Due to illness North Coast Voices blog will not be posting again until Monday 24 May 2021. Apologies to regular readers and browsers for the absence.
Tuesday, 18 May 2021
Labor MLA for Lismore: Rural Health Inquiry’s Lismore hearing to be live webcast on Thursday 17 June 2021
Office of NSW Labor MLA for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, media release, 17 May 2021:
Rural Health Inquiry’s Lismore hearing to be webcast
NSW Labor has ensured that the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW’s Lismore hearing on Thursday June 17 will be webcast, according to State Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin.
“This is a good win because all locals, together with all residents of rural and regional NSW need to have access to their Parliament and its processes,” Ms Saffin said yesterday.
“I lobbied for this Inquiry to sit in our Electorate of Lismore and it is important that as many people as possible get to hear testimony from individuals and organisations who made submissions about their experience of the health system.
“The Inquiry has already held hearings in Deniliquin and Cobar, both of which were not webcast. I understand that the transcripts then took over a week to be released publicly.
“This was unacceptable to many country people and media outlets, so my colleague, NSW Shadow Minister for Health Ryan Park raised these concerns directly with the Chief Executive of the Department of Parliamentary Services.
“In light of the high level of public interest in the Inquiry’s work, the Committee, chaired by Labor MLC Greg Donnelly, now will be trialling the live webcasting of its hearings in Wellington tomorrow (Tuesday, 18 May) and in Dubbo on Wednesday (19 May).”
The Inquiry was established on 16 September 2020 to inquire into and report on health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales. It has received more than 700 submissions from people across NSW.
Live stream details:
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Pages/webcasts.aspx
Monday, 17 May 2021
The Morrison Government has found yet another way to turn the National Disability Insurance Scheme into a punitive horror story for participants
The National Disability Insurance Scheme, to be administered by the National Disability Insurance Agency, was introduced by the Gillard Labor Government on 1 July 2013 and, was originally allocated a funding stream of $19.3 billion over 7 years (inclusive of $7.1 billion in existing disability insurance funding) as well as the 0.5% increase in the Medicare Levy scheduled for 2014-15 onwards.
The federal and state governments share the total cost of the NDIS, with the federal government only being responsible for around half of the total cost once all the states and territories had joined the scheme. The final state joined in June 2018.
On 19 October 2017 the Australian Government Productivity Commission had stated: At full scheme, about 475 000 people with disability will receive individualised supports, at an estimated cost of $22 billion in the first year of full operation.
There has been no additional increase in the Medicare levy to fund NDIS, as shortly before the 2018–19 Budget, the Turnbull Coalition Government announced that it could ‘fully fund’ the NDIS without any increase.
That same year the Budget Papers revealed an est. $4.6 billion underspend on the NDIS – funds which then Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison credited against the national budget deficit.
In 2019-20 Budget Papers revealed another underspend of est. 3 billion and, again this underspend was used to reduce the national budget deficit.
By April 2021 the National Disability Insurance Scheme itself reported that more than 430,000 people across Australia benefiting from the NDIS and it appears that the federal government now expects that number to rise to 500,000 participants by 2023-24 - an increase of 45,000 people more than likely predominately individuals 65 years of age and older who are already falling within the remit of aged care funding.
In the 2020-21 Budget Papers the Morrison Government allocated an additional $798.8 million over four years from 2020-21 towards what appears to be a restructuring of NDIS.
Presumably so that the following can be fully implemented…...
The Guardian, 15 May 2021.
The agency that runs the national disability insurance scheme is seeking to increase the number of people that “exit” the scheme and reduce overall spending on funding packages through a “targeted review of existing participant plans”, internal documents show.
Leaked documents last month revealed the agency had set up a Sustainability Action Taskforce (SAT) with the aim of slowing spending on participant plans and growth in participant numbers.
The National Disability Insurance Agency has refused to discuss the actions of the taskforce, which Labor and the Greens have dubbed a “razor gang”. But new documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws provide further insight into its aims.
The previously reported internal talking points, labelled “strictly not for external distribution”, stated the taskforce’s three aims were to “slow net growth in participant numbers”, “slow growth in spend per participant”, and “strengthen operational discipline”.
The new documents, however, reveal the attempt to slow the growth in participant numbers will come, in part, from a focus on an “increase [in] participant exits”.
Further, slowing spending on participants’ funding packages will be achieved in part by a “targeted review of existing participant plans”, the documents state.
Other objectives include a focus on “tighter planning principles”, “tighter policies on specific reasonable and necessary supports”, “tighter price controls”, and an “increased enforcement of assurance policies”.
The unit’s aims relate to internal decisions made by the agency’s planners and are separate to a wider overhaul scheme through the controversial introduction of independent assessments, or a rewriting of the NDIS Act that determines in law what can be funded and who can receive support.
It comes as the government faces a backlash from the disability community over its warning the scheme is increasingly unsustainable.
The goal of the so-called Sustainability Action Taskforce is to stop disabled people getting on and kicking off people who are already on Jordon Steele-John
Tuesday’s budget papers showed spending on the scheme would hit $28.1bn next financial year, up from a projected $25.4bn forecast for 2021-22 in last year’s October budget.
Costs are tipped to hit $33.3bn in 2024-25, an increase from predictions in a 2017 Productivity Commission report that estimated the figure would reach $30.6bn by then.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the NDIS minister, Linda Reynolds, have used these forecasts to claim a need for “hard discussions” about the sustainability of the current funding model.
Labor’s NDIS spokesman, Bill Shorten, said the new documents were “proof positive the Morrison government has no plan for Australians with disability except slash, slash, slash”.
“It is utterly unconscionable that vulnerable people are trying in good faith to get on the NDIS completely unaware there is a secret plan not to let them in,” he said…..
Read the full article here.
Sunday, 16 May 2021
Taking Australia's temperature in the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison years using death as the thermometer. WARNING: this post contains annual suicide statistics.
When it comes to forming government policy it often seems that politicians see policy implementation and outcomes in terms of the effect they will have on national GDP growth or decline and annual budget balances or deficits.
Very rarely does one hear a government minister discuss the effect ideologically driven policies have on human capital, on the sense of wellbeing of ordinary people.
Since late 2013 Australia has been governed by a collection of politicians led first by Tony Abbott, then Malcolm Turnbull and lastly Scott Morrison. The kindest term for this motley collection of MPs and senators would have to be 'enthusiastic cultural and economic warriors of the hard right'.
So using a crude measurement let's look at one indicator of when that sense of wellbeing fails.
CONFIRMED DEATHS BY SUICIDE IN AUSTRALIA 2012-2020
- 2012 there were 2,580 deaths by suicide
- 2013 there were 2,610 deaths by suicide
The Abbott Coalition Government was elected to govern in September 2013.Scott Morrison becomes a Cabinet Minister and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
- 2014 there were 2,922 deaths by suicide
Scott Morrison ceases to be Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and becomes Minister for Social Services in December 2014.
As Minister for Social Services Morrison announces he is going to "stop the bludgers".
In the 12 months to 30 June 2014 a total of 1,373 income support payment recipients suffered financial loss caused by the department’s failure to follow proper procedure or to provide appropriate advice.
By June 2014 the number of unemployed people increased by 43,700 to 789,000, with the unemployment rate at a 12 year high.
Newstart unemployment benefit remains well below the poverty line.
- 2015 there were 3,093 deaths by suicide
Scott Morrison ceases to be Minister for Social Services in September 2015 and becomes Australian Treasurer. Christian Porter becomes Minister for Social Services, Alan Tudge Assistant Minister for Social Services and Stuart Robert becomes Minister for Human Services.
The number of unemployed people looking for full-time work reached 551,800 and the number of unemployed people looking for part-time work increased by 34,300 to 243,400.
As Australian Treasurer Morrison strips est. $15 billion over 4 years from basic services in Budget 2015-16. These cuts are expected to impact families and low-income earners.
In the 12 months to 30 June 2015 the number of Indigenous deaths in custody was the highest recorded since 1979-80.
- 2016 there were 2,902 deaths by suicide
National unemployment rate for 2016 nears a three-year low at 5.7%, with unemployment decreasing over the year by 11,900 persons.
In the 12 months to 30 June 2016 a total of 69,921 welfare recipients had their income support payments reduced.
Unlawful ‘robodebt’ debt-averaging algorithm introduced in 2016 - letters began to be sent out to past & current welfare recipients in December of the year.
Cashless Debit Card trials commence, restricting welfare recipients access to cash withdrawals from their pensions, benefits and allowances.
- 2017 there were 3,285 deaths by suicide
Australia’s unemployment rate hit a 14-month high, rising to 5.9% in February. Budget 2017-18 announced mutual obligation requirements attached to Newstart payments were being increased.
Aged Pension qualifying age began to rise on 1 July 2017.
- 2018 there were 3,138 suicides - averaging 8 deaths per day. NSW had the highest state total at 899 deaths.
As of June 2018 71%, or 802,600 people, received an unemployment payment—717,000 for Newstart Allowance and 85,600 for Youth Allowance (other). This represented 5.2% of the population aged 18–64.
In late June 2018, 10,600 Newstart Allowance recipients were aged 65, reflecting the increase in the qualifying age for the Age Pension to 65.5 from 1 July 2017.
An est. 80,000 single parents now on Newstart unemployment benefit rather than a parenting payment.
In July 2018 Parents Next program was introduced which applied governmental coercive control of single parents on parenting payments.
In August 2018 Scott Morrison ceased to be Australian Treasurer and became Prime Minister.
- 2019 there were 3,318 deaths by suicide
In the 12 months to 30 June 2019 under the privatised welfare-to-work scheme 121,604 people had their income support suspended without reason.
The Cashless Debit Card trial now includes est. 15,000 cardholders.
- 2020 no deaths data published for 2020 to date
Dynamic modelling shows that there may be a 25 per cent increase in suicides recorded for 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts.
Unemployment rate reached 6.2% in April, 6.8% in November and 6.6% in December 2020. Unemployment alone is associated with a two to threefold increased relative-risk of death by suicide, compared with being employed.
PRINCIPAL SOURCES
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/suicide-and-intentional-self-harm
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/organisations/about-us/annual-reports
https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/sr_05_270418.pdf
Saturday, 15 May 2021
Tweet of the Week
A lot of folks have been asking for the full speech so here it is! Happy Saturday 🌞 #nswpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/XqnB34nXHd
— Rose Jackson (@RoseBJackson) May 8, 2021
Friday, 14 May 2021
Online violence has become the new frontline in journalism safety and women journalists sit at the epicentre of risk
Social, cultural, environmental and community activists because they are often highly visible in their own local areas have long been subject to anonymous death threats, not so anonymous menacing behaviour, nuisance calls, minor vandalism and, even after the advent of social media, defamatory whispering campaigns.
In decades past, journalists were seemingly not as visible to the purveyors of hate within communities which were contesting local and regional issues.
Once the Internet arrived it became a vehicle which could potentially intensify the hate directed towards such activists and at times it did. Since February 2004 highly organised bad actors have turned their attention towards the mainstream media and begun ripping away at the reputations of female journalists.
Here is a recent research discussion paper which makes some interesting observations.......
UNESCO, Posetti, J. et al, (April 2021) Research Discussion Paper, The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists, excerpts:
INTRODUCTION
There is nothing virtual about online violence. It has become the new frontline in journalism safety - and women journalists sit at the epicentre of risk. Networked misogyny and gaslighting intersect with racism, religious bigotry, homophobia and other forms of discrimination to threaten women journalists - severely and disproportionately. Threats of sexual violence and murder are frequent and sometimes extended to their families. This phenomenon is also bound up with the rise of viral disinformation, digital conspiracy networks and political polarisation. The psychological, physical, professional, and digital safety and security impacts associated with this escalating freedom of expression and gender equality crisis are overlapping, converging and frequently inseparable. They are also increasingly spilling offline, sometimes with devastating consequences…….
The research underpinning this paper consists of: a global survey of 901 journalists from 125 countries conducted in five languages; long-form interviews with 173 international journalists, editors, and experts in the fields of freedom of expression, human rights law, and digital safety; two big data case studies assessing over 2.5 million posts on Facebook and Twitter directed at two prominent women journalists (Maria Ressa in the Philippines and Carole Cadwalladr in the UK) undertaken to validate the self-reporting of our interviewees and survey respondents with objective data; 15 detailed country case studies; and a literature review covering hundreds of scholarly and civil society research publications. A team of 24 international researchers6 from 16 countries contributed to the study……
The chilling effect
Online violence against women journalists is designed to: belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability journalism and trust in facts; and chill their active participation (along with that of their sources, colleagues and audiences) in public debate. This amounts to an attack on democratic deliberation and media freedom, encompassing the public’s right to access information, and it cannot afford to be normalised or tolerated as an inevitable aspect of online discourse, nor contemporary audience-engaged journalism…..
A worsening crisis
Online attacks on women journalists appear to be increasing significantly, as this study demonstrates, particularly in the context of the ‘shadow pandemic’ of violence against women during COVID-19. The pandemic has changed journalists’ working conditions, making them yet more dependent on digital communications services and social media channels. The emergence of the ‘disinfodemic’ has also increased the toxicity of the online communities within which journalists work, making journalists “sitting ducks” according to the UK National Union of Journalists’ Michelle Stanistreet, interviewed for this study……
Another major issue in evidence is the role of political actors - including presidents and elected representatives, party officials and members - in instigating and fuelling online violence campaigns against women journalists. Additionally, partisan, mainstream and fringe news media can be shown to amplify such attacks, triggering ‘pile-ons’ that escalate the risks of online violence morphing into offline assault or causing significant psychological injury……
Our research confirmed that online violence against women journalists comes from State officials, and is increasingly associated with legal harassment. In Pakistan, founder of the Digital Rights Foundation, Nighat Dad, said: “The attacks are made by people declaring affiliation with the ruling party, and in the coordinated campaigns women journalists are referred to as peddlers of ‘fake news’, enemies of the people and accused of taking bribes. Some journalists [have] shared that after official harassment, their social media accounts are bombarded with gendered slurs and abuse by accounts displaying the ruling party’s flag or the Prime Minister’s picture on their accounts.” ......
These methods of attack are growing more sophisticated, and they are evolving with technology. They are also increasingly networked and fuelled by political actors. This points to the need for responses to online violence to grow equally in technological sophistication and collaborative coordination. Another point highlighted by our research: most women journalists do not report or make public the online attacks they experience, in line with low levels of reporting when it comes to violence against women more broadly. As our research participants also demonstrated, many media employers still appear reluctant to take online violence seriously. This aligns with the evident failure of the internet communications companies - whose social networks, messaging and search services facilitate much of the harassment, intimidation, abuse and threats targeting women journalists - to take effective action to address this freedom of expression and gender equality crisis…..
This study shows that male politicians will also use lawsuits as weapons against female journalists and, multiple defamation actions may be instigated by wealthy individuals who are often political donors.
Online newspapers which publish the work of female investigative journalists sometimes come under attack. In August 2020, Guardian Media Group took legal action to shut down a website generating fake Guardian headlines and byline profiles which were being shared with the trending Twitter hashtag #TrollingTheGuardian.
The full discussion paper can be read at:
https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/the-chilling.pdf.
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