Royal commission

• After more than four years and many traumatic stories, the disability royal commission’s final report was released this morning.
• The scope of the A$600 million disability royal commission included school, work, housing, hospitals and the criminal justice system.
• The recommendations include the introduction of an Australian disability rights act, a new disability government portfolio, a minister for disability inclusion, and a department of disability equality and inclusion.

A long time coming

• People with disability have long experienced violence, abuse and neglect at much higher rates than the rest of the community.
• The commission heard that some 17,000 people with disability living in group homes are at significant risk.

The problem with group homes

• All the commissioners agreed major improvements are needed when it comes to group homes.
• There is little evidence to indicate group home are cost effective, provide quality support or deliver good outcomes for people living there.
• Many group homes in Australia fail to keep people safe and deny their basic rights.

Inclusive housing recommendations

• The commission began its housing recommendations by acknowledging people with disability are “conspicuously absent” from national housing and homelessness policy frameworks.
• The commission listed 11 recommendations for more inclusive housing.
• Implementing the recommendations to make mainstream services more inclusive will help keep people living in disability housing safe.

Minimum standards

• The commission also recommended the introduction of minimum service standards, monitoring and oversight for boarding houses around Australia.
• Given the evidence about the impact of unsuitable housing on the lives of people with disability, the commission’s recommendation for national minimum accessibility standards in all new housing as soon as possible is critical too.
• The New South Wales and Western Australia governments have not yet committed to implement mandatory accessible design standards.

What’s next?

• Some of the most marginalised people in Australia were heard for the first time during the disability royal commission.
• This needs to be balanced with adding layers of regulation that will do little to improve the lives of people with disability.
• But the final report is momentous and the current NDIS review (due to report in October) will add to this momentum.

• GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 25, 2023 Saudi (Jazan) Special Investment Promotion and Exchange Forum was held in Guangzhou Development District, also known as Huangpu District, situated in southern China.
• Xuzhuang Biotech Co., Ltd., based in Guangzhou Development District, recently signed a cooperation agreement with a Saudi agent.
• In 2022, 76 new overseas investment projects were initiated in the Guangzhou Development District, leading Guangzhou in terms of volume.
• Caption: Guangzhou Development District holds 2023 Saudi (Jazan) Special Investment Promotion and Exchange Forum.

• Less talked about has been the party’s promise to index benefits to inflation to keep pace with the cost of living.
• In any case, this alone it is unlikely to break the cycle of poverty many find themselves in.
• With rising costs, the situation is only getting worse for many of the 351,756 New Zealanders accessing one of the main benefits.

Our whittled down welfare state

• The main benefits (such as jobseeker, sole parent and supported living payment) pay a fixed weekly amount.
• The jobseeker benefit rate is set at NZ$337.74 and sole parents receive $472.79 a week.
• The third level of support is one-off discretionary payments for specific essential needs.

Benefits have been too low for too long

• But Ruth Richardson’s “mother of all budgets” in 1991 slashed benefits.
• Rates never recovered and today’s benefits are not enough to live on.
• The main benefits plus supplementary allowances did not meet the cost of the bare essentials, let alone minimal participation.

How ‘advances’ create debt traps

• But in practice, Work and Income virtually never makes this type of grant for anything except food and some other specific items, such as some health travel costs or emergency dental treatment.
• First, people on benefits are racking up thousands of dollars worth of debts to cover their essential needs.
• And the Social Security Act 2018 doesn’t allow the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to waive debts.

Contradictory policies

• MSD policy says repayments should not add up to more than $40 a week, but that is often ignored.
• On the one hand the law says a payment should be made if not making it would cause serious hardship.
• People receiving benefits and their case managers face the choice between more debt and higher repayments, or failing to meet an essential need.

Ways to start easing the burden

• A great deal could be achieved by just changing the policies and practices followed by Work and Income.
• These could and should be used when someone has an essential need, particularly when they already have significant debt.
• When it comes to changing the law, the best solution would be to make weekly benefit rates adequate to live on.

• As the custodian of AlUla, a region with a unique ecological footprint, RCU is spearheading responsible and sustainable development at a pivotal moment for global biodiversity.
• By 2035, RCU plans to deliver the ecological restoration of at least 65,000 hectares.
• Within AlUla's Sharaan Nature Reserve, which covers an area of 1,200 sq km, a 100-hectare restoration pilot site has become a hallmark of RCU's ecological restoration strategy.
• SER2023 will allow RCU to communicate its overarching agenda of positioning AlUla as a pioneering model for eco-restoration.