The Budget at a Glance
Where are the spending cuts? Who’s getting extra cash? Everything you need to know about Budget 2012-13. Fresh from Budget lock-up, Ben Eltham has the highlights:
Highlights of Wayne Swan’s Budget 2012-13
- $1.5 billion surplus for 2012-13, growing to $7.5 billion in 2015-16.
- Budget deficit for the year ending June 2012 blows out to $44.4 billion.
- Government has found $33.6 billion in savings, offset by $5 billion in new spending.
- “Benefits of the Boom”: new payments for families to offset cost of living pressures.
- National Disability Insurance Scheme begins.
- Commitment to aged care reforms.
- Mining boom means economy will keep growing, despite spending cuts and carbon tax.
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LASA’s leader announced
CEO of Aged and Community Care Victoria (ACCV), Gerard Mansour, has been appointed the inaugural CEO of Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), the new aged care industry association recently formed by ACCV, Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA) and Aged Care Queensland (ACQ).
The announcement yesterday will see Mr Mansour finish in his current role at the end of June and take up the new position, based in Canberra, on 2 July. see story here …
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Ipswich’s disabled community says National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) could make dreams come true
The new National Disability Insurance Scheme could benefit almost half of the Ipswich population, according to a regional facilitator. Queenslanders with Disability Network Ipswich regional facilitator Peter Tully said the NDIS would benefit elderly residents, mentally challenged people and the physically disabled numbering about 85,000 from a population of 175,000. Full article…
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Disabled, carers to help design NDIS
Disabled people and carers will help design the multibillion-dollar national disability insurance scheme to be launched in mid-2013, Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin says.
Ms Macklin announced on Tuesday three working groups, made up of disabled people, carers, disability advocates, service providers and experts, will advise the Labor government about the design of scheme. Read More…
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Reform package falls short
The federal government has fallen short in providing the aged care sector with the reform package it needed and was promised, although what was announced pre-budget is good enough for now.
This is the overall feeling of many aged care stakeholders and reform campaigners in the aftermath of the now historic ‘20th April 2012’ aged care reform announcement made jointly by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, more than two weeks before the full 2012/13 budget was released. Full article …
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Disability Community Applauds Launch of NDIS
The campaign alliance behind the public push for a National Disability Insurance Scheme, NDIS, has described the Federal Government’s announcement to roll out the scheme as ‘historic’. The National Disability Alliance through its Every Australian Counts campaign organised the rallies across Australia yesterday including the Sydney Rally in which Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the NDIS would be rolled out by July 2013 and Federal funding would be included in the May Budget. Full article….
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Abbott to reinforce support for NDIS
Opposition leader Tony Abbott will reinforce his support for a National Insurance Disability Scheme at a rally in Perth today. In a whirlwind visit to WA, the Liberal leader will also visit a local business in Kwinana at 10am to talk to the owner about issues facing small businesses.
Disabled people, carers and supporters will march from the Hay Street Mall to Stirling Gardens where a public rally will be held in support of the NDIS outside Council House at 12.30pm. The NDIS will provide life-long, taxpayer-funded support for people with disabilities under a Medicare-style funding system. Read article..
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Special sporting action in Shoalhaven
MORE than 250 intellectually disabled athletes from across the state were in the Shoalhaven over the weekend competing in a variety of sports including football, basketball, tennis, golf, tenpin bowling and swimming. Read more…
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Preparing for periodic payments - Dr Henry Cutler
“The accommodation bond is a unique characteristic of the Australian aged care market. Since their introduction in 1997, a large proportion of providers have become reliant on bonds, using them to fund refurbishment, or to repay commercial debt quicker, thereby reducing the cost of capital. Full Article…
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iPads providing a voice for disabled children
KIM LANDERS: School teachers in Darwin have tapped into a new way to help students with special needs communicate. They’ve raised money to buy iPads for children who have a range of serious intellectual disabilities and minimal speech. And they’re finding the technology is drastically improving the students’ communication skills. Clare Rawlinson has this report.
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Safeguard vulnerable young from aged care isolation
Anj Barker was 16 years old when she was bashed to near death by her ex-boyfriend. She sustained permanent, profound brain injuries. After many months she was released from hospital with such high care needs that her parents were unable to look after her at home. There was no alternative but nursing home placement, an experience Anj describes as ‘‘pure hell’’. Read more:
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Calls for MBS item for palliative care
GPs should be entitled to a Medicare rebate for advanced care planning to enable them to play a bigger role in palliative care, according to an aged care group. read full article..
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Disability Leadership Program Now Recruiting
Applications are now open for people with disability who want to develop their skills and confidence to become leaders in business, the community and government. The Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Jan McLucas is encouraging people with disability to apply now for the Leaders for Tomorrow program. Read more here…
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Telehealth for aged care homes and pharmacies
Telehealth pilot projects are being offered for aged care homes using the National Broadband Network, and retail pharmacies are also seeking to host telehealth services.
Peddling thrills: Bikes customised to suit disabled children
Sunraysia children with disabilities will now have the chance to experience riding a bike like most children their age. TADVIC is giving children with a disability a chance to get on a bike with custom made bikes to support the needs of each individual child.
According to the organisation’s website, TADVIC is a Victorian-based not-for-profit organisation that was founded in 1975 to provide technical assistance to people with disabilities when commercially available solutions are unsuitable. read more…
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Care needs long term planning
When discussing the capital needed for a comfortable retirement, the likely cost of aged care needs to be included in the planning, warns Philip Galagher, head of wealth management at Equity Trustees Limited. “The likelihood of care and its associated cost needs to be recognised at the beginning of retirement, not when care looms as an unwelcome necessity,” Mr Galagher said. Full article..
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Aged Care: A Golden Opportunity for Change
Australian Ageing Agenda: Don’t miss our Q&A panel thrashing out the industry’s response to the May Federal budget announcement. Energetic and opinionated speakers including Clive Bowman, Bill Forward, Bill Appleby, Brian Haratsis and Tracey McDonald will provide input from a range of perspectives including providers, political, international, consumers and the workforce. The panel will be facilitated by Toby Travenner. full details..
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Two Thirds of Australians Reject Reverse Mortgages for Aged Care
The Australia Institute for Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA) has called on the Federal Government to abandon the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s report ‘Caring for Older Australians’ following the results of its nationwide survey. The call comes as the National Aged Care Alliance (NACA) and The Council on the Aging COTA have spoken in favour of the reforms at the National Press Club in Canberra. Read more…
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Minister welcomes national Alzheimer’s report
The Victorian Minister for Ageing David Davis today welcomed the launch of the Alzheimer’s Australia national report on services for people with dementia.
“This report again affirms what has been known for years – that Australia’s health and aged care services have not been adequately designed to meet the needs of rapidly increasing numbers of people with dementia, and the needs of their carers,” Mr Davis said today. “Alzheimer’s Australia itself has been established for decades and has made a significant contribution. Full article..
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Disability Inclusive Research Collaboration Conference (DIRCC), Research Rights: Disability Inclusion Change
- Conference
- Wednesday 13 June 2012 – Thursday 14 June 2012
- Sydney, New South Wales
The conference aims to bring together people with disability, researchers, policy makers, activists, and people working in the broader disability sector to discuss and promote inclusive and participatory research. In doing so, it aims to demonstrate how research designs, practices and methodologies can be inclusive and driven by people with disability for people with disability. More Details…
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Aged care in dire straits
A damning report into the state of Australia’s aged-care system released by Alzheimer’s Australia yesterday came as no surprise to those involved in Illawarra dementia care services.
The report, commissioned by the Federal Government’s Department of Health and Ageing, contains hundreds of testimonials compiled from public consultations held in capital cities and regional centres between October and November last year. Full Article..
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Report finds dementia care inadequate across the health system
ASHLEY HALL: Dementia patients and their families have given a scathing assessment of the quality of care available to them and particularly to those from Indigenous or non-English speaking backgrounds. Alzheimer’s Australia says dementia patients and their carers are being let down right across the health system and it wants an extra $500 million in this year’s budget to improve services and research….full article.
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Gillard Commits Funds for Disabled Accommodation
The Federal Government will commit $60 million dollars over three years to help build community-based accommodation for adults with severe or profound disability.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that twenty-one organisations across Australia will share in the funds through the Supported Accommodation Innovation Fund, which will help address a shortfall in supported accommodation and respite for people with disability. … Read More
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Rebuilding from the ground up – a National Disability Insurance Scheme
Disability doesn’t discriminate. And yet for Australians with disability, where you live or how you or a loved one acquire a disability can radically change the care and support you receive. Last year the Productivity Commission reported into disability care and support in Australia, describing the current system as “underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient.” The Productivity Commission recommended a complete overhaul of disability care and support, through a National Disability Insurance Scheme. .. read article
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NDIS. Labor is poised for greatness.
“What is wrong with expecting that our children, regardless of impairment, can have a secondary education? What is wrong with expecting that our children can get jobs and go to universities and TAFE? What is wrong with expecting that you can get a wheelchair within 12 months of ordering one? How is it that in this federation of ours, when you move from one state to another, you have to hand your equipment back before you can move?”
BILL SHORTEN
ASSISTANT TREASURER … Read full article by Peter Martin
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Key Indep MP backs aged care reform
One of the most powerful politicians in Australia’s hung parliament, Independent MP Tony Windsor, has thrown his weight behind the push for aged care reform andraised a question about the wages and working conditions of aged care nurses in Parliament.
Mr Windsor publically backed the Australian Nurses Federation (ANF) and the NSW Nurses Association’s Aged care can’t wait campaign when he asked the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, about wages reform in Question Time, late last week…. full article
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Break-Away Aged Care Groups Forms New National Body
Two state-based aged care representative bodies, Victoria and Queensland, have withdrawn from the national peak body ACSA (Aged and Community Services Australia) to form a new national entity.
The split follows more than a year of turmoil over representation and a failed attempt to merge with a for-profit association. Agreement has been reached by Marcus Riley, President of ACQ, Bryan Dorman, President of ACAA and Valerie Lyons, President of ACCV, to establish the new national entity called of Leading Age Services Australia…. read more
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