WWDA Executive Director's Report
WWDA Telecommunications Consumer Representation Working Party Report
The Disability Studies and Research Institute (DSaRI) Report
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) Standards Project Steering Committee Report
Top End Division of General Practice Consumer Reference Group Report
Centrelink Disability Customer Services Reference Group Report
WWDA Management Committee 2002-2003
Ratification of Changes to WWDA Constitution
WWDA Operational Funding Audit Certificate
At the last AGM, a working party made up of myself, Annie Parkinson from Sydney and Kate List from Canberra were given the task of retaining the executive function whilst undertaking a review. My thanks go to Annie and Kate for helping me shoulder this responsibility. Reviewing the organisation became necessary as a result of several crisis-packed years of uncertain funding, insufficient funds to operate as a national peak body doing both systemic and individual advocacy, along with growing demands on limited staff time and energy. Unlike many other peak organizations WWDA is committed to having a broadly based individual membership and an organisational membership. We would like to see triennial funding introduced for peak bodies in the disability sector, which would give us, as an organization, the opportunity for planning and would give our employees some job security. We will continue to lobby for this goal.
As part of the WWDA review we held an extremely important weekend 'Think Tank' in Sydney. With the help of Julia Wolfson, our facilitator, who donated her time and expertise, a group of us took on the task on generating a set of recommendations which are being put to the 2002 AGM. It was an exhausting but profitable weekend and I feel we made good progress on rethinking how to progress our work at a time of government withdrawal from support for NGOs and increasing discrimination against those on the margins of society, which includes many disabled women.
The primary goal of WWDA was articulated as systemic change for all women with disabilities in Australia and the underlying philosophy of the organization remains one of self-determination. In practice, this translates into an organization run by and for women with disabilities. However, we can do longer undertake individual advocacy and we must be mindful that the growing role of the organization at a national and international level must not be at the expense of staff burnout.
The winning of the Human Rights Award in December 2001 was a fitting recognition of the work that WWDA members and staff have been dedicated to over the years. The acknowledgement by the judges was timely. It was a very moving day for all of us who were able to attend the awards.
Thanks to Carolyn Frohmader, our Executive Officer who despite health challenges during this year has continued to show a steadfast commitment to women with disabilities. Congratulations to Carolyn on her success in her own personal reproductive planning. We look forward to the forthcoming event, which, I am sure, will be widely broadcast on WWDA Discuss. Thanks to Angela Court, our part time Office Manager who has been doing a sterling job reorganising the office in Hobart and getting work systems up and running over the past year.
Finally, thanks to all the WWDA representatives around the country for their input into various working parties, advisory bodies and fora. Special mention must be made of the telecommunications working party, especially Sue Salthouse, for tireless efforts involved in ensuring accessibility in this important area.
WWDA President, Helen Meekosha.
As Executive Director, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our President, Helen Meekosha for her support and guidance over the past year. I would also like to thank the Working Group of Helen Meekosha, Annie Parkinson and Kate List for all their work over the past 12 months. Thanks too, to all those WWDA members who have undertaken representative work on behalf on WWDA. And finally, a big thank you to Angela Court, who has worked tirelessly and efficiently in the WWDA Office, and provide me with great support.
".....WWDA has achieved an enormous amount in a short period of time, working tirelessly on behalf of one of the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups in Australia. Areas in which it has worked assiduously include unlawful sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities, reproductive health, violence against women with disabilities, and leadership and mentoring. Although it has a domestic focus, WWDA has provided inspiration for women with disabilities all over the world, receiving letters of thanks from as far away as the Ukraine and the USA."
The judges were impressed by the broad base of WWDA's work and influence and the range of methods used to advocate for women living with disabilities, from lobbying to education. They said WWDA deserved ongoing recognition and was a valuable and visible organisation.
The Award was presented to WWDA at a function in Sydney in December. Many WWDA supporters came along to the presentation. Helen Meekosha (WWDA President) accepted the Award and gave a powerful acceptance speech.
"There Is No Justice - Just Us" - The Status of Women With Disabilities in Australia was published in July 2002. This major report focuses on the status of women with disabilities in Australia and the directions needed to address the issues currently faced by women with disabilities in Australia. The report has been well received and is selling well. It has generated a lot of interest from overseas organisations.
For the period July 2001 - June 2002, WWDA has received $3,282.13 from sales of publications.
In mid 2002, WWDA also undertook consultations with the broader disability sector on preferred models for membership for the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations. At the time of this report (September 2002), the Australian Federation of Disability Consumers has not been incorporated, therefore WWDA is yet to become a voting member.
Helen Meekosha (WWDA President) has been invited to give a keynote address on "Toward the Adoption of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" on 21 October in Osaka, Japan, at the International Forum on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
WWDA received a total income of $167,629 in the 2001-2002 financial year. The bulk of this income was made up of WWDA's operational grant (from the Commonwealth Department of Family & Community Services) and two smaller project grants, one from the Commonwealth Department of Communication, Information Technology & the Arts (for the Telecommunications Consumer Representation Project), and the other from the Global Fund for Women USA (a general purpose grant utilised by WWDA for the "Think Tank" and the publishing of the "Just Us" Report). WWDA received $2,754 in membership fees and $3,247 from sales of WWDA publications. Only $420 was received from donations.
WWDA's total expenditure for the year was $182,205, which meant that WWDA spent a total of $14,576 more than the amount of income received. The $14,576 came from WWDA's savings.
The major items of expenditure for WWDA over the 2001-2002 year were: salaries ($82,869); travel and accommodation ($21,551); printing ($14,583); telephone and faxes ($9,425); rental costs ($6,171). A total of $9,845 was spent on insurance, workers compensation and superannuation costs. Postage and freight accounted for $3,824. To give an explanation of these items:
As at 30 June 2002, WWDA had total assets of $86,986 and total liabilities of $38,992. This resulted in a Net Asset total of $47,994. An amount of $21,999 of this net asset total is held in a Cash Management Account.
The following members represent WWDA on telecommunications organisations:
(a) Vanessa represents us on the Australian Consumer Industry Forum (ACIF) Disability Advisory Board, and
the ACIF Consumer Advisory Group;
(b) Margaret represents us on the Telecommunications Disability Consumer Reference Group (TEDICORE); and
(c) Sue represents us on the Telstra Disability Forum (of which she is Consumer Chair and Co-ordinator); the
Telstra Disability Equipment Program Consumer Advisory Group; and the newly formed ACT Community IT Advisory Panel.
(d) ACIF is forming a new Consumer Advisory Council, and Vanessa made a nomination application for member of the
Telecommunications Group to represent WWDA on that Council.
In March 2002, 3 new members were added to the Group to undertake research into aspects of telecommunications
affecting women with disabilities.
(a) Margherita is undertaking a web/literature search into assistive equipment, virtual (cyber)
communities and general telecommunications developments. In addition she began to liaise with the
TEDICORE Executive Officer (Gunela Astbrink) to summarise the progress of Disability Action Plans with
other telecommunications carriers. However, Gunela has not been able to devote any time to this, and
no progress has been made. The Optus DAP is the only one, besides Telstra, to have lodged a DAP on
the HREOC site;
(b) Jo-An Partridge is undertaking research into Digital Divide Initiatives in Victoria; and
(c) Louise Bannister is undertaking research into Digital Divide Initiatives in the ACT.
In July, Jo-An, Margherita and Margaret attended an E-networking Conference at the Caulfield Campus of Monash University. This conference was devoted to examining Digital Divide Initiatives worldwide. Our representatives chose seminars which may have application to development of models for women with disabilities.
An obligation under the grant deed has been to seek alternative sources of funding for the WWDA Telecommunications Group. To this end, Christine has approached a number of telecommunications organisations and carriers for sponsorship. There have not been any positive replies as yet. Sue has approached the National Information Communications and Telecommunications Australia (NICTA) Centre of Excellence (located in Canberra) to form a Business Community Partnership with WWDA.
Sue has also asked NICTA to form a consumer consultative group for its operations, and offered WWDA support in forming such a group. No reply has yet been received.
Feedback from DCITA for our Interim Report was positive, and even contained praise for the amount of, and calibre of work being done. DCITA officers asked Sue for some advice and clarification of some statements made in applications for the 2002/2003 Grants (something of a compliment).
The current Grant period is until 30 September, with the final report due on 31 October.
We have been successful in winning a Grant to continue this telecommunications representation work for WWDA in 2002/2003. The next Grant is for $10,700.
What is DSaRI?
The Disability Studies and Research Institute (DSaRI) undertakes research into disability issues from a
social perspective, and promotes community debate associated with the rights of disabled people. The
Institute involves stakeholders from organisations of people with disabilities, universities, the
research community, service delivery bodies and industry. It aims for a wider understanding of the
social causes and responses to processes that disable people with impairments, and promotes their
participation in the social, economic, cultural and political life of the nation.
What does DSaRI do?
The Institute undertakes a range of functions, including:
As at incorporation in June 2002, DsaRI was involved in collaborative research activities with:
For clients that include: NSW State government; Queensland State government; University of New South Wales.
And on projects including:
Who runs DSaRI?
The Institute is managed by a Chief Executive Officer, under policies determined by a Board representing
stakeholders. The Institute is currently building a strong membership base of organizations and individuals,
and a number of members' committees - research and policy, education and publications. The Institute is
located at one of the stakeholder institutions, though operates in different locations, depending on the
projects involved.
How can I join DSaRI?
DSaRI has five categories of membership - each category jointly nominates a member of the Board. The
membership categories are:
1. Universities and university research groups, centres etc.
2. Individual researchers
3. Organisations of people with disabilities
4. Disability policy and service delivery organisations
5. Industry
Full details of membership and operation of the Institute can be found in the constitution.
Despite the Transport Standards going to Federal Parliament in December 2001, it did not get debated and has just made the list again. Expectations are that this will go through and that all States and Territories will follow and enact similar legislation quickly.
The Draft Education Standard was presented by Sandy Seymour and Graham Smith, and this Standard was to be presented and debated by all State, Territory and Commonwealth Ministers at a MCYEETA meeting in Auckland in July. Ministers expressed concern over the delay in finalising the Draft due to legal and financial issues to be further addressed by December 2002.
The Access to Premises Standard and supported technical work is continuing, and workshops were presented in each State and Territory earlier in 2002 to both advise the Standards and to get feedback from all stakeholders.
The Employment Standard has not had work done for some time, though it is hoped that this will be possible when other work is completed. Likewise the Expression of Interest for an Accommodation Standard and a Communications Standard.
A representative from the Consumers Health Forum gave a presentation at a recent meeting. Ongoing work on closer liaison between GP's and the Royal Darwin Hospital has enabled our group to be actively involved in giving ideas to get better results in this area and ensure all areas of hospital facilities are operating well.
This period has covered issues on Australian Working Together Framework, Proposed New Work Capacity Assessment Model and the Changes to Disability Support Pension. Other References Groups have been set-up in other areas of Centrelink eg. Unemployment, using the same model as the Disability Reference Group.
Recently, I was elected by the Centrelink Disability Customer Service Reference Group to represent them on the Australians Working Together Centrelink Reference Group in which I attended my first meeting in mid August this year.
General discussion then ranged over a number of issues:
It was then decided to break into a number of smaller groups to discuss the issues from different perspectives.
Barriers to employment and social participation (looking at physical access to workplace, workplace support, transport, role of Disability Employment Services ((DES), availability of assistive equipment.
Assessment of Work Capacity (identifying attitudes to employment of pwd, including education of employer, employee, community; giving financial incentives to employers and employees; identifying organisations which have inclusive policies eg. IBM and Telstra; identifying policies to promote employment of pwd which are working.
Cost of Disability (I was in this group, and found that the discussion was directionless, and actually got bogged down on barriers to employment. We did not decide on terms of reference and have had no further contact since then, so that the July deadline has passed.
Press Release drawn up by those representing us at the Press Conference, and Press Conference held during Lunch Recess.
Lyn Allison (Democrats) also talked about basing reforms on the recommendations of the McClure Report. Likewise, she could not outline a Democrat policy.
Amanda Vanstone (Liberal) launched into an aggressive diatribe against all and sundry, starting off with the State/Territory recalcitrance on refusing to meet her demands to table their spending allocations, before agreement on the Commonwealth state/Territory Disability? Agreement (CSTDA) can be reached. Amanda outlined the reform proposals as (a) tightening the access criteria, (b) like NZ, using 15 hours work per week at award rates as the eligibility criteria for new DSP, (c) that existing DSP recipients be re-assessed. She reiterated that the DSP should be for people with 'severe' disability. the current number on DSP is 620,000. The policy to remove 3% per year from the DSP may result in the person being moved to another payment, eg Parenting Payment ! or giving carers the Carer Payment ! (thereby making the pwd dependent on the Carer, burdening the Carer, and pushing the pwd out of community participation - Sue). Amanda outlined the generosity of the Government, in that their contribution under the CSTDA will rise from $1.9billion to $2.7billion over 5 years; they are putting increased $$ into the disability area; Gov't will fund an additional 73,000 places in DES.
Conclusion
Since the legislation was not passed, there has not been any follow-up so far. However, the Government is about to introduce a 'new' Bill, which appears identical to the original with one exception. The second Bill proposes that those receiving the DSP up to 30th June 2003 will continue to be assessed under the old rules, but any applications (or re-application) after 30 June 2003 will be subject to much harsher conditions. The Labour Party continues to object to the harshness of the eligibility criteria, and states that the starting date for their introduction is irrelevant (Communication from Annette Ellis, 26 August 2002).
The WWDA Public Officer for 2002-2003 is Sue Salthouse of the ACT.
"that the Incorporated Association adopt the rules tabled at the meeting (and signed by the Chairperson for the purpose of identification) as its rules in substitution for, and to the exclusion of, the existing rules."
Department of Family and Community Services
Audit Certificate
Program Funding Recipient: Women With Disabilities (Australia) Incorporated
Type of Funding: National Secretariat Program
Statement of Income and Expenditure for the period: 01/07/2001 to 30/06/02
I have audited the financial statements of the organisation for the period indicated and provided answers to the following questions. Where a "No" answer is given I am providing an accompanying note to the certificate.
I have read the Conditions of Program Funding under which payments have been made to the organisation by the Department of Family and Community Services for the audited period. YES
I am satisfied that all payments made to the organisation by the Department of Family and Community Services in, or for, the audited period were spent for the agreed purpose(s) or, if not yet fully spent, have been accounted for in the audited financial statements.YES
I am satisfied that the organisations observed all Condition of Program Funding relating to the organisations audited financial statements.YES
There were no other matters of a material nature that came to my attention, other than those noted in my audit report.YES
Name of Engagement Partner: Derek Steele
Name of Audit Firm: Steele Burnett & Nelson
Address: Po Box 28 Rosny Park TAS 7018
Telephone No: (03) 6244 5044
Fax No: (03) 62447319
Date: 27/9/2004
This site was developed by Carolyn Frohmader for Women With Disabilities Australia.