My response to recent community criticism of Bill Shorten on 'caring'.

'My personal view is this. That Shorten did deeply care about the NDIS, for whatever reason. I do know that he was largely blindsided by the National Cabinet decision of an 8% cut (aka 'growth target').' 2/ I believe he fought for the NDIS and people with disability. Some people say that it was about it being the Cinderella portfolio, that he used it to get to where he got to, but I think that he did care about fairness and unfairness and that he was an ally for a very long time.

Here are the rest of the changes to the NDIS that were discussed long before the NDIS Review dropped. They planned it before Lisa Paul, Bill Shorten's new employer at the University of Canberra, had handed down the NDIS Review.

This was the LNP's plan. dataresearch.ndis.gov.au/reports-and-an…

https://twitter.com/criprights/status/1831858402626277514

2/ Important to remember that Albanese and National Cabinet handed down the instruction, after discussion behind closed doors, to cut the NDIS. They framed it as an '8% growth target'. After the Redbridge focus groups, they worked out how to sell it to the public.

I see the NDIA have put out a new publication - the Handbook for the Recently Defunded.

It has some suggestions for new goals to replace your old goals. <s> #auspol #SaveOurNDIS #NDIS 2/ 1. NDIS Goal: Improving mobility - prosthetics Unfunded New Goal: Harvest politician's legs for spare parts
2.  NDIS Goal: Improving nutrition Unfunded New Goal: Master the art of photosynthesis using politicians' hot air

Australia's peak disability organisations, lawyers, academics and others stood together to say no to this Bill & to say it would institutionalise, harm & endanger people with disability.

Yes. We do understand this. We live this life. We understand the legislation inside & out. 2. Here is a statement from First Peoples' Disability Network, who said that this Bill should not go through and would be bad for First Nations Peoples.



The Labor and Liberal governments ignored them. #auspol #insidersfpdn.org.au/wp-content/upl…

Appears that Labor are part of a reverse regulatory capture process by big providers. Going through all the legislative changes in detail, I see things.

And woaaaahhhhh. Hassan Noura is on their Board. You know. The McKinsey guy who was in charge of the NDIS Razor Gang. #Auspol 2/ Fasten your seatbelts, kiddies. This is a bit of a ride. @SquigglyRick @mariehjohnson

So I noticed first that there was a change in a piece of legislation that was about who gets to be thrown into a nursing home. It's not the Aged Care Act. It's another piece of legislation.

For God's sake, @DSSgovau @EngageDSSgovau.

You gave the entire sector TWO WEEKS to look at madly complicated lists that will exclude us from NDIS supports - and didn't provide any easy English. #EasyEnglish #Easyread.

And then, with FOUR DAYS TO GO, you finally publish - what? 2/ Your alleged easy English leaves out whole categories and even the discussion paper is wrong.

This is discrimination against disabled people. Going to lodge a DDA complaint, cos this is ridiculous and we have no other recourse. @inclusionoz, @DownSyndromeNSW, @VALID_Inc FYI

The actuary appeared at the #NDISAmendmentBill inquiry yesterday and spoke long and hard about a whole 300 plans (not necessarily people) that they justified cutting the NDIS over because of 'intraplan inflation'.

There was no REASON, they said, for this inflation. #SaveOurNDIS 2/ To be clear, if your informal carer dear ol mum/carer dies and you are suddenly left without support, you are supposed to put in a Change of Circumstances form or apply for an S100 review.

But these people - two thirds of them did NOT.

And therefore, the NDIS must be cut.

Shortcut for people backgrounding the DRC recommendations:

Accepted in Full (13 Recommendations):
Recommendation 6.37: Data collection and public reporting on psychotropic medication.
Recommendation 7.16: Priorities for inclusion in the new Disability Employment Services model. 2/ Recommendation 7.17: Develop education and training resources for Disability Employment Services staff.
Recommendation 7.27: Enable a Fair Work Ombudsman referral mechanism.
Recommendation 7.28: Improve information about wages and the Disability Support Pension.

Please share
Yesterday, as I went up the street in my wheelchair, a passing man looked at me, hoiked up, violently spat at me.

This has taken me this long to write.
Men spit into their hand when they rape you. It is a huge trigger for me. I fled, thinking about @BillShorten. 2/ Because every single day there is another news story, carefully manufactured by Bill's media campaign, demonising disabled people and the NDIS.

It has led to an increase in hate crime in disabled people - I hear more and more of these incidents. But they don't count it.

Neurotypical/allistic people, listen up.

If we do not want to do a thing, it's often because we cannot.

Don't be hurt. You asking us to a social event is like saying 'would you like to run 20kms with me, it's a really nice day and I'm your best friend?'

Most would say no. 2/ It's the same for us. Yes, it's a lovely day. Yes, you are my best friend and I love spending time with you and I enjoy your company.

But today, I just don't think I can run 20kms. You see, I ran fifteen yesterday and need to run another thirty tomorrow. Today, I cannot.

***Breaking***

We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto.

The situation with plan change requests at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is dire. There are tens of thousands of requests languishing without action, with less than 10% assigned. 2/ Shockingly, nearly half of these requests lack any supporting information, suggesting a severe breakdown in the process. There is a lack of guidance to NDIS participants and nominees on what information the Agency requires to progress a plan change request, compounded by..

For those who want to know what #Budget2024 said about #COVID.

Here it is.
COVID-19 Public Health Response
2023-24 Funding: $142.6 million allocated to states and territories for COVID-19 public health response measures. 2/ 2024-25 Onward: No specific allocation mentioned for COVID-19 public health response from 2024-25 onward​​.
National COVID-19 Vaccine Program

Well, the Budget papers tell the story.

Despite the best spin in the world, spun by professionals, the numbers don't lie.

Radical reforms to the NDIS paint the picture. They will reduce participant support payments by $14.4bn over four years.

Death of the NDIS. #Budget2024 2/ Well, let's talk about how they are going to do it. Cos it's cost at least 200K in focus groups to work out how to sell this dead pup to the disability community & endless Mates in the Media favours, so let's just lay it all out on the autopsy table and dissect it.

Ready?

There was a knock at the door. I opened it, against my better judgement. This is a rough neighbourhood.

It was almost 11pm.

A much older woman stood there in a thin cardigan, huddled against the cold.

'Hello,' she said, her voice faltering. 'This used to be my mum's house.' 2/ I was instantly delighted. Old houses enchant me and this one, with the beautiful ceilings and the now demolished garden, had clearly been loved.

I invited her in. As she brushed past me, I realised she'd been drinking.

'I've been too chicken to visit,' she confessed.

Australians with disability do not want the changes Labor has put on the table and is trying to facilitate via legislation that was kept secret. I have been told that DROs were told if they made certain things public, they would be referred to the Dept of Public Prosecutions. 2/ I cannot begin to outline why this is wrong. Using bully boy tactics will not work. Threats and intimidation may work with those who are afraid for their jobs or positions. But this is about our LIVES. We will fight back with everything we have.

This cartoon was never truer.

I have trained chatgpt to respond in fluent homo

User
Continuing in this vein, please EXPLAIN, Einsteins theory of relativity, with no hint of heteronormativity? 2/ ‘Buckle up, darling, because we're about to dive into the fabulous cosmos of Einstein’s theory of relativity, a theory so elegant, it sashays through the universe, defying the mundane constraints of Newtonian physics with the grace of a drag queen owning the runway…

I've prepared a summary of the Government response to the long COVID 'Sick and Tired' report for those who have brain fog.

I've pulled out the main parts of the document in response to the Recommendations and have noted the gaps.

No commentary, just the response to the report. 2/ · Recommendation 1: Govt gives in principle support for establishing a COVID-19 database, acknowledging data integration projects and challenges in data linkage.

Fast history lesson about the rise of the right in the wake of the Spanish Flu.
The resulting economic downturn and political manoeuvring made the preconditions for the Holocaust possible.

These are the factors that informed it. 2/ Hitler's rise to power involved strategic political maneuvering within the democratic framework of the Weimar Republic. There are a number of paths to power that were involved. We are seeing some of those same strategies utilised today to garner power.

In five days a ‘free speech’ cookerfest will be held at the Norwood Town Hall - are South Australians happy about this? If not, give the council a yell.

Here’s the ad - on their local govt website. Cool and normal npsp.sa.gov.au/about_council/…
npsp.sa.gov.au/events/2433_na…
2/ The people advertised by this local govt authority include a group, NOSCAG, that thinks mind control devices will be implanted in people’s brains. Here they are protesting another council.

@CityofSalisbury @CityofNPSPia.acs.org.au/article/2023/c…

Once I was punished; I don’t remember why.

He took my childhood books away. I was very young.

I lost my friends, Silky, Moonface and the Saucepan Man. I was inconsolable.

And so I stole their books, the ‘boring’ ones. Shakespeare. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

He caught me. 2/ He had already confiscated my lamp. There was a fluoro light in my room. I dared not turn it on.

So I lay on the floor, reading avariciously by the thin ribbon of light that streamed below my door. I read, read until my eyes hurt.

I was so engrossed I didn’t see him coming.

This is so disconcerting to read.

Shame on you, @tasmaniapolice.

'She was obviously malnourished and frail. Her hair, grey in colour was matted into large clumps. Her eyes were glazed. In her discussions with the police, captured on body-worn camera, HJ made no sense.' 2/ 'She spoke rapidly of various conspiracies involving the police, people from China, Isis, and Jesus. It is abundantly plain viewing the footage, which frankly is uncomfortable to watch, that HJ was gravely ill - both mentally and physically.'