Please reword the first line of the 'tell me more spiel. As written it makes no sense at all....

"These statistics makes Australia the worst in the developed world." Could someone point us to a list of these countries that are in the "developed world" because it seems I could recite a list as long as my arm of countries that have fewer resources for handicapped people than Australia. And secondly, exactly what extra facilities have you or anyone else put in place for these people living in hardship with blue eyes? And one more thing. If "we all think about what people with a disability can do, not what they can't." won't that defeat the point. Isn't it better to know what they can't do so that we can look at ways of fixing it. If we go by what you say. Then we will never know how to help. Rose coloured glasses just don't make the problems go away.

Still no answer to my request for a list of these 'developed countries'. Seeing that you have stated that we are on that list surely you can produce the list or at least where it can be found. Is there such a list? If not then please explain the statement.....

Has anyone working in this department ever actually provided Australians with full time employment from their own pocket. It is extremely expensive and inflexible. Fix this and I am sure opportunity would be better spread. With the generous sick day allowance and impossibility of actually removing unproductive employees from the business (together with many other factors like comparatively high wages and tax), the risk of hiring anyone other than top trained and healthy is simply too high. Have another look at the list in 6-12 months time and see how the many and varies basket cases in the list fare then. Socialism may boost the number of disabled people in the work force in the short term, but once the country runs out of money everyone is screwed in the long term. This government should take note.

There is not much point in discussing this issue if there is no definition of what is a disability.Disability welfare policy has been corrupted so badly over the last 30 odd years that the welfare advocates can toss any figure about to make their case. For example the Commission in answer to a question stated that Australia has a worse employment record for people with disabilities than Spain etc. The vast majority of people on disability support in Australia have mental problems or back problems. These disabilities are used as reasons to get people off unemployment benefit and as a result the number of people who have disabilities and no employment is skewed. This all started in the early 70s. At that time the numbers of males and females on what was then the invalid pension was roughly the same. IIRC males numbered about 75000 and females about 67000. Qualification for an Invalid Pension was incapacity of 80 percent. Something extraordinarily bad happened to Australian males. in the next few years the numbers if males on the pension blew out to over 200000 while the number of females hardly moved. As unemployment in the country rose, so did the levels of people on disability. This had nothing to do with increasing levels of incapacity but political and administrative decisions to lower the official levels of unemployment. At the same time the number of women receiving the expanded Single Parents Benefit also exploded. Women went off the unemployment queues onto the SPB while men went unto the Invalid Pension. So before the Commission paints this country as some sort of pariah in its treatment of people of disabilities it ought to look honestly at how this whole policy area has been corrupted over the last 40 years.

Many thanks Commission for the info. I have read it a few times and cannot see how listing a few countries answers my query. I am asking where I can find a list of countries in the "developed world". It seems that this list you have given places us 24th on the list. Are there only 24 counties inn the developed world? Where are United States or New Zealand just to mention two. Your statement above states "makes Australia the worst in the developed world". My question was for a list of ALL countries in the developed world. And by the way, Korea cannot be included without stating either North or South as they are two separate and distinct countries. Looking forward to your link to this list.

People with Meniere's Disease & other Vestibular disorders are significantly hindered by the associated deafness & balance loss. Those that have it find their world progressively shrink due to this invisible, chronic illness. Meniere’s vertigo attacks can strike without warning, causing the sufferer to perceive their environment violently spinning. This can prompt nausea & vomiting lasting up to 6 hours. Once the disease has progressed, the sense of disequilibrium (like bobbing on the ocean) is a constant companion. When this happens, sufferers often have to give up driving as it becomes too challenging. Having a Vestibular disorder is a lonely & solitary existence that can easily make you fear every step, and every turn of the head. Many people with Vestibular disorders, like Meniere’s disease, are no longer able to work, drive and rarely attend social gatherings. Staying home just becomes the easier option… and sometimes the only option. There is currently no known cause for Meniere’s disease and no cure. If you would like to know more about Meniere’s disease or to donate, please go to: www.menieres.org.au http://www.givenow.com.au/menieres;jsessionid=719042C49738A2CDB8ED297C953959E3

After researching this topic, I began to consider the extensive amount of costs associated with living with a disability - medication, wheelchairs, home renovations, specialist treatment. Anglicare reported that only 1% of rental properties are affordable to those on a Disability allowance - but how many of these properties are wheelchair accessible, have small amounts of stairs, hand rails and so on. This is clearly an issue that needs to be attended to promptly; yet the Coalition have reported in their policy booklet that Australia doesn’t have the ‘fiscal means’ to implement the National Disability Scheme. The now ‘Disability Care Australia’ will only be implemented after a focus on returning to a ‘prosperous economy’. I am outraged.