Living Within Your Means

So is the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) turning into a political bun fight? At the moment it seems it is, and the politicians on both sides of politics seem to be intent on winning brownie points by slagging the others off, rather than focusing on the real issue at hand - basic human rights for every Australian.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has come out and said yesterday about the NDIS "I will not make a commitment to something I can't fund."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hockey-pours-scorn-on-unfunded-disability-plan/story-fn59niix-1226358249040

He then went on to say:

“you've got to live within your means and the government is engaged in a cruel hoax in saying that it's getting on with the job of the NDIS and then underfunding it".

Only seeing the dollars

You know Mr Hockey there are just some things that take priority over a monetary value. Surely people with disability being able to live a life where they are not treated as second class citizens is one of those things. I wonder how Mr Hockey might get by on 2-3 showers a week, or having to wait a couple of years for a new wheelchair? We’ll probably never know.

Here’s a challenge - Perhaps Mr Hockey could spend a week living with a person with disability and see how well they are currently ‘living within their means’.  Having to ‘get by’ and accept what they are given, which ain’t much! Politicians are elected by the people right? Then surely they should get down and understand the situations of these very people who elect them. 

Perhaps spending some real time with people with disability might provide Mr Hockey with some insight and go a little way in changing his thinking. Surely this should be a matter of ‘how?’ do we fund this Scheme not ‘can we?’

Don’t just be a naysayer and put it in the ‘too hard basket’Joe.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear a re-phrase of Mr Hockey’s comments yesterday perhaps to sound something like this:

‘I can’t make a commitment to how this scheme will be funded yet, but it’s such an important issue, that we will find a way to fund it. 

Now this isn’t about which party you vote for – it’s about making sure whoever you vote for is constantly reminded that people with disability have the right to be treated as equally as any other member of our society.

Let’s see if we can change Joe’s mind.

http://everyaustraliancounts.com.au/home/