My speech at Melb Bust the Budget Rally in May on how people with disability are going to be impacted by this government's budget.
Ok so today I am
going to talk to you about how this budget and this government is effecting
people with disability.
This is a
collaborative speech worked on by a number of disability activist and I am just
their mouthpiece with a good shirt really.
So I’m going to
start off with the good news because it is the only thing which doesn’t seek to
disadvantage people with disability further then we already are- the National
Disability Insurance Scheme, and that, is still going ahead but it has been
delayed and this will obviously hurt a lot of people with disabilities and
their carers.
This budget
essentially, targets the POOR, the sick, disabled and the marginalized. It
further reintranches the disadvantages we are already subject to, when right
now almost 50% of people with disability live near or below the poverty line.
There will be a
decrease in the DSP over time. And interestingly, and I will allow you to take
a guess at why, there will soon no longer be a disability discrimination
commissioner.
Programs that
promote the human rights of people with disabilities are being de-funded.
There will be cuts
to legal services and violence services, which is particularly worrying because
we know that women with disabilities are more likely to experience forms of
violence then non-disabled women.
There are changes
to health care, which will hit the people with disability particularly hard,
with an increase in medicines and a $7 GP fee, as well as cuts public health
spending of around 80 billion and Public Hospital funding is also being
slashed.
An estimated 28,000
people who were granted the DSP between 2008-2011, are under 35 who have been
assessed as being able to work more than 8 hours a week will have to take part
in compulsory work programs, and will face sanctions if they do not comply.
People with
disability will be subject to "independent" assessments by doctors
and as we know from the UK, it can, and will result in deaths for those with
little or no to capacity to work. These doctors are not specialists in a number
of disabilities and they also are being hired by Centerlink to save the
government money.
The ABC’S Ramp up,
a disability website, which provides a national platform for disability issues
is no longer going to be funded, meaning that all the issues which will harm
and further disadvantage people with disability will no longer have a voice.
There is no
additional help with employment and with the changes already made to the DSP
eligibility, there are a lot of people with disability on Newstart. so the new
rules relating to Newstart, having to wait six months fif your under
30...will also apply to all those people who are sick/disabled and in need of
health care and medicines which they now have absolutely NO INCOME to afford.
There will be an
increase in household bills for people on pensions as we are no longer eligible
for discounts and the few tax deductions which we could receive have been
abolished.
And there is no
getting away from all of this cos if you are receiving the DSP, and want to go
overseas, you will have only four weeks to do that in before you get cut off
and you will have to wait another 12 months before you can travel again. I
guess they are expecting us to be too poor to be able to travel anywhere, ever.
So basically its
fucked. But we can march, we can raise our voices and we can try and do
10 things a day which would make Abbott very, very, uncomfortable, as a queer I
aim to do that each and every day to the very fucking best of my ability!
(For more info
see http://www.disabilitydirectory.net.au/articles/budget-lowdown/)
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