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Disability

This Month

Workers’ compensation is costing way more in one state than the others

Disability providers, disadvantaged by higher workers’ comp premiums in NSW relative to other states, have backed Labor’s reform bill.

In 2024, 15.4 per cent of year 12 HSC students applied for disability provisions, three-quarters of whom received extra time on their exams for demonstrated pain, anxiety disorder or concentration issues.

Rise in exam help for school students ‘driven by NDIS’

A quarter of Australian students get disability support in school, but higher rates of exam help in non-government schools have some questioning the fairness.

Year 12 students sitting the HSC

More than one in seven HSC students claim exam help for disability

Almost three-quarters of disability claims result in year 12 students receiving rest breaks for pain, anxiety disorder or concentration issues.

June

About $9 billion worth of savings earmarked from the National Disability Insurance Scheme are delayed or at risk.

Capping NDIS growth at 8pc not enough, government warned

The cost of the NDIS has doubled since 2021 due to a surge in the number of children joining the scheme.

Health Minister Mark Butler. You might think a Labor Government, no stranger to federal adventurism, had learnt the lessons of the past and the dangers of national service delivery.

Welfare for life: How a broken system is driving higher autism rates

It is a national tragedy that more than one in 18 Australian boys aged between five and nine are now diagnosed and tens of thousands are on the NDIS.

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May

Senator Jenny McAllister has been sworn in as the new NDIS minister in the Labor government.

I’m on the NDIS. Here’s what Labor must do to fix it

The National Disability Insurance Scheme’s future hinges on the government’s willingness to listen, reform equitably and invest in all disabled Australians.

Ali France celebrates her victory the morning after usurping Peter Dutton from the seat of Dickson in the 2025 federal election.

Who is the Dutton conqueror, Ali France?

The new member for Dickson is now in Labor folklore. But who is the disability advocate the prime minister refers to as an “extraordinary Australian”?

March

The NDIS’s cost troubles trace back to 2013, when Labor debated the NDIS Bill in Parliament amid leadership turmoil, and provided inaccurate figures for the costs.

I’m an NDIS participant. Here’s what I’ve uncovered about this chaotic system

Missteps, miscalculations, lies and missed opportunities on the NDIS should alarm anyone who values sound economic governance.

Whoever wins the May federal election faces a tough task keeping NDIS growth at below 8 per cent.

Bold decisions needed to constrain NDIS growth: report

The NDIS is failing to achieve its original goals and is groaning under the weight of unsustainable work volumes, says the Grattan Institute.

January

While backlash rhetoric often targets perceived advantages for women, people of colour, and the LGBTQIA+ community, the data shows those “gains” have been incremental at best.

I told a summit DEI’s business case doesn’t stack up. Response was icy

Diversity, equity and inclusion programs have been a cash cow for consultants, far exceeding the gains for the target groups they are meant to support.

December 2024

Elton John lost sight in his right eye following a severe eye infection.

Sir Elton John reveals he has lost his eyesight

The 77-year-old legendary musician told fans he had lost his vision after an infection in one eye earlier in the year.

November 2024

Law firm accused of improper billing and discrimination

A legal assistant alleges he was forcibly made redundant at Lander & Rogers after complaining about appropriate access when he started using a wheelchair.

Unions say disability home carers are often required to work during the sleepover.

‘Nightmare’ shifts: Push to rule carer sleepovers as breaks, not work

Employers are seeking industry-wide changes so carers sleeping at a client’s house can’t count that towards overtime pay, which they say could blow out NDIS costs.

October 2024

Optus pushed phone and internet plans on vulnerable people despite knowing they could not afford them, the ACCC has alleged

Optus ‘exploited’ vulnerable people, ACCC alleges

The telco group sold phone plans to people who could not use them at home because there was no Optus coverage where they lived, the competition watchdog claims.

Disability Minister Bill Shorten is negotiating with states and territories about autism services.

NDIS autism reforms could stretch beyond election

Disability ministers will meet in Adelaide on Friday for more negotiations over the cost of early intervention services for children with developmental delays.

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The report from the e61 Institute finds that productivity across the care economy has not increased in almost two decades.

NDIS is sucking in workers from more efficient jobs

Flatlining growth in the care economy and surging spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme is threatening to make households poorer.

Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill Shorten says the list will stem waste in the scheme and help boost community confidence in it.

Sex work, yoga and cuddle therapy banned from NDIS spending

The list of approved and banned services for participants in the scheme comes into effect on Thursday, with a one-year transition period.

September 2024

Samuelson Appau

DEI is no longer just about ethics, it’s about profits, academics say

Australian business schools are providing an increasing amount of diversity components to reflect a growing corporate demand.

Industry sources said there was a 50,000-case backlog awaiting reassessment, ten times the usual level.

NDIS ‘navigator’ plan could save up to $5b

A plan to replace middle men with trained plan co-ordinators is being considered by federal Labor, off the back of the NDIS review last year.

Jerusa Geber dos Santos of Brazil, right, with her guide, Gabriel Garcia, winning a 100-metre heat during the Paralympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on September 2.

Meet the quiet heroes of the Paralympics: the athlete guides

There are 22 Paralympic sports in which competitors are allowed to use guides, and their relationships can border on telepathic.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/disability-5wa