers. The new $1.8 billion pledge to disabled people and their carers will be over five years and comes on top of a $3.3 billion commitment by the Commonwealth to the states and territories. Mr Howard and Mr Brough strongly believe there is an urgent need for extra assistance. There are many heartbreaking stories of older parents terrified of what will happen to their disabled children as they grow weak and frail. Most of the package's initiatives will give priority to carers 65 years and over. One of the main planks will be to pump funds into new supported accommodation so disabled children can ``move out of home'' and not be dependent on their ageing parents. There will also be the introduction of respite services for those carers who need a break. This could be provided at home or at a temporary accommodation centre. Carers also will be able to get help to modify their homes, such as installing better wheelchair ramps. The package will include an extension of existing services to provide developmental daycare. This will allow educational opportunities for the disabled person as well as giving their carers a break. The new $1000 annual payment comes into force on Sunday and is for eligible children 16 years and under. The initiative comes after one-off payments announced in the Budget to carers. At a glance * $1000 a year payment for carers. * Extra assistance for carers aged 65 years and over. * Help for disabled children to move out of home. * Introduction of respite services for carers. * Help to modify homes. |