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1

July

2016

One more sleep till 2016 Federal Election Day.

We invited all politicalpartiesto state their position on each of six actionable reforms proposed

by the 'Break the Sound Barrier' campaign. The six policy reforms

are practical, affordable and will create savings for Australia in the

long run. Read our scorecard in this edition of One in Six.

Australia's Consumer watchdoghas confirmed it's looking into claims of rorting in the unregulated

audiology industry. Disability advocates have raised concerns that

some businesses are taking advantage of those who need hearing

aids.

Disillusioned with politics?Today is the day on which the National Disability Insurance

Scheme slips quietly into national operation. It's embedded now;

a genuine new feature of the nation's public policy landscape.

We acknowledge the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and

ommunity. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present. We acknowledge the

hallenge that faces Indigenous leaders and families to overcome the unacceptably high levels of ear health issues among first

Australians.

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Be part of the movement!

More needs to be done in Australia to ensure health, disability and taxation policies

safeguard the wellbeing of Australians with hearing loss and those at risk. Hearing does

not get the priority needed to address the massive social, health and economic costs of

hearing impairment to individuals and society. People with chronic ear and balance

disorders and those who communicate in Auslan must not be left behind.

One in six Australians has a hearing health and wellbeing issue. We need you to

share our campaign with your friends, colleagues and family members to encourage them

to sign up. You can either do that by sharing the Break the Sound Barrier page on

Facebook.

Break the Sound Barrier is your campaign the more stories we can share, the more

we can make sure were heard!

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/breaksoundbarrier/

Website http://breakthesoundbarrier.org.au/

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MEDIA RELEASEFriday, July 1, 16

MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Stokes 0478 504 280 Break the Sound Barrier 2016 |Deafness Forum of Australia

Mixedbagonhearinghealthbutnowtheyrelistening

The major parties have improved their policies on hearing health and well-being since the

last election but there are still huge gaps in support for one in six Australians with a hearing

health issues, an analysis of responses to a national six point plan on hearing health shows.

The Break the Sound Barrier Election Scorecard shows mixed responses from all major

parties to a six-point election plan for better supports and services on hearing health.

Break the Sound Barrier asked the three major parties to commit to a six-point plan that

included hearing checks for school students at key stages of life and over 50s; improved

access to Auslan; a national hearing health awareness campaign and changes to tax rules

to make hearing devices tax deductible.

The Coalition has committed to reviewing the tax deductible status of hearing aids and other

devices that enable people with hearing loss or who live with an ear condition to work.

Labor has committed to reinstating $2 million in funding for disability advocacy groups and to

working with state and territory governments, doctors and hearing specialists on ways to

improve accessibility to hearing checks for children and people over 50.

The Greens have committed $99.8 million for hearing health, with a large proportion to close

the gap in hearing health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

No party has committed fully to all six-points in our election plan and there is clearly a lot of

work to do to get real change for almost 4 million Australians who have hearing loss, live

with an ear or balance disorder or are deaf, Mr Brady said.

However, for the first time our sector has concrete responses from all major parties on what

they are prepared to do for hearing health and well-being. It shows that at last they are

listening.

Mr Brady said in just eight weeks the Break the Sound Barrier campaign has shown its a

force to be reckoned with.

It has united the community, hearing professionals and the services providers in a single

grassroots campaign to make hearing health and well being a national health priority.

This is only the beginning. Over the next few months well be sharing our stories on-line and

in the media and through community events across the country to put hearing health on the

national health national agenda, he said.

The Break the Sound Barrier election scorecard and the full party responses are athttp://breakthesoundbarrier.org.au/party-responses

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Greens Labor Coalition

1.Hearing checks for all

Australian children at keystages of life

$15m earlyinterventionfocus on

Indigenouschildren

Will workto improvewith state

governments

Renewcommitmentto existing

funding

2.A national hearingawareness promotioncampaign

Supportawarenesscampaign aspart of $100mhearinginitiative

Extra $2m todisability peakbodies, notjust hearing

Doublefunding forHearingAwarenessWeek to $20k

3.Improved accessibility forAustralian Sign Language(Auslan)

Review incontext ofNDIS

To bedeliveredthrough NDIS

Supportsimprovedaccessibilityfor Auslan

4.Universal access to hearinghealth checks every fveyears for people over 50

Review incontext ofNDIS

Will consultwith DeafnessForum anddoctors

Maintainexisting policy

5.Make hearing devices taxdeductible

Review incontext ofNDIS

Will reviewcosts, but taxdeductibilitynot preferredoption

Willreview taxdeductibility

6.Dont let children fallthrough the gaps withchanges to the way hearing

services will be delivered inAustralia

$4maccreditationscheme forcomplexhearingrehabilitation

Reviewhearingservicesto meetchallenges ofNDIS

Supportongoingconsultationwith expertsfor NDISrollout

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Jane Prentice, federal Assistant

Minster for Disability Services

with Beatrice Tarnawski in

background.

Tony Clark, Labor candidate for the Federal seat of Deakin

with Michele Barry from Better Hearing Australia.

Nicole Lawder MLA and Chloe Nash with

David Brady. Nicole is the Liberal

member for Brindabella in the ACT.

Chloe works for Nicole and is one of the

few Deaf Auslan people working for aparliamentarian in Australia at this time.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert islistening photographed withDeafness Forum chairman DavidBrady and at right, campaigndonors Sue (OAM) and Haydn Dawin Canberra.

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Australias Daily Mercury newspaper reports on a new program to enhance hearing

screening in the country, as a supplement to newborn hearing screening that has been in

place widely in the country for some time.

As part of Australias national Break The Sound Barrier program, school-age children should

benefit from increased hearing screening before they start primary and high school.

According to Deafness Forum of Australia Chair, David Brady, the country has the worlds

best screening program for newborns but school-age children may be falling through the

gaps, the article reports.

Australia is spending billions a year on education but that money is wasted if children are

falling behind because they simply cannot hear what the teacher is saying, Mr Brady said.

If children cant hear whats going on around them, they cant learn properly, they cant

participate, and they can feel alone and isolated on the playground. Many children

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experience hearing loss as a result of ear infections or other conditions that are not

diagnosed, which means our kids arent getting the support they need.

The organisation wants to ensure that routine hearing testing before students start primary

and high school reinforces early screening and that audiology screening is affordable for all

children through their school years. Other reforms that would make a major difference

include for instance a national hearing awareness initiative, regular universal hearing

checks for people over 50, and new tax rules to make hearing devices tax deductible, says

the campaign organiser.

http://www.audiology-worldnews.com/profession/1668-hearing-screening-for-school-age-

children-reinforcing-the-system

MICHAEL BRESSENDEN: (ABC Radio, AM) Australia's Consumer watchdog has confirmed it's

looking into claims of rorting in the unregulated audiology industry.

Disability advocates have raised concerns that some businesses are taking advantage of

those who need hearing aids.

Some are even turning to crowd-funding as a last result just to be able to afford new

devices. Simon Galletta reports.

SIMON GALLETTA: Forty-one year old Louise Wilson has been profoundly deaf since birth.

And the hearing aids she relies on are expensive. She's spent more than $17,000 on them

over the last 11 years alone.

LOUISE WILSON: I feel guilty that I have to choose over my hearing before my children.

And it shouldn't have to be that way. I should be able to put my children first. It's hard

(crying).

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SIMON GALLETTA: She's currently crowd-sourcing to pay for new ones that are going to

cost her more than $12,000, having already remortgaged her house. Her current aids cost

her $10,000, but after only four years, they're barely working, and she relies heavily on lip

reading.

LOUISE WILSON: I feel like my whole life has cost me so much money just to hear, just to

have a life.

SIMON GALLETTA: She says she feels ripped off by the audiologist that sold them to her.

Disability advocates say Louise is not alone. Agnieszka Kozlido is from the not for profit

hearing service, Better Hearing Australia.

AGNIESZKA KOZLIDO: Thats quite well-known public knowledge. Pretty much anyone can

sell hearing aids. Six thousand dollars, that's a lot of money, and definitely there are

hearing aids you can get for far less than that.

SIMON GALLETTA: She says regulation of the industry would help. Claims of rorting are

drawing the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. A

spokesman for the ACCC says respondents to a recent survey complained about a range of

issues with the sale of hearing devices.

Tony Coles is the chief executive of Audiology Australia.

TONY COLES: Yes, I am aware that there are instances where people are feeling like

they've been taken advantage of or exploited.

SIMON GALLETTA: Mr Coles says not all audiologists belong to the industry body with its

code of conduct. He concedes expelling a member is the most the organisation could do in

response to a breach of the code. And the practitioner could continue to practice.

TONY COLES: There's still a potential to have rogue individuals operating with any

profession really.

SIMON GALLETTA: He wants the industry regulated.

TONY COLES: We'd be very interested if the Government came to us and said that they

were going to open up registration for audiology.

SIMON GALLETTA: A spokeswoman from the Federal Department of Health says it's

unlikely the audiology industry would meet the criteria for national registration. However,

she says the current lack of a formal registration process for practitioners does not mean

the hearing sector is unregulated. But that's of little comfort to Louise Wilson, who's

struggling to run her hairdressing business. Mounting bills have forced her to lay off her

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only staff member, and she can't hear well enough to take appointments over the phone.

LOUISE WILSON: Sometimes I get treated, that you're so, you know, like, you're dumb,

you're so deaf. I just feel like everything is taken away from me.

ABC Radiohttp://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2016/s4490170.htm

Following this report, representatives of peak audiology bodies have called for the

Government to regulate the hearing industry sector, saying that industry self-regulation

allows 'rogue traders' to overcharge for hearing aids with impunity. More at

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-30/peak-audiology-bodies-call-for-regulation-

as/7556166

Disillusioned with politics? Then take heart in July 1July 1 is the day on which the National Disability Insurance Scheme slips quietly into

national operation. It's embedded now; a genuine new feature of the nation's public policy

landscape. It has bipartisan support. Its existence is a powerful rebuttal to that

contemporary whine about big policy reforms being too hard for our short political attention

spans.

And it's a landmark worthy of reflection, partly because the scheme itself so very nearly

never happened at all, and partly because its back story is a good lesson on what happens

when politicians are led by their better angels.

Its 40 years since the first attempt at a disability insurance scheme in this country failed.

Legislation to create one was lost in 1975 when its author - Gough Whitlam - was swept

from power due to what we shall diplomatically call unrelated complications.

The Fraser government abandoned the scheme, and it was not revived until the early days

of the Rudd government, when the incoming prime minister invited Australia's best and

brightest along to feed him ideas for one glorious weekend of blue-sky thinking at the 2020

Summit in Parliament House in April 2008.

Now, disability didn't even warrant its own cluster group at the 2020 Summit. Despite the

fact that 45 per cent of Australians with disability lived near or beneath the poverty line,

disability was one of those policy areas that politics found too vast and intractable to do

anything about.

Bruce Bonyhady, an economist, businessman, disability insurance scheme enthusiast and

father of two sons with cerebral palsy, was not invited to the summit. But he sent a

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submission, and relentlessly lobbied anyone he could find who was going. By the end of

the weekend, a disability insurance scheme was included as one of the summit's "Big

Ideas".

But big ideas need sponsors. It so happened that Rudd's arrival as prime minister had

coincided with the arrival in Parliament of Bill Shorten, enthusiastically touted for some time

as a future Labor leader. Mr Rudd, a man of renowned caution around potential rivals,

bestowed upon Mr Shorten the lowliest of frontbench positions: Parliamentary secretary for

disability services.

Shorten - while clearly registering the intended sting of this slap - vowed publicly and

privately to make a difference in the portfolio. He was stunned by the extent of

disadvantage he found among people with disabilities, and the lack of organisation

between their many advocacy groups and peak bodies. He brought his old union

organising skills to bear on the problem.

Within the Rudd government, Shorten found an ally in the powerful Families and

Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin. She was not a supporter of Shorten's, but

became convinced that he was genuine about the idea of a disability insurance scheme.

Her old boss and mentor Brian Howe - a member of the Hawke cabinet - was also in close

touch with Bonyhady and had encouraged him to pursue the idea.

The combination of Shorten (an extrovert and advocate outside the cabinet) and Macklin(an influential and respected policy brain within) opened doors for the idea of a disability

insurance scheme. Macklin worked on Wayne Swan, to whom she is close, and Swan sent

the question of disability funding to the Productivity Commission in 2009 - a crucial step.

And when Rudd was removed as prime minister by his colleagues the following year, and

Shorten was rewarded by the incoming PM Julia Gillard with the job of assistant treasurer,

he kept up the pressure on disabilities, as did Macklin.

An initially sceptical Gillard was won over gradually and - when the Productivity Commissionreturned with an endorsement of the scheme - she decided to invest it with the weight of

government support. The scheme received its first funding in the 2012 budget.

It's astounding to think - in retrospect - how quickly Australians living with disability went

from the political too-hard-basket to the centre of a huge scheme with bipartisan support.

In the hung parliament years between 2010 and 2013, Tony Abbott's opposition

relentlessly patrolled the Gillard government for any policy initiative it could attack as a

"great big new tax". But it gave bipartisan support for the NDIS, even when Gillard

announced that it would be funded by an increase to the Medicare levy.

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And despite Labor warnings that the NDIS would be weakened, undermined or abandoned

by the incoming Coalition Government after 2013 ... here it is.

The life story of the NDIS is a parable about how vulnerable policy reform can be to the

ebb and flow of politics. Imagine where we might be now if the scheme had been

legislated in 1972, when Whitlam was still capable of getting things done, rather than 1975,

by which time he wasn't?

What if Bruce Bonyhady hadn't nagged all those people to talk about his idea at the 2020

Summit? What if Bill Shorten, given the short straw, had gone off and sulked for three

years? What if Wayne Swan - a treasurer under pressure to post a surplus - had simply

dismissed the NDIS as too expensive? What if Tony Abbott had used the expenditure as a

weapon against Labor? Or dismantled the scheme after the 2013 election?

The scheme isn't finished yet; it's had teething problems and there will no doubt be more.But as an example of our political system seeing a terrible inequity, and somehow finding a

way to address it even though it was difficult and expensive and not a populist cause ... it's

something to smile about on the way to the polling booth.

Annabel Crabb writes for The Drum and is the presenter of Kitchen Cabinet.

Full item athttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-28/crabb-disillusioned-with-politics-then-

take-heart-in-july-1/7549008

NEW LOCATIONS IN 2016

The NDIS has trial sites operating in all States and Territories. Rollout of the full scheme in

all States and Territories (except Western Australia) starts progressively from tomorrow.

The new locations that rollout between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016 are:

ACT Rollout completed.

NSW Northern Sydney, South Western Sydney, Western Sydney, Nepean Blue Mountains,

Central Coast, Hunter, Southern NSW.

VICTORIA North Eastern Melbourne

QUEENSLAND Townsville, Hinchinbrook, Burdekin, west to Mount Isa and up to the Gulf.

The NDIS will become available in the Mackay Disability Service Centre area from 1

November 2016.

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More sites will come on line across Australia in 2017 - 18. Further information on the new

locations is available at http://www.ndis.gov.au/about-us/our-sites

If you live in one of the launch sites or one of the locations that start on 1 July 2016, and

your hearing services are provided under the Australian Government Hearing Services

Program, there is no need for you to register for the NDIS at this time as you will continue

to receive services under the Hearing Services Program. Clients of the Australian

Government Hearing Services Program will transfer to the NDIS in 2019-20.

However if your needs are beyond the scope of the Australian Government Hearing

Services Program eg you require supports in addition to hearing services, or you are not

eligible to receive services under the Hearing Services Program then you should consider

checking your eligibility to receive support under the NDIS.

Further information on eligibility for the NDIS is available athttp://www.ndis.gov.au/people-disability/access-requirements

NDIS rollout in Sydney: not perfect but at least

it's here

Connie Vella with daughter Hannah, 4, who has bilateral hearing loss. Photo: Peter Rae

Connie Vella had high expectations for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and what

it would mean for her four-year-old daughter Hannah, who has bilateral hearing loss.

The Cranebrook woman went to her meeting with an NDIS planner earlier this year, well

prepared with quotes from a range of hearing specialists and a list of the supports Hannah

would require.

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All up, the quotes came to $34,000 including early intervention services, speech pathology,

language therapy, a school readiness program and hearing aids. Mrs Vella was stunned

when the planner returned with a package worth $12,000.

"It was a massive gap," she said. "We are supposed to be no worse off under the NDIS.

We're a lot worse off. I'm a good advocate for Hannah but there are families out therewho'll just accept what's on offer and that worries me for these children."

The $22 billion scheme, by its own definition, is intended to fund "reasonable and

necessary supports that help a participant to reach their goals, objectives and aspirations

and to undertake activities to enable the participant's social and economic participation".

But Mrs Vella's request for $3000 waterproof hearing aids so Hannah could learn how to

swim was queried and funding for a school readiness program was knocked back.

"She's four years old, she's got to learn how to swim. How can she do that without hearing

aids? I would have thought knowing how to swim is reasonable and necessary. It's not as

they're some sort of luxury item we want for the sake of it."

When Mrs Vella questioned the plan she was told Hannah was rated "low needs" by a

planner with little knowledge about deafness or hearing loss.

"She was sympathetic to Hannah but she had no specialist expertise in children withhearing loss," Mrs Vella said. "It was hard to understand how an adequate assessment can

be made by someone with no background in that particular disability."

Jim Hungerford, chief executive of The Shepherd Centre which specialises in early

intervention services for children with hearing loss, has been informed of similar cases in

NDIS trial sites around the country. The scheme begins across northern, south-western and

western Sydney on July 1.

He said effective early intervention services cost about $18,000 a year on average, butNDIS packages on offer were as low as $10,000. "Children with hearing loss need a very

complex program with lots and lots of support," he said.

"You can't run a complex program for that sort of money. I'm worried that kids will get a

service thinking everything is okay but in actual fact the children will never learn how to

talk which will cause them great problems in the future."

The cost benefit of effective early intervention is huge, Mr Hungerford said, with deaf

children entering school on par with their hearing peers.

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"Hearing loss has so many potential negative effects on children. If it's not addressed

early, it affects their mental and emotional health, it affects their reading and writing skills,

their achievement in school and employment opportunities. It can be as bad as children

not having any functional language at all and ending up on a Disability Support Pension in

adulthood."

He questioned whether scheme administrators were overreacting to fears of cost blowouts

ahead of the full roll out of the program.

"I think the planners are responding to all of the concerns about overspend and they're

clamping down without realising they are putting these children's lives at risk," he said.

From the Brisbane Times, http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/ndis-rollout-in-sydney-

not-perfect-but-at-least-its-here-20160613-gphof0.html

Disability Australia Election Platform 2016

Disability Australia calls on all political parties to support its Election Platform to address the

chronic disadvantage of people with disability.

It asks all major political parties to maintain a long-term commitment to the following five

objectives:

1. Support the NDIS to be rolled out by 2019, so that 460,000 Australians with disability

can live an ordinary life.

2. Support the success of the NDIS by resourcing the National Disability Strategy.

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3. Improve employment of people with disability by influencing public sector recruitment,

procurement and reorientating the DES system.

4. Address abuse and neglect through transitioning people with disability from institutions

to the community and providing the safeguard of a strong independent advocacy sector.

5. Fund specialist people with disability organisations that are experts of their own

communities.

More detail at http://www.afdo.org.au/5576.aspx

Disability Australia comprises of twelve national people with disability organisations

representing 200,000 people with disability. Deafness Forum of Australia is a Foundation

Member.

Know someone who might like to receive One in

Six?To subscribe, drop us a line to info@deafnessforum.org.au

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however this may not be attainable in particular editions. Subjective censoring of materials and or external

influence on editorial policy will not occur. Third party material is assembled in good faith, but does not

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