National Disability and Carer Congress Q & A

Q & A – Part One:

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Building the Movement

Every Australian Counts is the campaign for an NDIS

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Patricia Scott: Commissioner, Productivity Commission – Key Findings from the Draft Report

Transcript:

PATRICIA SCOTT, Commissioner Productivity Commission

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Simon McKeon’s speech – National Disability and Carer Congress (Part 2)

TRANSCRIPT

Simon McKeon, Australian of the Year – National Disability and Carer Congress

(Part Two)
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Simon McKeon’s speech – National Disability and Carer Congress (Part 1)

TRANSCRIPT

Simon McKeon, Australian of the Year – National Disability and Carer Congress

(Part One)
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John Della Bosca’s speech – National Disability and Carer Congress (Part 2)

John Della Bosca,
National Campaign Director

John Della Bosca’s speech – National Disability and Carer Congress (Part 1)

John Della Bosca,
National Campaign Director

Gather Round People – From Congress to Victory

Just a post congress note… for everyone who was and wasn’t there…with one delegate reminding us of some famous words that might give us courage for the next stage of getting real change.  Ross was someone I met at the Every Australian Counts campaign stall in the exhibition area. As we handed out the campaign materials to all and sundry it was a great place to find out about where delegates were from and snippets of their lives and passion for change.

On the afternoon of Day 2 as the plenary sessions were underway it was a little quieter upstairs and I had just finished filming a few supporters for the website. I turned around to find a young man patiently waiting.  He introduced himself  and said he would like to say a few words too. Ross explained that he had been in an accident in Japan five years before and sustained a brain injury.  Because he was covered by travel insurance many of the initial expenses were covered. But then he returned to Australia and after a stint in hospital and rehab he was released from hospital to go home, even though at that stage he said he was far from ready.  He said the key element in his recovery which has seen him get back on his feet five years later was the loving support of his family and a program he took part in called Slow to Recover.  He said he wanted to campaign for an NDIS so that everyone would have access to that kind of care, which is not the case at the moment.  Ross then proceeded to tell us what he had come to remind us of …and it so perfectly framed the campaign ahead I thought you’d want to hear it too.

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Bill Shorten’s speech – National Disability and Carer Congress

A day in the life of a social media congress champion

Madeleine

I represented the Every Australian Counts community as their Social Media Congress Champion at National Disability & Carers Congress in Melbourne 2 and 3 May.

On the first day, the first person to speak was the Honorable Bill Shorten MP who was the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities. He came and spoke about his time in this position and his personal connection to fighting for the rights of people with a disability and their carers. He spoke on how he feels how incredibly wrong it is that people with a disability are living second class lives. He gave the statistic that with the amount of people with a disability in Australia, we could populate Adelaide. Most of what he had to say was very good expect for when he started to highlight what good things the government is doing for people with a disability and he was mainly highlighting services for children. I was thinking what about adults? Don’t we matter? I guess his speech writer needs to think about all areas next time.

Next was the presentation from Patricia Scott who summarized what the Productivity Commissioner’s Report on the feasibility of an NDIS would be. The summary included:

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