WEBVTT - Talking Vision 778 Week Beginning 28th of April 2025 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.920 From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's 0:00:18.919 --> 0:00:21.000 your host Sam Colley. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.520 Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.520 for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:30.600 and low vision. 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.840 What we've got to make sure is, as those cuts 0:00:32.839 --> 0:00:35.919 are occurring or as as we look for efficiencies in 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.639 the system, that we don't end up not supporting the 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.319 people that really do need support and not supporting the 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.399 really good suppliers. And that's where the problem lies. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:51.079 Welcome to the program. With the Australian federal election very 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:55.520 quickly approaching on May 3rd. Peter Greco caught up with 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.840 a prospective Senate candidate in South Australia, and Emma myers 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:06.020 from Powered Media held a panel discussion with various figures 0:01:06.020 --> 0:01:12.380 from the disability community. Those conversations are coming up very shortly, 0:01:12.380 --> 0:01:15.339 so make sure to stick around to hear from Peter 0:01:15.340 --> 0:01:18.860 and Emma. And wrapping up the show this week, I 0:01:18.899 --> 0:01:23.700 catch up with Sam Barrett from the Melbourne City Mission. 0:01:23.740 --> 0:01:27.339 Chatting to me all about the upcoming sleep at the 0:01:27.340 --> 0:01:31.860 G taking place on May 15th. I hope you enjoy 0:01:31.860 --> 0:01:40.259 this week's episode of Talking Vision. And now here's Peter Greco. 0:01:40.300 --> 0:01:43.100 Rex Patrick is a Senate candidate for the Jacqui Lambie 0:01:43.140 --> 0:01:46.380 Network in South Australia. And I'm really pleased to welcome 0:01:46.660 --> 0:01:48.700 to the program. Rex, thanks for your time. 0:01:48.740 --> 0:01:50.220 Hey, great to be on. 0:01:50.260 --> 0:01:52.620 How are things going, Rex? What's your feeling of the 0:01:52.660 --> 0:01:54.260 election situation at the moment? 0:01:54.300 --> 0:01:56.340 Well, it's always really hard to tell. 0:01:56.620 --> 0:01:59.620 What happens is you go out and you campaign and 0:01:59.620 --> 0:02:01.540 you might put your name on a billboard or on 0:02:01.540 --> 0:02:04.990 a TV ad or a radio ad, or a social media. 0:02:04.990 --> 0:02:07.910 But unlike when a business does that and the next 0:02:07.910 --> 0:02:10.590 week they see their sales figures go up. We just 0:02:10.590 --> 0:02:12.829 have one day where there's a sale, and so we 0:02:12.870 --> 0:02:16.630 never really know. Look, yeah, there's there's logic in my running. 0:02:16.790 --> 0:02:19.510 I'm well known in South Australia. I'm running with Jacqui Lambie, 0:02:19.550 --> 0:02:23.070 who's actually perhaps more known than what I am. And 0:02:23.390 --> 0:02:25.550 it's a good combination in terms of the way she 0:02:25.550 --> 0:02:28.830 does business, the way I do business. She's Army on Navy, 0:02:28.870 --> 0:02:31.990 we do things slightly differently, but I think together we 0:02:31.990 --> 0:02:33.830 actually make a pretty good team. 0:02:33.870 --> 0:02:36.230 Rex there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction with 0:02:36.270 --> 0:02:39.350 both major political parties that kind of plays into your space, 0:02:39.350 --> 0:02:39.950 do you think? 0:02:39.990 --> 0:02:44.590 Oh, absolutely. People who are disgruntled with their traditional party, 0:02:44.590 --> 0:02:46.750 whether it be they looking at the Liberal Party and 0:02:46.750 --> 0:02:49.590 seeing it shift further to the right and wanting to 0:02:49.630 --> 0:02:52.790 stay more in the middle, or whether it's your labor 0:02:52.790 --> 0:02:56.270 and you get frustrated because of the lack of transparency 0:02:56.270 --> 0:02:59.630 or lack of whistleblower protection, or you just feel that 0:02:59.630 --> 0:03:02.210 they may have lost their way. That's when people look 0:03:02.250 --> 0:03:06.330 to typically the center and sitting there are people like myself. 0:03:06.370 --> 0:03:08.410 And particularly in the Senate. I guess that's where we're 0:03:08.410 --> 0:03:10.530 kind of almost, if you like, put our protest vote, 0:03:10.530 --> 0:03:11.930 if you like, we might vote for one of the 0:03:11.930 --> 0:03:13.970 major parties in the lower house because they're going to 0:03:13.970 --> 0:03:16.250 form government. But the Senate can play a very important 0:03:16.250 --> 0:03:19.130 role as that sort of whistleblower, that watchdog, that House 0:03:19.130 --> 0:03:19.810 of review. 0:03:19.850 --> 0:03:20.730 Yeah. Look, a lot of people. 0:03:20.730 --> 0:03:24.930 Don't understand the House and the Senate very well. And 0:03:25.170 --> 0:03:28.370 just very, very briefly explain what happened is that we 0:03:28.410 --> 0:03:32.450 take the entire population of Australia, and we divide that 0:03:32.450 --> 0:03:37.450 population up into groups of about 160,000 for each electorate 0:03:37.490 --> 0:03:42.330 has about that many people. In Sydney, there are 20 electorates. 0:03:42.330 --> 0:03:45.810 In South Australia there are ten electorates, and some of 0:03:45.810 --> 0:03:48.730 them are really big, like grey, that covers most of 0:03:48.730 --> 0:03:51.930 the state. Then we'll have Barker and Mayo, which cover 0:03:51.930 --> 0:03:54.210 the southern part of the state, and then we've got 0:03:54.210 --> 0:03:57.290 about seven in the Adelaide. But ultimately we only have 0:03:57.330 --> 0:04:01.180 ten Representatives in a very dark lower house. And I 0:04:01.180 --> 0:04:05.340 say stack, meaning it's the eastern states that dominate the Senate. 0:04:05.380 --> 0:04:08.140 Very different. The Senate, there are 12 senators for South 0:04:08.140 --> 0:04:10.460 Australia and there are 12 senators for New South Wales, 0:04:10.460 --> 0:04:12.940 and there are 12 senators for Queensland and 12 senators 0:04:12.940 --> 0:04:16.620 for Tasmania. So that the House, where we're supposed to 0:04:16.620 --> 0:04:19.580 have the sort of balance that sort of looks away 0:04:19.580 --> 0:04:22.140 from the dominance of the East Coast, and that's why 0:04:22.140 --> 0:04:25.460 it's actually really important for South Australia to make sure 0:04:25.460 --> 0:04:28.660 we have a good team in the Senate. And the 0:04:28.660 --> 0:04:31.180 other thing about the Senate is it plays a slightly 0:04:31.180 --> 0:04:34.980 different role. Normally in the House of Representatives, the government 0:04:34.980 --> 0:04:37.580 generally dominate. They can pretty much do what they like. 0:04:37.620 --> 0:04:39.860 They can put a bill in some sort of law, 0:04:39.860 --> 0:04:42.460 and then when they pass it to the Senate, the 0:04:42.460 --> 0:04:45.940 Senate often where they don't have complete control. The Senate 0:04:45.940 --> 0:04:47.540 looked at it. They said, well, this is a bit controversial. 0:04:47.540 --> 0:04:49.460 We're going to have to do an inquiry into this bill. 0:04:49.460 --> 0:04:51.300 We're going to have to look into this bill and 0:04:51.300 --> 0:04:53.460 hear what other people have to say about it before 0:04:53.460 --> 0:04:56.420 we either pass it, amend it, or reject it. So 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.480 the Senate does have this really important role. And we 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.520 want to make sure that this is the place where 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:05.280 South Australians can get their influence against perhaps the eastern 0:05:05.280 --> 0:05:07.520 states by having the right people in the Senate. 0:05:07.840 --> 0:05:09.360 So a few days ago, you were down in the 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.200 south east of South Australia, the Mount Gambier area, and 0:05:12.280 --> 0:05:15.160 getting a bit of feedback about the NDIS and how 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.160 it is or isn't working. What's your kind of take 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:17.960 away from that? 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:18.800 Well, the NDIS. 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.960 Is obviously a really important program. It's also a program 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.280 that involves a lot of money, and we've seen throughout 0:05:26.280 --> 0:05:29.800 this Parliament where there's been cuts in terms of, you know, 0:05:29.840 --> 0:05:31.880 the money being spent, you know, the government looking to 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:37.360 save about $14 billion. Now, I don't object to the idea. 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:42.000 And everyone who's got some association with the NDIS will 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.520 know that there are some people rorting the system, either 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.440 people who don't require the level of assistance they're getting, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.640 or they're a provider who are who is doing the 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.850 wrong thing. and perhaps gouging or perhaps, um, providing a 0:05:58.050 --> 0:06:00.850 building for services they're not providing and so forth, but 0:06:00.850 --> 0:06:03.490 they are the exceptions. What we've got to make sure is, 0:06:03.530 --> 0:06:07.450 as those cuts are occurring or as as we look 0:06:07.450 --> 0:06:11.210 for efficiencies in the system, that we don't end up 0:06:11.570 --> 0:06:15.850 not supporting the people that really do need support and 0:06:15.850 --> 0:06:19.210 not supporting the really good suppliers. And that's where the 0:06:19.210 --> 0:06:22.850 problem lies. All of the feedback I got down in 0:06:22.850 --> 0:06:26.850 Mount Gambier and with other people I talked to really is, um, 0:06:26.890 --> 0:06:30.770 you know, the, the, the negative feedback is that they're 0:06:30.890 --> 0:06:34.050 hitting the wrong areas. They're not the policy's not right. 0:06:34.290 --> 0:06:38.089 The settings are wrong. And that's something I'm very, quite 0:06:38.090 --> 0:06:40.890 interested in. And I talked to you before about Jackie 0:06:41.170 --> 0:06:46.970 and myself. Jackie's really empathetic and I'm very forensic and 0:06:46.970 --> 0:06:50.130 together that is a that's a quite a strong combination 0:06:50.130 --> 0:06:52.330 because we can you know, I tend to look into things. 0:06:52.330 --> 0:06:56.670 I'm a nerdy engineering type of person. And, uh, you know, 0:06:56.710 --> 0:07:01.030 Jack is a more of a grassroots politician. Uh, but collectively, 0:07:01.310 --> 0:07:03.190 the we've got a different set of skills that we 0:07:03.190 --> 0:07:06.190 can bring to, uh, the, the NDIS. And, you know, 0:07:06.230 --> 0:07:09.910 Jackie's had a whole range of, uh, issues in her 0:07:09.910 --> 0:07:14.070 life that have been quite challenging and really has punched through, uh, 0:07:14.070 --> 0:07:17.230 some of those issues. And she stays well connected to 0:07:17.310 --> 0:07:24.350 other people, very sympathetic and empathetic towards, you know, towards people. Um, I'm, 0:07:24.390 --> 0:07:28.190 I'm also very interested in making sure people are looked after, 0:07:28.390 --> 0:07:31.750 but I've got I tend to have this. Okay, let's 0:07:31.750 --> 0:07:33.910 go to the detail of what's going on here to 0:07:33.950 --> 0:07:36.310 try and find the right fix. So again, it's a 0:07:36.310 --> 0:07:37.150 good combination. 0:07:37.190 --> 0:07:39.630 And that detail is often the thing that gets missed 0:07:39.670 --> 0:07:42.350 when we hear the overall picture. But that detail is important. 0:07:42.390 --> 0:07:45.030 And I guess particularly going forward if there's any tweaks 0:07:45.030 --> 0:07:46.070 that are going to be made. 0:07:46.070 --> 0:07:49.470 Well, yeah. The devil, that's the detail. That's where the 0:07:49.470 --> 0:07:52.840 devil lies. Eyes. And that's again where I'm pretty good 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:54.880 at these things. And and look, I remember when we 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.040 were looking at things like the cashless debit card, you know, 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.600 that was a, that was a, a decision that really 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:06.000 tore me apart. Um, again, being a details person, I 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.000 flew up to, uh, the Northern Territory to talk to 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.600 indigenous people. I then went to to Juneau and talked 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.080 to a bunch of people. This is all between, fittingly, 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.280 you know, and I was taking calls from people in 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.560 the Adelaide Hills who had, you know, children who were 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.360 disabled and, and, you know, things were really going to 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.960 affect them. And, you know, and, and, you know, I 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.680 also went and had a look at, uh, injured card 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.360 technology as well. I really wanted to understand both sides 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.280 of the question. Um, but that was, you know, I 0:08:34.319 --> 0:08:38.680 just think back to that and, uh, the many sleepless nights. 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.280 That's very empathetic as well. Rex, with the Senate, I mean, 0:08:41.319 --> 0:08:43.280 often we hear about people say, oh, you know, contact 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.719 your local member if you're not happy about this or that. 0:08:46.079 --> 0:08:48.040 I mean, can you contact the senator and kind of 0:08:48.079 --> 0:08:49.859 get that kind of cut through as well. I mean, 0:08:49.859 --> 0:08:52.739 particularly if it's a more global issue rather than sort 0:08:52.740 --> 0:08:55.179 of a local issue that might be in your backyard, 0:08:55.179 --> 0:08:55.819 as it were. 0:08:55.859 --> 0:08:56.780 Yeah. Look, the. 0:08:56.939 --> 0:08:59.699 Interesting thing is most people don't understand that if they 0:08:59.699 --> 0:09:02.939 live in the in the electorate of Barker, for example, 0:09:03.059 --> 0:09:05.619 that's down Mount Gambier Way, and it actually extends right 0:09:05.620 --> 0:09:09.540 across the south east of, of South Australia. You know, 0:09:09.579 --> 0:09:12.900 the current member there is Tony Pathom. Okay. So he 0:09:12.900 --> 0:09:15.260 can go and knock on his door and say, I've 0:09:15.260 --> 0:09:17.220 got a problem with a federal agency, I've got a 0:09:17.219 --> 0:09:21.540 problem with the federal policy. Um, but you actually people 0:09:21.540 --> 0:09:26.459 in Barker also have 12 senators that represent them, and 0:09:26.459 --> 0:09:29.260 they can go to any single one of those, and 0:09:29.260 --> 0:09:33.500 they should do the proper job of, of representing them 0:09:33.500 --> 0:09:39.500 so that so MPs look after their electorate, senators look 0:09:39.500 --> 0:09:44.380 after their state. Every South Australian has 12 senators to 0:09:44.420 --> 0:09:46.619 knock on their door. And look, I'm not saying that 0:09:46.620 --> 0:09:48.229 when you knock on the door, you're going to get 0:09:48.270 --> 0:09:51.230 a positive response. But what that does is give you 0:09:51.229 --> 0:09:54.590 some choice. You can look at who the 12 senators are. 0:09:55.229 --> 0:09:58.349 Look through the Hansard. Do a little bit of research 0:09:58.349 --> 0:10:01.949 to see which issues they're sympathetic to. And then, you know, 0:10:01.949 --> 0:10:04.270 you can eliminate it down to maybe 2 or 3 0:10:04.309 --> 0:10:06.510 senators and then go knock on their door and say, 0:10:06.510 --> 0:10:09.510 I want some help. So that's the nice thing. Every 0:10:09.510 --> 0:10:14.150 person in South Australia has, um, has 13 representatives, as 0:10:14.150 --> 0:10:17.229 does every person in New South Wales and every person 0:10:17.229 --> 0:10:18.550 in Tasmania, etc.. 0:10:18.589 --> 0:10:20.949 And with the NDIS, that's very much a federal issue. 0:10:20.949 --> 0:10:23.270 So the Senate is very much in your wheelhouse as 0:10:23.270 --> 0:10:26.390 well because it is a national disability insurance scheme. 0:10:26.429 --> 0:10:30.589 It is, although it does intersect with the states. And, 0:10:30.630 --> 0:10:32.950 you know, part of the touring and throwing that's going 0:10:32.949 --> 0:10:35.470 on at the moment. And I've been I spoke to 0:10:35.469 --> 0:10:38.429 a woman in Tasmania this morning who, you know, when 0:10:38.429 --> 0:10:42.910 confronted by the NDIS, they say, well that service you 0:10:42.949 --> 0:10:46.409 need to go and get that from the state government. 0:10:47.130 --> 0:10:49.609 And it turns out in Tasmania, the state government doesn't 0:10:49.609 --> 0:10:53.290 provide that service. So you do sometimes have this toing 0:10:53.290 --> 0:10:58.010 and froing, uh, and complexity as they, as the state 0:10:58.010 --> 0:11:01.050 and the federal governments try to divvy up the, uh, 0:11:01.130 --> 0:11:02.370 the health pie. 0:11:02.530 --> 0:11:03.890 That is a bit of a state of flux at 0:11:03.890 --> 0:11:06.290 the moment, isn't it? That kind of, uh handballing to 0:11:06.290 --> 0:11:08.890 and from, uh, you know, the states have said they'll 0:11:08.929 --> 0:11:11.689 take on that foundational support a little bit more, but 0:11:11.689 --> 0:11:14.010 I guess it's kind of kind of finding exactly what 0:11:14.010 --> 0:11:16.410 and where. And then you've got the situation where Western 0:11:16.410 --> 0:11:19.610 Australia have got oodles of cash. Their their budgets are 0:11:19.609 --> 0:11:23.089 runneth over. And, you know, a place like Victoria, uh, 0:11:23.170 --> 0:11:26.010 are in huge deficit. So all states aren't created equal 0:11:26.010 --> 0:11:27.050 in that area as well. 0:11:27.089 --> 0:11:31.250 Yeah. So that's a an equalization a fiscal equalization issue with, 0:11:31.250 --> 0:11:34.410 with the GST actually. And I uh, funnily enough, I 0:11:34.410 --> 0:11:37.970 was in the Senate when, when that law was passed 0:11:37.969 --> 0:11:40.009 and we had a situation where we had a federal 0:11:40.010 --> 0:11:43.420 liberal government. Uh, unsurprisingly, the finance minister was a with 0:11:43.420 --> 0:11:47.099 the West Australian Mathias Cormann. And then we also had 0:11:47.099 --> 0:11:51.219 a Liberal government in South Australia, the the Marshall government. Now, 0:11:51.219 --> 0:11:55.260 as a senator, I am very concerned about this particular vote. 0:11:55.579 --> 0:11:59.219 And I rang the South Australian Treasurer and I said 0:11:59.219 --> 0:12:02.660 I'm in your hands, tell me how I should vote. 0:12:03.420 --> 0:12:06.579 You know, basically knowing that the South Australian Treasurer should 0:12:06.620 --> 0:12:08.939 have been one of the best persons to know how 0:12:08.979 --> 0:12:12.340 the galore was going to affect things. And I was 0:12:12.339 --> 0:12:15.939 advised to vote with the with the federal government. I 0:12:15.979 --> 0:12:20.459 now look back and say wasn't a smart move because 0:12:20.819 --> 0:12:25.100 they were both Liberal governments, and the state treasurer didn't 0:12:25.099 --> 0:12:27.620 want to interfere in any way with the plans of 0:12:27.620 --> 0:12:30.499 the federal government. So, you know, that was early on 0:12:30.500 --> 0:12:33.340 in my days. I learned a lesson out of that. And, 0:12:33.620 --> 0:12:36.540 you know, actually, when I left the Senate in 2022, 0:12:36.859 --> 0:12:39.260 I was much more experienced than I was when I 0:12:39.260 --> 0:12:43.199 entered in 2017. 79. I was a seasoned player. I 0:12:43.199 --> 0:12:47.120 knew how to muck up the Senate to basically stand 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.719 up for SA. You know, I often disrupted it and 0:12:50.839 --> 0:12:53.520 I knew also how to work the numbers. And that's 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.400 one of the nice things about having people who, in 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.879 the Senate who have got some experience and are independent. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.199 One of the problems with if you're in in a 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.199 major party and I tell this to people and they 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.960 almost don't, you know, they they get shocked by it. 0:13:07.959 --> 0:13:11.160 Whenever the bells would ring in the Senate, I would 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.839 wander into the Senate and sometimes sit on the no 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:18.640 side of the yes side with Labour or Liberal, because, again, 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.640 I was an independent. I made up my own mind. 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.040 And I'd say to my, my colleague, my Labour colleague 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.719 or my Liberal colleague, do you know what we're voting on? 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.239 And they'd say, no, no, they simply walk and they 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.959 simply walk into the chamber. They look to see where 0:13:32.959 --> 0:13:37.000 their whip is sitting, where their, um, the corralling member 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.929 is sitting, and they sit on the same side and 0:13:39.929 --> 0:13:44.130 that the broken things about the party system. Uh, that, uh, 0:13:44.290 --> 0:13:47.170 you know, most people really don't appreciate that's the the 0:13:47.170 --> 0:13:50.050 beauty of having an independent or someone who who doesn't 0:13:50.050 --> 0:13:53.210 have to vote according to the party is, you know, 0:13:53.250 --> 0:13:55.170 I always knew that if I wanted to ring me, 0:13:55.209 --> 0:13:57.250 ring me up, or ring my office and say, why 0:13:57.250 --> 0:14:00.249 did you vote? That way I could explain myself. 0:14:00.290 --> 0:14:03.729 That's Rex Patrick, who's a candidate for the Jacqui Lambie Network, 0:14:03.929 --> 0:14:06.209 a candidate for the Senate. That election May 3rd. And 0:14:06.250 --> 0:14:07.850 of course, as we've talked about, if you're blind or 0:14:07.849 --> 0:14:14.209 low vision, you can now register to vote by telephone 1800 913 993. 0:14:19.410 --> 0:14:23.130 I'm Sam Corley, and you're listening to Talking Vision on 0:14:23.130 --> 0:14:28.489 Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Reading Radio and the 0:14:28.490 --> 0:14:33.490 Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there 0:14:33.490 --> 0:14:37.090 with Peter and Rex. If you missed any part of 0:14:37.130 --> 0:14:40.909 that conversation, I would like to hear it again. Talking 0:14:40.910 --> 0:14:44.550 vision is available on the podcast app of your choice 0:14:44.670 --> 0:14:48.430 or through the Vision Australia library. You can also find 0:14:48.430 --> 0:14:54.550 the program on the Vision Australia website at varodaya. That's 0:14:54.590 --> 0:15:00.510 VA radio all one word dot. And now here's Emma myers. 0:15:00.670 --> 0:15:04.229 As we enter the last week of the federal election campaign. 0:15:04.229 --> 0:15:07.830 Early voting centres are now open, with major parties and 0:15:07.830 --> 0:15:12.030 smaller candidates alike hoping to convince Australians they're fit for 0:15:12.030 --> 0:15:16.190 the top job. Australians with disabilities are more engaged than ever, 0:15:16.190 --> 0:15:20.350 hoping the incoming government focuses more on issues within the sector. 0:15:20.350 --> 0:15:24.310 Powered Media's Emma myers spoke with disability Advocates to hear 0:15:24.310 --> 0:15:27.190 more about their hopes and expectations. 0:15:27.470 --> 0:15:34.470 Our group's CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia said there 0:15:34.470 --> 0:15:39.560 is a critical need for improved housing rights for individuals 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:47.720 with disabilities, particularly those in private rentals and specialist disability accommodation. 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.119 It's really important that there is a more rights to 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.280 being able to make kind of modifications at home. If 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.760 you're a private renter, there is no mandated right to 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.240 home modifications in private rental, and we do need that 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.960 kind of basic move in tenancy protections. But we also 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.600 need tenancy protections in group homes, for example. So if 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.999 you're a person with disability who lives in specialist disability accommodation, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.920 you often don't even have basic tenancy rights. So even 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.040 though tenancy rights aren't great, lots of people with disability 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.400 don't even have those. So even though some of the 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.600 basic rights that people in the community are pretty cross about, 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:30.840 we don't even have those. A lot of the time, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.420 and there is a degree where we urgently need an 0:16:35.420 --> 0:16:39.979 increased supply of public and social housing. Now we have 0:16:39.979 --> 0:16:43.540 virtually no accessible housing in regional areas. We're at this 0:16:43.540 --> 0:16:47.740 really basic level in terms of housing. The conversations that 0:16:47.740 --> 0:16:51.300 we've just had, where both major parties made very large 0:16:51.780 --> 0:16:55.100 announcements about buying homes and government support for that, I 0:16:55.100 --> 0:16:59.100 think the combination was $20 billion and there wasn't a 0:16:59.100 --> 0:17:04.460 cent in there for that really basic, affordable social housing 0:17:04.700 --> 0:17:09.300 and accessible housing for the poorest disabled people among our community. 0:17:09.340 --> 0:17:16.060 Stephanie Dower is the director, producer and access coordinator. She 0:17:16.060 --> 0:17:22.179 believes a proactive approach to inclusive design is vital to 0:17:22.220 --> 0:17:29.459 avoiding ongoing accessibility issues in new buildings and infrastructure. 0:17:29.540 --> 0:17:33.470 The NDIS has been literally life changing. like it has 0:17:33.470 --> 0:17:36.630 allowed me to have a greater career. It's allowed me 0:17:36.629 --> 0:17:39.590 to travel for work. It's allowed me to be independent. 0:17:39.590 --> 0:17:43.470 It's allowed me to have proper relationships with my parents 0:17:43.470 --> 0:17:49.070 and my sibling. But I feel the rug is just 0:17:49.070 --> 0:17:51.109 going to be pulled out from underneath me at any time. 0:17:51.109 --> 0:17:53.230 I want a clear commitment from the government that the 0:17:53.230 --> 0:17:55.790 NDIS is not going anywhere, but I think in terms 0:17:55.790 --> 0:17:58.149 of what else I want, I see new buildings get 0:17:58.149 --> 0:18:02.229 built and they're not accessible. I see new infrastructure be 0:18:02.230 --> 0:18:05.590 put in place and it's not fully accessible. I understand 0:18:05.869 --> 0:18:08.990 retrofitting things that have been done way in the past 0:18:08.990 --> 0:18:12.630 is not always the cheapest option, but moving forward, let's 0:18:12.669 --> 0:18:17.550 be proactive about working access into our society from the 0:18:17.590 --> 0:18:20.470 get go and not have to think, oh, we just 0:18:20.470 --> 0:18:23.110 spent all this money on this new train and oh, 0:18:23.149 --> 0:18:25.190 we need to then go back and fix it. Let's 0:18:25.190 --> 0:18:26.310 get it right from the start. 0:18:26.350 --> 0:18:32.810 Graeme Innes is a lawyer, university Chancellor and former Disability 0:18:32.850 --> 0:18:40.610 Discrimination Commissioner. He says the government must update disability discrimination 0:18:40.609 --> 0:18:44.490 laws to better reflect modern sensibilities. 0:18:44.530 --> 0:18:48.449 We're lacking an up to date disability discrimination legislation, so 0:18:48.450 --> 0:18:50.649 we need to address that. And I talked about the 0:18:50.649 --> 0:18:53.730 importance of the government, who have indicated they will do 0:18:53.730 --> 0:18:56.769 that if they win the next election. We need to 0:18:56.770 --> 0:19:01.170 make the NDIS sustainable. It's doing a fantastic job for 0:19:01.169 --> 0:19:04.330 the people that are on the scheme. But only 10% 0:19:04.330 --> 0:19:07.770 of people with disabilities were ever intended to be supported 0:19:07.770 --> 0:19:11.690 by the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The other 90% need 0:19:11.690 --> 0:19:15.010 to be supported by the general systems in the community, 0:19:15.010 --> 0:19:19.490 which are largely, not entirely, but largely run by state governments. 0:19:19.690 --> 0:19:22.050 And state governments have sort of walked away from their 0:19:22.050 --> 0:19:25.690 responsibilities a bit since the NDIS came in. And as 0:19:25.690 --> 0:19:29.659 I say, better discrimination legislation needs to be brought into 0:19:29.700 --> 0:19:34.219 effect so that if people either state governments, local governments 0:19:34.220 --> 0:19:38.340 or community services are not adequate for people with disabilities, 0:19:38.340 --> 0:19:40.540 then we will have a piece of law which allows 0:19:40.540 --> 0:19:42.980 us to rectify that situation. 0:19:43.020 --> 0:19:48.020 Jane Osmond is chair of the Radio Reading Network and 0:19:48.020 --> 0:19:53.020 currently a member of the Independent Advisory Council for the NDIS. 0:19:53.379 --> 0:19:59.699 He says Australia needs to move beyond divisive labelling in 0:19:59.700 --> 0:20:05.140 order to recognise the unique contributions of individuals. 0:20:05.260 --> 0:20:08.419 We need more inclusion. You've got to think outside the box, 0:20:08.419 --> 0:20:10.859 we've got to have that. I call it lateral thinking 0:20:10.899 --> 0:20:15.899 about how can we reshape and inform and improve. So 0:20:15.899 --> 0:20:19.940 I think full inclusion is very important. It does take 0:20:19.980 --> 0:20:22.419 time to get to that. But the rewards I think 0:20:22.419 --> 0:20:28.600 are immense and die sadly, has Adley's become an ideological label. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.840 But I think once we understand how individuals, how they 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:36.320 contribute and participate in everyday life, that makes a difference. 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.200 People that have different ways of doing things, we've got 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.480 to embrace that independence, that individuality. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.280 Chair of Radio Reading Network James Manders. They're speaking with 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.040 Powered Media's Emma myers. 0:20:49.919 --> 0:20:53.320 And now please enjoy my chat with Sam Barrett from 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.960 Melbourne City Mission. I started off the conversation by asking 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.800 Sam to give us a bit of an overview of 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.320 the sleep at the G. 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:04.759 Well, sleep at the G is an event that we've 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:08.159 been running for a long time now, and it's our 0:21:08.159 --> 0:21:11.760 flagship fundraiser for Melbourne City Mission, and it is an 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.560 opportunity to come and have a great time and sleep 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.399 over at the MCG with about a thousand other people. 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.399 So that's the event. It's happening on the 15th of May, 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:26.090 so it's only a couple of weeks away now, and 0:21:26.090 --> 0:21:29.889 it is fundraising mainly for the Youth Housing Initiative or 0:21:29.930 --> 0:21:31.930 other programs that Melbourne City Mission. 0:21:32.090 --> 0:21:35.290 Tell us a bit about those other programs and what 0:21:35.330 --> 0:21:38.609 sort of work have they been doing and continue to do, 0:21:38.649 --> 0:21:41.810 and what are the main things that they are known for? 0:21:42.050 --> 0:21:44.730 Melbourne City Mission has been around since the gold rush, 0:21:44.730 --> 0:21:48.850 and we provide supports with a range of things, including homelessness. 0:21:48.889 --> 0:21:53.530 We have disability services, we have palliative care services, we 0:21:53.530 --> 0:21:56.690 have a school for young people who the standard school 0:21:56.690 --> 0:21:59.929 system hasn't worked for them. And we also offer a 0:21:59.930 --> 0:22:03.730 range of other services, including child and family services, um, 0:22:03.730 --> 0:22:04.770 all sorts of things. 0:22:04.970 --> 0:22:10.609 And you yourself, you're heading up the Youth Homelessness Initiative 0:22:10.609 --> 0:22:14.409 and youth housing. So tell us about your work in 0:22:14.450 --> 0:22:17.689 that space and what sort of things you've been up to. 0:22:18.090 --> 0:22:21.330 So the Youth Housing Initiative is about a year old. 0:22:21.330 --> 0:22:24.790 It's a pretty new project for us. We have had 0:22:24.790 --> 0:22:27.350 a lot of experience working at what we call the 0:22:27.350 --> 0:22:31.030 front end of youth homelessness, which is the emergency end. 0:22:31.070 --> 0:22:33.270 We have a program called Front Yard, which is in 0:22:33.270 --> 0:22:35.550 the city, and that's a place where if a young 0:22:35.550 --> 0:22:38.470 person finds himself homeless or looking for some support, they 0:22:38.470 --> 0:22:41.310 can come in there. That's an entry point to emergency 0:22:41.310 --> 0:22:44.629 accommodation as well. So we have youth refuges that we run, 0:22:44.629 --> 0:22:48.189 but also other organizations run youth refuges across Victoria. I 0:22:48.190 --> 0:22:51.350 think there's about 15 or 16 youth refuges. And so 0:22:51.389 --> 0:22:53.550 we've had a lot of experience in that front end 0:22:53.590 --> 0:22:56.229 space and young people come in. There might have a 0:22:56.230 --> 0:22:58.629 time in a youth refuge or in a crisis supported 0:22:58.629 --> 0:23:02.310 environment and then go into some other housings, say shared 0:23:02.310 --> 0:23:05.790 housing or community housing or public housing, and there's not 0:23:05.790 --> 0:23:09.869 much support for people in that space post that emergency. 0:23:09.869 --> 0:23:13.070 And we designed the youth housing Initiative, really, for that 0:23:13.070 --> 0:23:16.030 group of people who do have a more complex need 0:23:16.030 --> 0:23:19.710 and do need a longer term support. So this project 0:23:19.710 --> 0:23:22.280 finds people who really are in that space of a 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:25.080 more complex need, and provides them with up to three 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:29.160 years of support in housing. But we also offer what 0:23:29.159 --> 0:23:32.800 we like to call wraparound services. So there's housing support. 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:37.080 There's also mental health support, emotional support we support with 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:40.000 getting a job or going back to school or doing 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:44.200 further education. We do exercise programs and getting out and about. 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:47.240 We've offered a surfing program during the summer months, so 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.199 we really try to offer everything that we can to 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:52.800 engage young people and get them back on the right track. 0:23:52.919 --> 0:23:54.800 We've been doing that for about a year, and it 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:58.760 is mostly funded through philanthropy and through fundraising. There is 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:01.800 some state government money in this project, but it's mostly 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:04.120 funded through the generosity of Victorians. 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:07.320 I'm very keen to have a bit of a chat 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:13.840 with you about the intersection between youth homelessness and disability 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:17.240 that you've seen in your line of work, both through 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:21.619 the Youth Housing Initiative more recently, but prior to that, 0:24:21.659 --> 0:24:24.619 in other spaces that you've been in? 0:24:24.659 --> 0:24:29.140 Absolutely. There's often a complex intersection between homelessness and all 0:24:29.139 --> 0:24:32.619 sorts of other co-occurring things. We often find people have 0:24:32.619 --> 0:24:35.580 experienced a pretty bad time at home with some family 0:24:35.580 --> 0:24:38.420 violence or those sorts of things, but also there are 0:24:38.460 --> 0:24:42.780 often young people who experience disability as well. It's mostly 0:24:42.780 --> 0:24:46.580 in that sort of psychosocial disability space of having a 0:24:46.580 --> 0:24:50.780 mental health issue, or they might have a neurodivergence diagnosis 0:24:50.780 --> 0:24:53.300 or not diagnosis, but those sorts of things which make 0:24:53.300 --> 0:24:56.540 it challenging for them to seek support or engage with 0:24:56.540 --> 0:24:59.859 the world. So we're often supporting young people with all 0:24:59.859 --> 0:25:02.580 sorts of things like that, and we really take a 0:25:02.580 --> 0:25:05.660 very person centred approach. And what that means is if 0:25:05.659 --> 0:25:08.419 a person turns up at our service and they're presenting 0:25:08.419 --> 0:25:10.259 with an issue that we think that we can support 0:25:10.260 --> 0:25:12.859 with will support that issue regardless of what it is. 0:25:12.859 --> 0:25:15.899 So traditionally, maybe a couple of years ago, services might 0:25:15.899 --> 0:25:19.110 be a single purpose service. So while we only support 0:25:19.109 --> 0:25:21.469 with housing, but if you've got a disability or if 0:25:21.510 --> 0:25:23.630 you've got something else going on, you have to go 0:25:23.629 --> 0:25:25.710 and see somebody else. We try to really turn that 0:25:25.710 --> 0:25:28.830 around and have a multidisciplinary approach to what we do. 0:25:28.830 --> 0:25:32.750 So we have therapeutic practitioners in our team, we have 0:25:32.750 --> 0:25:36.030 occupational therapists in another team which we can have access to. 0:25:36.070 --> 0:25:38.230 And this team, there's all sorts of things. And we 0:25:38.230 --> 0:25:40.950 also have the benefit internally in Melbourne City Mission of 0:25:40.950 --> 0:25:44.949 having a disability team who provides NDIS assessments and service 0:25:44.950 --> 0:25:48.270 coordination and those sorts of things, so we can internally 0:25:48.270 --> 0:25:51.109 liaise with our disability teams and link people up with 0:25:51.109 --> 0:25:52.510 all sorts of things if they need it. 0:25:52.550 --> 0:25:57.030 But of course, all of that wouldn't be possible without 0:25:57.030 --> 0:26:01.629 the generous donation of Victorians, and that ties back in 0:26:01.629 --> 0:26:05.430 with the upcoming event sleep at the G. So we 0:26:05.430 --> 0:26:11.270 already know it's overnight on May 15th, located at the MCG. 0:26:11.430 --> 0:26:14.910 But how can people find out a little bit more 0:26:14.909 --> 0:26:19.490 about the event and head to the website to make 0:26:19.490 --> 0:26:20.530 a donation. 0:26:20.570 --> 0:26:23.650 Absolutely. So you can go to the website which is sleepout. 0:26:25.450 --> 0:26:27.249 Or you can just Google sleep at the G and 0:26:27.250 --> 0:26:29.970 you'll find it. There's two main ways of participating. You 0:26:29.970 --> 0:26:32.889 can go to that web page and make a donation directly. 0:26:32.889 --> 0:26:34.729 We would love it if you did that. There is 0:26:34.730 --> 0:26:37.609 a second option which you can sign up to sleep there. 0:26:37.770 --> 0:26:40.609 Some people make teams, so I'll be going to the 0:26:40.609 --> 0:26:43.850 event with one of my teams and will be sleeping 0:26:43.850 --> 0:26:48.409 there as a group. Some organisations workplaces put together a 0:26:48.409 --> 0:26:50.930 team of people and then they all go and fundraise 0:26:50.930 --> 0:26:53.690 with their friends. So it's that sort of networking opportunity. 0:26:53.690 --> 0:26:57.010 But really anything that any donation or any participation in 0:26:57.010 --> 0:26:59.649 this event is very much appreciated by us and very 0:26:59.649 --> 0:27:02.050 much appreciated by the young people that we support. 0:27:02.690 --> 0:27:07.010 Sam Barrett, their head of the Youth Housing Initiative at 0:27:07.050 --> 0:27:16.300 Melbourne City Mission. And that's all the time we have 0:27:16.340 --> 0:27:21.020 for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision 0:27:21.020 --> 0:27:25.180 is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved 0:27:25.180 --> 0:27:29.020 with putting the show together every week. And remember, we 0:27:29.060 --> 0:27:32.300 love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime 0:27:32.500 --> 0:27:37.540 on our email at Talking Vision at Vision Australia. That's 0:27:37.540 --> 0:27:42.260 talking vision all. One word at Vision Australia dot. But 0:27:42.260 --> 0:27:45.820 until next week it's Sam Corley saying bye for now. 0:27:49.460 --> 0:27:53.540 You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during 0:27:53.540 --> 0:28:01.419 business hours on one 384 746. That's one 384 74 0:28:01.940 --> 0:28:06.859 six or by visiting Vision Australia. That's Vision Australia.