SUPPLEMENT TO THE AEU NEWS • MARCH 2013

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DISABILITY SERVICESNEWSLETTERTrial promises vastly better support for disabledJen Walsh explains the latest on the national disability support scheme.

A THREE-year trial of the proposed national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) begins in Geelong’s

Barwon region in July.About 5000 people with significant and profound

disabilities, their families and carers will have their needs assessed and receive care and support packages under an NDIS model that gives them more control in a better coordinated and better funded disability care system.

Karingal, a Geelong-based disability services group, says that of the 5000 who will benefit from the Barwon trial, 900 people are “currently not receiving any government support [but] will now be eligible for disability funding and services”.

The scheme will make it easier for disabled people and their families and carers to access essential care, support, therapy, equipment, early intervention and training.

The NDIS Bill, introduced in Federal Parliament last November, sets out the framework for a national disability scheme. It includes eligibility criteria, age requirements and what constitutes “reasonable and necessary support”.

The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs is currently reviewing the bill. Public

submissions to the committee can be read at tinyurl.com/bxrr5vm.

The Bill is accompanied by rules that explain in detail how the NDIS will operate and be managed. Submissions for comment and feedback on these rules closed on March 1.

The NDIS was recommended by the Productivity Commission following its 18-month inquiry into Australia’s disability services system. It found the system to be “underfunded, fragmented, unfair and inefficient”.

The Barwon trial is one of five to be held around Australia.

The Victorian Government will put up $42 million, bringing its total spending on disability services in the Barwon region during the trial period to $300m. This includes $25m to establish a National Disability Transi-tion Agency in Geelong.

The Federal Government will contribute more than $190m to the Victorian trial. It has agreed to meet any cost overruns associated with average package costs

or higher-than-expected client numbers in the five NDIS trial sites.

New South Wales is the only state to have made a deal with Canberra over its contribution to full funding of the NDIS in that state from 2018. The Baillieu Government says only the Federal Government can meet the long-term funding increase that the NDIS requires in Victoria.

Victoria’s NDIS implementation taskforce was set up two years ago. Its members — experts in the disability, insurance and government sectors — include Bryan Woodford, the former head of Yooralla; Chris Fyffe, a former regional director of Community Services Victoria, and Robert Kerr, a research fellow at the Brotherhood of St Laurence and former Treasury economist.

More information about the NDIS can be found at http://www.ndis.gov.au/.

The campaign for the fully-funded rollout of the NDIS across Australia continues — go to everyaustraliancounts.com.au. �

Jen Walsh is AEU deputy vice president for TAFE and adult provision

MOONYA staff still waiting for pay

STAFF entitlements make up about 90% of the financial liabilities of Moonya Support Service, the Wonthaggi-based service for people with disabilities that

has gone into voluntary administration. All staff are creditors of the organisation, and they include a group of supported

employees. They were not paid at least one week of wages after administrators were appointed in January. Another group who were retrenched are owed more.

Money owed to staff will not be paid until the organisation is put into liquidation or resumes operations with existing managers or new owners. Should the service go into liquidation and not be able to pay workers, they will be covered by the Federal Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme.

The AEU is providing what assistance it can to Moonya staff. Industrial officer David Bunn is representing members on the creditors’ committee, which advises the administrators from Pitcher Partners. � — Kerry Maher

PAY RATES on Fair Work website

THE AEU is continuing discussions with the Fair Work Ombudsman to improve information on the Ombudsman’s website for disability services

workers and employers. The site contains transitional pay rates for many workers transitioning

from previous awards to the modern award system but it does not include rates for workers in disability day services. Information that is provided is confusing (the same problem applies to early childhood sector rates).

“We want the Ombudsman to fix this because employers do not readily accept AEU wage calculations and look for an authoritative source,” says AEU industrial officer David Bunn.

The AEU has also suggesting improvements in the way information for workers in supported employment and labour market assistance programs is presented. �

Revolutionisingdisability services

www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au

Revolutionisingdisability services

www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au

2 Disability Services newsletter | march 2013

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YOUR RIGHTS to knowBosses are legally obliged to inform you of proposed changes.

David Bunn industrial officer

AEU members in disability services have a legal right to be consulted about changes in their workplace. This right is contained in agreements between

your employer and the AEU, or in awards covering your employment.Agreements and awards both say that where the employer has decided

to make changes that will have a significant effect on employees, he or she is obliged to provide information and consult, particularly on ways to reduce potentially harmful or negative effects of the change.

The employer is required to provide in writing all relevant information about the proposed changes, other than information that is confidential or detrimental to the employer’s interests.

“Change” includes changes in program, organisation, structure or technology. “Significant effects” include job losses, major changes to the

size, composition or skills of the employer’s workforce, loss of job opportunities or changes in job security, alteration of work hours or a need for retraining, relocation and restructuring of jobs.

Consultation is required whether the change affects one person or many. In one case an employer erroneously thought that change (retrenching a worker) was insignificant because it affected only one person.

The employer is not required to consult with the AEU unless our members request our involvement. Cases we are involved with include the merger of two organisations, reductions in staffing through declining client numbers, and proposals to change the duties performed by our members. �

Members shift to MODERN AWARDSAEU officers David Bunn and Kerry Maher spoke to Naomi Boyle from the Victorian Hospitals Industrial

Association (VHIA) on February 21 about shifting AEU members in day services from current agreement classifications to the Modern Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Award structure.

It was agreed that instructors carrying out more complex duties, such as person-centred plans (PCPs) and key worker roles, would translate into level 3 and that translations would need to take into account qualifications as well as years of service. Similarly, current band 3 members carrying out team leader and co-ordination duties need to be placed at level 4.

Modern Award classifications will not affect wages until after the final phase-in of the Equal Remu-neration Order (ERO) in 2020.

Also discussed at the meeting was the fact that those on band 2 levels 4, 5 and 6 should have received a pay increase from December 1 last year given that the ERO rates are slightly higher than present MOU rates. Wages for some classifications of program manager are also slightly higher since December 1.

The AEU will soon hold workshops to clarify how the ERO will affect wages in day services. � — Kerry Maher disability services organiser

Nearly time to PAY UPFEDERAL Community Services Minister Julie

Collins has advised the states and terri-tories that they need to sign up to the equal pay scheme for social and community services workers by the end of March to access a share of the $1.4 billion that the Federal Government has allocated to cover significant pay rises for workers in the sector.

The Victorian Government is yet to commit to fully funding these pay rises for those working in state-funded community service programs. Its antagonistic responses to the Federal Government’s commitments to education funding reform and the national disability insurance scheme suggest it’s unlikely to change its position. �