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Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Women in Sport and Recreation in Australia
Resource Manual on Violence Against Women With Disabilities Project - Update
Advancement through Advocacy for Women With Disabilities Project - Update
Senate Inquiry into the Commonwealth/State/Territory Disability AgreementUN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Update
2006 CLW Leadership Achievement Award For Women
Telecommunications Consumer Representation Grant Project
14th Attorney-General's NGO Forum on Domestic Human Rights
WomenSpeak Face-to-Face meetings in Melbourne
International Women's Development Agency Symposium - Canberra
Workplace Training Advisory of Australia "Australian Women and Leadership Forum'
The Commonwealth Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) has undertaken a process to focus on reducing red tape whilst at the same time maintaining appropriate standards of transparency and accountability for government. FaCSIA is looking at how its programs and processes might be streamlined to increase consistency and reduce unnecessary variations. Some areas which have already been identified are:
WWDA recently provided a written submission to the 'Reducing Red Tape' Initiative. WWDA's detailed submission addressed a number of issues under the themes: Funding Processes & Related Issues; Stakeholder Relations; Reporting Processes & Issues. WWDA's Submission also contained a wide range of suggestions for consideration in relation to the concerns we identified. Some of the main issues WWDA raised in the Submission included:
A copy of WWDA's Submission to the 'Reducing Red Tape' Initiative will soon be available on WWDA's website. If anyone would like a copy of the Submission emailed to them, please contact the WWDA Office via email on: wwda@wwda.org.au
In late May, WWDA provided a written Submission to this Senate Inquiry. WWDA addressed the Terms of Reference in the context of women with disabilities and sport/recreation in Australia. WWDA's Submission noted, in part, the failure of the Australian Government (past and present) to collect any baseline data on any aspect of the lives of women with disabilities. This neglect was noted by the United Nations Commission (for the) Elimination (of all forms of) Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) concluding comments on the Australian Government 2000 and 2004 Reports to the Commission on the Status of Women. It was noted that the Australian Government lacks research and data on women with disabilities and that this group is also marginalised by their lack of access to health programs. Both these oversight are pertinent considerations in any examination of the participation of women with disabilities in sport, fitness and recreation activities. The benefits to individuals, communities and society, and to the alleviation of costs to the community cannot be examined in either a quantitative or qualitative way because of this lack of research and data.
WWDA's Submission contained several recommendations, including:
A copy of WWDA's Submission to the 'Senate Inquiry into Women in Sport and Recreation in Australia' will soon be available on WWDA's website. If anyone would like a copy of the Submission emailed to them, please contact the WWDA Office via email on: wwda@wwda.org.au
The information WWDA is incorporating into the Resource Manual includes:
This information will be presented in a series of booklets, with accompanying accessible versions on CD Rom.
WWDA has recently completed a Progress Report on the Project, which details progress to date against the Project Plan. If anyone would like a copy of the Progress Report on the Project emailed to them, please contact the WWDA Office via email on: wwda@wwda.org.au
WWDA is currently seeking input from women with disabilities to contribute their stories and artworks for inclusion into the Resource Manual. A flier is attached to this Update Bulletin, and we would appreciate your assistance in disseminating the flier.
The first information dissemination phase of the Project is completed. The call for women with disabilities to register with WWDA as potential representatives has been keenly answered. There are now 80 women on the register, coming from a diverse range of locations, including all capital cities, and regional and rural centres.
We continue to explore the most economic and efficient way of registering applicants directly online. As an adjunct to this exercise, negotiations have been opened with the Commonwealth Women on Boards register directors, and with the State/Territory offices of similar registers to have disability included as an option for disclosure when women with disabilities register for mainstream representative work.
Our thanks go to Sheila King in Hervey Bay who is contacting consumer advisory bodies, both government and non government, Australia-wide to build up our matching Database of potential representative positions. Louise Bannister has collected a number of exemplars of consumer organisations' policies, protocols and procedures for representatives, is evaluating them, has obtained copyright permission to adapt them, and will soon start drafting the WWDA papers.
Our thanks go to Sheila King in Hervey Bay who is contacting consumer advisory bodies, both government and non government, Australia-wide to build up our matching Database of potential representative positions. Louise Bannister has collected a number of exemplars of consumer organisations' policies, protocols and procedures for representatives, is evaluating them, has obtained copyright permission to adapt them, and will soon start drafting the WWDA papers.
This Project is funded by the Commonwealth under the Women's Leadership and Development Program from the Office for Women.
The Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) provides the national framework for the delivery, funding and development of specialist disability services for people with disabilities. Under the three agreements signed to date (the first being in 1991) all parties are responsible for funding specialist services for people with disabilities:
Through the Agreement, the Australian, State and Territory Governments strive to enhance the quality of life experienced by people with disabilities through assisting them to live as valued and participating members of the community. Under the current agreement, all Ministers with responsibility for disability services agree to pursue five strategic policy priorities through the Agreement. These are to:
The terms of reference for the Inquiry into the funding and operation of the Commonwealth-State/Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) include:
WWDA will be aiming to submit a written Submission to this Inquiry.
Closing date for the receipt of submissions is 4 August 2006. For further details contact:
Committee Secretary
Phone: (02) 6277 3515
Fax: (02) 6277 5829
E-mail: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au
At the end of the seventh session, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee made some useful closing remarks, and released a revised copy of the draft text of the Convention which takes account of the discussion and negotiations at that session. The Chair's closing remarks can be found at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc7chairclose.htm
The revised working text of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can be found at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc7ann2rep.htm
The eighth session of the Ad Hoc Committee has been scheduled for 16-25 August 2006. The Chair has made it clear that the eighth session will only deal with articles that have issues remaining, and settled matters will not be revisited for discussion. The articles with 'difficult' issues remaining include:
Article 12 - Equal recognition as a person before the law;
Article 17 - Protecting the integrity of the person;
Article 25 - Health;
Article 34 - International monitoring
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) has concerns regarding the Australian Government's position on Article 34 - International monitoring. The position of Australian delegations to sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee to date, has been to NOT support a complaints mechanism in the final Convention. This position is on the basis that 'many of the rights are duplicated in other Conventions with existing complaints mechanisms, and the establishment of an additional complaints mechanism is not in accordance with Australia's treaty body reform objectives' (Attorney General's Department & Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, June 2006).
WWDA does not support the Australian Government's position. It is clear that despite the existence of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and in fact, other human rights treaties, women with disabilities the world over continue to experience serious violations of their human rights, as well as failures to promote and fulfill their rights.
The Optional Protocol to CEDAW was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly on 6 October 1999. The Optional Protocol contains two procedures: a communications procedure allowing individuals, or groups of individuals, to submit claims of violations of rights to the Committee on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women; and an inquiry procedure, enabling the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systemic violations of women's rights. Individuals may make communications only if the nation concerned is a party to the protocol. As of September 2005, there were 76 signatories to the Optional Protocol. The Australian Government has, to date, refused to sign the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, meaning that women with disabilities in Australia have effectively been locked out of using an enforcement mechanism to investigate violations of their human rights.
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) believes that the final UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities MUST contain a complaints mechanism, and has communicated this in writing to the Australian Government.
WWDA's congratulations go to Louise Bannister (WWDACT) who was one of the three finalists in the 2006 CLW Leadership Achievement Award for Women. Louise was recognized for her contribution to and establishment of the Well and Able pilot program. Louise forged a partnership between WWDACT, the YMCA of Canberra, and the Women's Centre for Health Matters (WCHM), who were successful in obtaining a grant through the ACT Government's Community Inclusion Fund. The six month pilot program (May-November 2005) sought to integrate women with impaired mobility and able-bodied women in a weekly exercise class and social activity program which included healthy lunches and guest speaker sessions. The success of the Well and Able program was recognised on the International Day for People with Disabilities when it won the 2005 Rhodium Chief Minister's Inclusion Award for the best program for a community organisation, and the overall award for Excellence in Inclusion in the ACT. As part of her ongoing commitment to the sustainability of the Well and Able program, Louise has successfully completed a Certificate III and IV in fitness through the Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF). She received a scholarship from the AIF and a grant from ACT Women's Sports and Recreation Grant Program in order to undertake the necessary training.
To view Louise's profile go to: http://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au/CLW%20Leadership%20Award/Louise%20Bannister.htm
and to learn about the other finalists go to:
http://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au/CLW%20Leadership%20Award/clw_leadership_achievement_award_WINNERS.htm
The forum was not as tightly structured as in previous years and ad hoc questions were taken from the delegates throughout the day. Attorney General, Phillip Ruddock, attended a 2-hour session of questions between morning tea and lunch time.
A paper giving a summary of the status of all International Instruments on Human Rights was tabled and briefly discussed.
Issues raised by delegates were confined to more insular topics of interest to the organisations represented. Australia's non ratification of UN Conventions was not raised, nor was wider community issues such as the erosion of Human Rights under anti-terrorism legislation, treatment of asylum seekers, or excision of territories.
Nevertheless the forum offered a unique opportunity to make contact, and have more in-depth discussion with key personnel from the Disability Section in the A-G's Department. Forum proceedings will be available in due course.
The first half-day of the get-together was devoted to discussion of childcare issues affecting women in our society and impinging on achievement of an acceptable work life balance. WWDA did not have a representative at this meeting. Due to representatives' illness, WWDA was also unable to attend the second day of the conference. This day was dedicated to discussion of WomenSpeak issues, preceded by a morning of update sessions from member organisations. The topics covered included internal management issues, International issues and a facilitated session on building relationships and consulting with Indigenous community groups.
Both Sue Salthouse and Vicki Alipasinopolous attended the third day which was devoted to a Cross-Secretariats meeting involving the four women secretariats (WomenSpeak, National Rural Women's Coalition, Security4Women, and the Australian Women's Coalition). Commencing with an address from Kerry Flanagan, Director of the Office for Women, the day continued with a tight schedule in which a number of panels presented information followed by a brief open discussion session. Whilst the panels were informative, this structure left little time for strategic planning on important issues. Topics covered included: Economic Security for Women; Family Violence; Health Issues for the Women of Australia (on which panel Sue S gave a short presentation on the complex health needs of women with disabilities and participated in panel discussion); and International Issues.
The final day half day conference was devoted to a meeting with personnel from the Office for Women.
The women's groups benefit from these meetings in being able to formulate united strategies on matters of importance, e.g. a working group was formed to follow up the work from the 2005 What Women Want initiatives on WorkChoices and Welfare to Work; and a press release on family violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities was drawn up by indigenous representative Dot Henry and endorsed and dispatched by a large number of participating organisations several days after the forum.
The calibre of all speakers was superb, and a wide range of aspects of women's development was covered. There was particular emphasis on development issues in the Pacific Region, and practitioners' theories were grounded by the contribution from the 3 delegates from the South Pacific Commission who attended. Issues facing women in the developed world are similar in scope, but not in severity to those faced by women in emerging economies.
The position of women with disabilities in emerging economies was not raised until a panel session on education, when it was pointed out that women in developing countries are not a homogenous group and in fact consist of numerous indigenous sub-groups, a range of socio economic and education levels, and including predominantly marginalised and excluded group of women with disabilities. It was gratifying to see that all these groups, particularly women with disabilities, were included in the summary sessions on the second day.
It should be noted that an integral part of MDG #3 is the necessity to collect gender disaggregated data, that this is applicable world wide, and is a recommended practice for State/Territory and Commonwealth Governments. It was also one of the recommendations to the Australian Government from the 2005 UN Review of the Australian Report to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
More information on the UN Millennium Project can be viewed at: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org.
Information about the Workplace Training Advisory of Australia (WTAA) may be found at: http://www.wtaa.com.au/
The forums aim to give women an insight into workplace dynamics, elements of leadership; contemporary challenges for women in leadership, analysis of differences in gender styles with potential conflicts and complementarities, conflict resolution, importance of mentoring and role models, and career planning.
WWDA has initiated discussion with the WTAA to explore whether a workable long term relationship with the company may assist us in giving WWDA members leadership training and support, in a process where the company develops a disability policy with positive action to make forums fully accessible and affordable for women with disabilities.
This site was developed by Carolyn Frohmader for Women With Disabilities Australia.