Australia’s carers have been formally recognised for their contribution to society with the passing of the Carer Recognition Bill through the Australian Parliament on 28 October 2010.

The Act recognised in legislation “the contribution by the mums and dads, the grandparents, the sons and daughters, the brothers and sisters, partners and neighbours who every day get on with the job of caring.” according to Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers Senator Jan McLucas.

Carers Australia CEO Joan Hughes said that the Act was a “significant step forward in ensuring Carers have the same opportunities to enjoy optimum health and wellbeing and social and economic participation as do other Australians.”

Australian Government agencies are now required to consider the Statement for Australia’s Carers (which can be found in te link to the Bill below) when developing human resource policies that significantly affect their employees’ caring roles. In addition, agencies with policies and programs directed to carers or the people they care for, now also need to consult with carers and report annually on action undertaken. As well, organisations funded by the Australian Government to support carers, or the people they care for, need to adopt the Statement’s principles in their interaction with carers

The Carer Recognition Bill 2010.

Towards a National Carer Strategy

The development of a National Strategy for Carers, alongside the Carer Recognition Act 2010, is central to the Australian Government’s response to the 2009 Who Cares? report on the inquiry into better support for carers.

Consultations with carers and service providers have taken place across Australia in response to a discussion paper.

For a copy of the paper, go to www.health.gov.au.

Nominations for the November 2010 Local Government elections open on Tuesday 7 September.

Councils are holding public information sessions for anyone interested in standing as a candidate in the elections.

Sessions dates for some councils:

• City of Holdfast Shores – Tuesday 31 August, Saturday 4 September, Friday 10 September
• City of Port Adelaide Enfield – Thursday 2 September
• Port Augusta City Council – Monday 6 September
• City of Onkaparinga – Monday 6 September
• City of Salisbury – Tuesday 7 September
• City of Marion – Tuesday 7 September
• City of Playford – Wednesday 8 September
• Adelaide City Council – Wednesday 8 September, Tuesday 14 September

Contact your council for more details on times and locations.

Go to www.lga.sa.gov.au/goto/elections for more information on the local government elections, nominating as a candidate, and voting for your local representative.

The Hon Jenny Macklin MP – Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and Bill Shorten MP – Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services have jointly issued a media release regarding funding to support carers of children and teenagers with disability.

The South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability Inc (SACID) have released a document outlining their priorities for the 2010 SA state election.

You can read it here.

The Australian Government Productivity Commission invites the public to register their interest in an inquiry into a long-term care and support scheme for people with a disability in Australia. The inquiry will begin in April 2010 and report by July 2011.

More information will be available once the inquiry has commenced. Register your interest in the inquiry and you will be kept informed of progress.

See the Disability Care and Support page.

We have received the following statement from Lifestyle in Supported Accommodation (LISA) inc.:

Families battle for quality of life care for their member with a disability! Not just because services are “hand-out”, but because many service providers, especially government, avoid their responsibilities at every opportunity.

We, like most caring parents/families throughout Australia with a member with an intellectual or multiple disability, have witnessed/experienced much of the questionable service provision outlined in the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry Report, the Victorian Auditor General’s Report and the Community Visitor Reports. And, we have extensively experienced the core basis for many of the problems contained in these reports.

The core basis being the failure of service providers to accept responsibility for ensuring they provide quality of life care services, and that these are well within a meaningful and enacted customer service framework.

Although our experience of services in supported accommodation group homes for those with an intellectual or multiple disability is mostly that of, “Avoidance at Every Opportunity”. It was a real breath-of-fresh-air when we witnessed/experienced, “Total Responsibility Accepted” service provision.

The expectations of most families is a service which provides consistent quality of life care within recognised care policies, standards and values, by direct care staff who treat the residents as their second family. And, where the service provider sees the resident and their family as valued.

Sadly, captive market service provision has little desire to understand or action the market place strategies of, “the customer is always right” and “the customer is valued”. Captive market service provision breeds little customer service, issue avoidance, customers are a pest and that customers are always wrong.

Many times in early morning China, we witnessed department store managers lecturing their staff on good customer service – “If I hear one complaint from a customer, we are not achieving our policy of good customer service and relations!”

Equally, good market place business in Australia listens to, and acts on customer feedback – encouraging feedback as a tool to service improvement. It is cheaper to hear from customers, than purchase service evaluation and accreditation.

Yet government disability services throughout Australia do more than actively ignore consumers and their families. They frequently insult, intimidate and issue avoid to the extreme on those who dare to question their service provision in any way.

This is in total contrast to the “Total Responsibility Accepted (TRA)” service provision. TRA is where all management and staff actively seek customer satisfaction and feedback. Management and staff actively wanting to please the resident and their family to make a happy and working together relationship conducive to real quality of life care, meaningful family involvement with peace of mind satisfaction and job satisfaction for management and staff.

Summary: If we are unable to change service provider attitude, especially government service provider attitude from “Avoid” to “Accept Responsibility”, then any new funding will do little more than provide more “Minder Care” rather than “Quality of Life Care”.

Elderly parents want to depart this world in the sound knowledge their family member will not just have a roof over their head, but will have a real home with real and consistent quality of life care by direct care staff who treat the residents like they were their second family.

For more information you can contact

Tony & Heather Tregale

LIFESTYLE IN SUPPORTED ACCOMMODATION (LISA) INC.

Tel: 03-9434-3810 Email: vk3qq@optusnet.com.au Web: www.lisainc.com.au www.lisa-aus.blogspot.com

Information Session

The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing is hosting a series of information sessions around Australia on the introduction of the Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS). This Scheme will replace the Continence Aids Assistance Scheme (CAAS) from 1 July 2010.

Information sessions are open to consumers and their carers, medical and allied health professionals, service providers and product suppliers.

To find out where information sessions are being held, and to register your interest in attending a session located near you, please visit the Department’s website www.bladderbowel.gov.au/furtherinfo/caps/default.htm or call the toll free phone number 1800 118 455 during business hours (Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm).

Registrations close 5pm on Friday, 19th March 2010.

A confirmation letter will be provided to registered participants.

Further information about the Continence Aids Payment Scheme, including Frequently Asked Questions, can be found on the Department’s website www.bladderbowel.gov.au.

Australians with disabilities will soon find it easier to access government information online.

Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten said the Rudd Government had endorsed new website accessibility standards, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

“This is an important step in making democracy more open, accessible and accountable for all Australians,” Lindsay Tanner said.

“It will encourage and enable people living with disabilities to more fully interact with, and get services from government online.”

The new standard replaces WCAG 1.0, a mandated requirement for agencies since 2000.

More information can be found here.

SACommunity (formerly Infosearch) is South Australia’s community information resource. Its purpose is to enable you to

• find out about help available from government, non-government and community services throughout SA
• find out how you can connect with and get involved in your community

The February 2010 SACommunity newsletter contains news and information on organisations in the SA community sector and can be viewed here.

22 April 2008

*NSW Government to introduce Companion Card for Carers*

People in NSW who have a severe or profound disability will now be able to take a carer on public transport or to a range of sporting, entertainment and other events for the price of a single ticket. The NSW Government will provide the card to people who always or usually require the assistance of a carer in their daily lives, with eligibility based on the needs of the person with disability.

NDS has welcomed the announcement because of the benefit to people with disabilities for whom the Companion Card will create better access to the community, everyday services and events.

NDS has long been an advocate of the introduction of a Companion Card, and congratulates the NSW Government on the introduction of this vital new program.

The Companion Card enables carers of people with a disability to access all public transport, including ferries, plus entry to national parks and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. The Government hopes that the private sector will also recognise the card.

NSW follows Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia in introducing the Companion Card scheme. NDS operates the scheme in WA (see http://www.wa.companioncard.org.au/). In South Australia, the scheme is jointly managed by the State Government and NDS. NDS is responsible for signing up business affiliates and promoting the scheme.

While the Victorian Government owns the trade mark and intellectual property rights for the Companion Card, it is keen to support other States and Territories to facilitate the rights of people with disability by providing a licence and full support to implement the program. Organisations seeking information about the Companion Card or wishing to affiliate their venue or activity should contact the Companion Card program in the State or Territory in which they operate. National affiliates should contact the Victorian Companion Card .

NSW’s announcement brings Federal Labor’s promise last year to make the Company Card scheme into a nationwide program closer to a reality.

More information:
http://www.companioncard.org.au/cc/CCPortal/portal_index.htm