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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges

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Speaker 1: the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast

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Speaker 1: is recorded on.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I'm table Strano. This is Mumma Mer's twice daily

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Speaker 2: news podcast. The Quickie, the National Disability insurance Agency, has

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Speaker 2: announced major carts to therapy fees and travel costs. So

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Speaker 2: who's actually benefiting from this? Before we get there, here's

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Speaker 2: Clam Murphy with the latest from the Quickie news room.

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Speaker 1: Or Wednesday, June eighteen, Thanks Taylor. According to a new

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Speaker 1: filing from former R and B singer R Kelly's lawyer,

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Speaker 1: his clients suffered a near fatal overdose in prison. The singer,

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Speaker 1: who's serving a thirty year jail term for sex trafficking

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Speaker 1: and racketeering, was, according to his lawyer, placed into isolation

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Speaker 1: on June ten with his anxiety medication. Three days later,

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Speaker 1: after being given more of the medication by prison staff,

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Speaker 1: he reportedly lost consciousness and was taken to hospital. He

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Speaker 1: was kept for observation for two days before being taken

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Speaker 1: back to his cell. His lawyer claims that the prison

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Speaker 1: officers intentionally gave him an amount of the medicine that

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Speaker 1: could have killed him, saying in the document that this

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Speaker 1: was no mistake. It was a dose that jeopardized his

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Speaker 1: life and nearly ended it. He's filed an emergency motion

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Speaker 1: for Kelly's early release. This is the third attempt to

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Speaker 1: have his client freed. He's already seeking clemency from President

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump, with another motion filed already claiming three officials

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Speaker 1: from the Bureau of Prisons plotted to murder him while incarcerated.

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Speaker 1: Another inmate coming forward claiming they'd asked him to do

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Speaker 1: it and in return, he'd be offered the chance to

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Speaker 1: escape from custody to live as a free man. Accused

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Speaker 1: mushroom killer Aaron Patterson's lawyer claims his client's account of

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Speaker 1: the deadly Beef Wellington lunch did not unravel despite being

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Speaker 1: cross examined for days. Colin Mandy told the jury his

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Speaker 1: client had the right to stay silent in her triple

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Speaker 1: murder trial, but she instead chose to face questions from

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Speaker 1: the prosecution. Mister Mandy said Patterson was not only being

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Speaker 1: scrutinized by those in the courtroom during her cross examination,

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Speaker 1: but also the whole world. He maintained that despite more

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Speaker 1: than twenty hours of surgical questioning from Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rodgers,

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Speaker 1: Patterson's account did not unravel. Mister Mandy also said Patterson

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Speaker 1: was forthcoming in her admissions that she lied to the

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Speaker 1: lunch guests about being diagnosed with cancer and that foraged

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Speaker 1: mushrooms might have been in the meal. Pattison has denied

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Speaker 1: she intentionally poisoned her former in laws Don and Gale Patterson,

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Speaker 1: Gail's sister Heather, and Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson. Don, Gale,

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Speaker 1: and Heather all died after consuming the July twenty nine,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three beef Wellington lunch served by Patterson at

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Speaker 1: her home in Regional Victoria, while Ian survived. She's pleaded

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Speaker 1: not guilty to three charges of murder and one count

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Speaker 1: of attempted murder. The barrister's closing address is due to

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Speaker 1: continue today before Justice Christopher Biale gives his final directions

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Speaker 1: to the jury. The judge has already indicated he will

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Speaker 1: not begin his instructions until Monday, with the jury to

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Speaker 1: begin deliberating on Tuesday afternoon at the earliest. US President

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump says his country's patience is wearing thin, so

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Speaker 1: that they have no immediate intentions to take out Iran's leader,

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Speaker 1: as the Israel Iran wore rags for a fifth day. However,

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Speaker 1: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says that Iran Supreme Leader

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Speaker 1: Iotola Ali Jamani could face the same fate as Iraqi

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Speaker 1: President Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US led

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Speaker 1: invasion and eventually hanged after a trial, saying I warned

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Speaker 1: the Iranian dictator against continuing to commit war crimes and

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Speaker 1: fire missiles at Israeli citizens. That's despite Israel firing the

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Speaker 1: first shots on Friday, claiming it was to end Iran's

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Speaker 1: nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Explosions were reported in the

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Speaker 1: Iranian capital, Tehran and in the city of Isfahan in

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Speaker 1: central Iran, while Israel said Iran had fired more missiles

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Speaker 1: towards it, Air raid sirens sounding in Tel Aviv and

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Speaker 1: southern Israel. Foreign Minister Penniwong said on Monday that three

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty Australians had registered for help to flee Iran. Overnight,

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Speaker 1: Iran said more than two hundred and twenty four people

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Speaker 1: had been killed in the latest Israeli bombardment. A revamped

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Speaker 1: format of mixed double for the US Open has attracted

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Speaker 1: some pushback from the top ranked players, but also created

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Speaker 1: some interesting new pairings, including one with Ozzie Nick Kurrios.

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Speaker 1: The new format will see the mixed doubles played in

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Speaker 1: the fan week before the main draw and will be

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Speaker 1: shorter matches, the best of three sets played to four

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Speaker 1: games instead of six, with shorter tiebreakers. Only the final

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Speaker 1: would be played to six games. The change has not

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Speaker 1: been welcomed by all, with Australia's own Ellen Perez posting

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Speaker 1: online tell us that you think doubles players are trash,

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Speaker 1: that tradition is overrated and job opportunity is a thing

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Speaker 1: of the past without actually saying it. But some players

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Speaker 1: are keen to try out the new format, with Nick

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Speaker 1: Kurrios hoping for a wild card to play with his

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Speaker 1: new partner Naomi Osaka and Alex Stimenor saying he and

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Speaker 1: fiance British player Katie Bolt are considering joining too.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Claire. Next. The sweeping changes coming to the ndis.

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Speaker 3: He will say, don't die.

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Speaker 4: That's what he says.

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Speaker 3: I used to think it was really cute, sort of

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Speaker 3: laugh that he actually means you are my life support.

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Speaker 3: Do not die because without you I can't really function.

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Speaker 2: That's Sue. She's the parent to a child with complex needs.

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Speaker 2: Between a full time career, caring for her son, looking

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Speaker 2: after her ninety one year old mother, and recovering from

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Speaker 2: breast cancer, Sue decided to leave her full time job

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Speaker 2: to take on the role of navigating the National Disability

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Speaker 2: Insurance Scheme for her child. When we talk about the NDIS,

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Speaker 2: it seems that everyone has a story. They either know

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Speaker 2: someone accessing services, are friends with the service provider, or

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Speaker 2: like many of the people we spoke to for this episode,

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Speaker 2: have spent upwards of ten hours a week navigating administrative

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Speaker 2: tasks to do with the system. But the latest news

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Speaker 2: from the sector, a pricing overhaul, has left people from

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Speaker 2: all sides concerned. Now I have to admit reading through

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Speaker 2: threads in the Mamma mer out Lauda's Facebook group and

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Speaker 2: eventually asking for listeners to comment on this matter opened

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Speaker 2: the floodgates. As we started to dive into today's topic,

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Speaker 2: I felt completely overwhelmed and out of my depth, and

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Speaker 2: to be honest, a little bit anxious from the onslaught

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Speaker 2: of messages and stories that you have also generously shared

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Speaker 2: with us. This, of course, does not compare to what

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Speaker 2: many of you experience day to day as either a

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Speaker 2: provider or someone accessing services, either for yourself or on

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Speaker 2: behalf of someone you know or care for. So I

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Speaker 2: hope this episode helps you feel seen and heard, and

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Speaker 2: for the rest of us, here's what you need to know.

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Speaker 2: From July one, the National Disability Insurance Scheme will undergo

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Speaker 2: its biggest pricing overhaul yet. The changes have providers and

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Speaker 2: advocates deeply concerned. The NDIA, that's the National Disability Insurance Agency.

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Speaker 2: They're the Aussie government group that run the NDIS well.

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Speaker 2: Their annual pricing review will see significant cuts to therapy fees.

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Speaker 2: For example, psychologists in Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory will see their rates cut by more

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Speaker 2: than eleven dollars per hour, while travel reimbursements for all

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Speaker 2: providers across the nation will be harved. The changes, which

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Speaker 2: the NDA say are based on market benchmarking, come as

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Speaker 2: the scheme tries to reduce its annual growth from fifteen

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Speaker 2: to eight percent. Diana is a psych in Adelaide where

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Speaker 2: eighty percent of her client base are on the NDIS.

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Speaker 2: She says the cuts in her state could make running

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Speaker 2: her business unsustainable.

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Speaker 4: It means that as a provider, we may be less

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Speaker 4: inclined to even accept NDIS participants. I wouldn't dream of

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Speaker 4: obviously ceasing therapeutic services for my clients, and I'm probably

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Speaker 4: fortunate that I'll somehow find a way to make this work,

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Speaker 4: but others may not be able to have that Luxury.

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Speaker 2: Experts say these cuts will disproportionately impact women, both as

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Speaker 2: service providers but also as recipients.

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Speaker 3: Across the sector. It is a significantly highest female therapist

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Speaker 3: industry across the board.

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Speaker 2: That's Louise. She's the parent of a team with a

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Speaker 2: complex disability who currently accesses services via the NDIS. But

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Speaker 2: Louise also works in the sector. She's the national client

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Speaker 2: director for an allied health provider. She told us that

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Speaker 2: ninety five percent of the staff at her workplace are women,

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Speaker 2: a statistic she says the government has taken advantage.

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Speaker 3: Of productivity in the industry is going to drop significantly.

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Speaker 3: I think that this could force women who are highly

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Speaker 3: qualified and very skilled at what they do to consider

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Speaker 3: other places to work in other areas, to work because

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Speaker 3: this isn't going to be sustainable for them, And it

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Speaker 3: feels like the government has really played on this that

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Speaker 3: basically you've got a hugely female dominated workforce who have

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Speaker 3: quietly got on and just absorbed the costs and absorbed

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Speaker 3: the stuff. Becles. They care about their clients, they care

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Speaker 3: about the industries that they work in, and they care

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Speaker 3: passionately about what they do. And I think that government

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Speaker 3: is absolutely taking complete liberties with this.

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Speaker 2: Now we know that more than eighty percent of registered

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Speaker 2: psychologists are women, and similar strong female representation is seen

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Speaker 2: in occupational therapy, speech pathology, and physiotherapy too. For women

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Speaker 2: with disabilities, who are more likely to experience trauma, violence,

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Speaker 2: and socioeconomic disadvantage, the cuts could mean losing access to

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Speaker 2: vital home and community based care. Now, disability advocates are

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Speaker 2: particularly concerned about the impact on regional areas, where the

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Speaker 2: reduced travel reimbursements could make mobile care financially unviable. Kate

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Speaker 2: runs a small speech pathology clinic on the Sunshine Coast.

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Speaker 5: So we have myself as the owner and then we

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Speaker 5: have two other speech therapists and an allied health assistant,

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Speaker 5: so we're pretty small. That We support a huge range

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Speaker 5: of clients with disability across like quite a big geographical area.

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Speaker 5: We're a mobile practice, so we travel to them and

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Speaker 5: their home. We also visit day care schools and other

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Speaker 5: community locations as well, depending on the client's needs.

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Speaker 2: She's worried the cuts to travel reimbursements will have an

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Speaker 2: impact on business that ultimately provide a huge disadvantage to

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Speaker 2: her clients.

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Speaker 5: The margins at the end of the day don't exist.

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Speaker 5: We're breaking even right now, so with the cuts, we

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Speaker 5: just won't be able to sustain the service, and our

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Speaker 5: participants are the ones who are going to lose access

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Speaker 5: to support. So, particularly for our Allied Health Assistant, the

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Speaker 5: rate dropping by fifty percent, it actually will only cover

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Speaker 5: the cost of wages, so no overheads at all, so

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Speaker 5: that I'll be making your loss on that service. But

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Speaker 5: I have to really think very hard about whether I

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Speaker 5: can even continue to offer the Allied Health Assistant service.

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Speaker 2: The peak body for NDIS support coordinators has called the

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Speaker 2: changes reckless and gutless, warning that thousands of provide may

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Speaker 2: be forced to close their doors. While the NDIA claimed

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Speaker 2: to have consulted widely many Allied health professionals say they

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Speaker 2: learned about the changes through media reports rather than direct dialogue.

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Speaker 2: We focused a lot on NDIS providers today, and while

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Speaker 2: these changes no doubt will impact many many businesses of

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Speaker 2: all different shapes and sizes, it will also impact families

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Speaker 2: and people living with disabilities too. Louie's painted a very

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Speaker 2: grim picture of what the reality for many of these

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Speaker 2: people accessing services could look like.

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Speaker 3: We're going to go back to the space where there

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Speaker 3: are literally people sitting in wheelchairs in day programs, staring

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Speaker 3: at all. So I just think that this is really very,

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Speaker 3: very frightening with for people with disabilities to have a

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Speaker 3: support that they need in the industry.

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Speaker 2: Everyone we spoke to for this episode echoed the same

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Speaker 2: concern that not enough people, those living with a disability,

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Speaker 2: caring for someone with a disability, or working as a

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Speaker 2: service provider with thoroughly insulted before the decision was made.

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Speaker 3: It needs to complete overhaul, and not the overhaul that

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Speaker 3: it's having. All that it's had, it seems to be

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Speaker 3: very indiscriminate into what they're doing.

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Speaker 4: Nobody seems to have been impressed seen it as a

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Speaker 4: positive going forward, the providers, all participants. It doesn't seem

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Speaker 4: that it's going to benefit anybody to make services less

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Speaker 4: accessible to clients and put them at risk of not

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Speaker 4: being available at all.

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Speaker 5: I think ultimately there is a lot of waste in

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Speaker 5: the NDAAs in terms of the bureaucracy and the red tape.

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Speaker 5: I'm spending hours writing reports that they're requesting of me.

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Speaker 5: They then might lose that report, and then they asked

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Speaker 5: me to write it again because it's now considered out

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Speaker 5: of date. There are hours and hours that are lost,

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Speaker 5: and that's all money. I honestly think trained staff and

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Speaker 5: better systems, clearer policies and guidelines would make the world

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Speaker 5: of difference in saving money not having allied health services

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Speaker 5: that participants desperately need.

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Speaker 2: Before we go today, we did reach out to the

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Speaker 2: Health Minister and Ministers for the NDIS Mark Butler and

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Speaker 2: Jenny McAlister. Neither were available for comment. They did, however,

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Speaker 2: pass our details onto the NDIS itself, who sent us

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Speaker 2: the following statement.

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Speaker 6: The National Disability Insurance Agency conducts an annual pricing review

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Speaker 6: to ensure NDIS participants are paying prices that are in

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Speaker 6: line with industry standards and the market is sustainable and

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Speaker 6: fair for NDIS participants. This year's APR release is informed

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Speaker 6: by the largest and most comprehensive collection of data to

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Speaker 6: support its therapy recommendations used by the NDIA to date,

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Speaker 6: covering more than ten million additional transactions, including benchmarking with Medicare,

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Speaker 6: private health insurance, and thirteen comparable government schemes. It's only

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Speaker 6: fair that NDIS participants are paying prices that are in

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Speaker 6: line with the support and services other Australians are paying

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Speaker 6: through Medicare. In some cases, the data showed NDIS price

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Speaker 6: limits significantly exceeded the market rate by up to sixty

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Speaker 6: eight percent. We heard from participants that excessive travel claims

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Speaker 6: for therapy related services are draining participants plans faster than expected.

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Speaker 6: The updated therapy travel claiming rules encourage more efficient scheduling

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Speaker 6: by providers and provide clear cost expectations for participants to

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Speaker 6: help them get better value from their funding. For participants

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Speaker 6: living in remote areas, therapists can receive a forty percent

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Speaker 6: above rate price for services, and this loading is fifty

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Speaker 6: percent for therapy providers in very remote areas. The NDIA

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Speaker 6: is committed to ensuring NDIS pricing is fair, sustainable and

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Speaker 6: outcomes driven.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with

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Speaker 2: us today. The Quiki is produced by me Table Strano

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Speaker 2: and Clare Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill. Muma

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Speaker 2: Mia Studios are styled with furniture from Fenton and Fenton.

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Speaker 2: Visit Fenton and Fennaton dot com, dot a u