The demotion of ministers Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds sets a standard that may be difficult to sustain

Probably similar to the explosion in NDIS costs the Australian Govt is dealing with across the ditch.  Then again, when disability funding includes funding sex workers, how can you be surprised?  I would suggest a deep dive in to what is being funded under the guise of "disability" is required here as well.

Might be an area where we can judge the level of a civilisation, to what degree we help alleviate the suffering of those unfortunate most often through no fault of their own. Vs. whether we prioritise - for example - borrowing on the taxpayer to fund tax cuts for value-taking property speculators.

You know, and I know this is a generalisation, but you could argue that much of the inefficiencies and unaccountability of our public service has arisen since there was a discernible shift in culture from dedicated to providing service(s) to instead one of changing the way people behave. Does that in turn provide a clue as to why so more of them have become necessary, particularly in the last six years?

Except you have to go through 3 levels of interviews, (medical &OT assessment) to get approval for the money and it is a set fixed amount for the whole year. It is not flexible, it does not change easily. Even for fast degenerative diseases when you could be walking one year and in a wheelchair unable to stand or be upright safely the next (so you could be left without any change to funding or support like equipment for years). For most disabled families getting to the 2nd level of interviews can take 6mths to a year, and most disabled people do not get their required annual review until they push for it real hard through 3 medical services. So the funding allocated annually DID NOT CHANGE. We did not have a sudden outbreak of genetic disease or birth injuries not covered by ACC, nor did we suddenly find thousands of disabled people hidden under a rock who have never had contact with the health system.  

You cannot overspend a fixed allocated amount. However when the fixed allocated amount is not fully budgeted for the ministry at all which OIA releases openly admit was a failure of the last government then you will face cuts to the amounts of the fixed allocated amount available to be spent. The officious ministry way of doing this is by cutting the essential "respite" care so it cannot be used for providing respite services, i.e. cutting existing respite arrangements, cutting transport to medical services, cutting adequate medically required leave & replacement for primary carers, cutting transport for respite services, cutting materials and tools needed for respite. That funding is roughly half the essential medical care for many, e.g. cutting food prep and cooked food away from disabled people. cutting access to GPs, cutting provision for carers medical leave etc.

Imagine never being able to have time off to sleep 3 hours at a time, go home, have a sick day, have annual leave, have public holidays and work in physically demanding roles.

In the background the govt dept spent millions on top fighting families through court so those providing nursing services etc do not deserve minimum employment rights when engaged by the ministry to provide them. Hence this legal case plus the cutting of funding for essential allocated budgets is a 2 step process to cut services altogether, leading people back into group and institutional housing when the wheels fall off and carers die or quit. 

The ironic thing is no one ever could use the funds for alcohol or lotto tickets because the funds are approved for release with a submitted invoice. If you needed a carer to travel to hospital specialist services though you legally as an employer need  to fund their travel and food costs in the transit (where applicable and to a reasonable amount). You have to pay without any funding of it then collect the receipts and the invoices and then submit them to be reimbursed. Perhaps the ministry thought the lunch or dinner at the airport or hotel restaurant bar qualified as solely "alcohol" or perhaps they misread the labels for sterilizing alcohol. Sterilizing alcohol is something many disabled families often need in bulk as part of the employment materials cost for essential maintenance nurses do for equipment and medical tools, tubing, scalpels (the bulk supplier for scalpels is really good) etc. Since the ministry does not account for annual leave, holiday pay, materials and tools of nursing services, transport as part of the job (IRD suggests rate of 0.95per km if the nurse/ respite worker is using their vehicle) etc but as employer this is legally required this additionally cuts into the allocated hours of respite funded.

Around 50% of disabled youth are not in education or employment. Over 50% of disabled people cannot access work income. It is still legal to pay disabled people $3 an hour, because the minimum wage law does not apply to them in the same way.

Look at how little disability services are available in education or health. Most the parents with kids with FASD, or ASD get no support early on and these are kids that require a lot of fulltime work, not part time or daycare. Kids with other disabilities often need access to services or schools that is not there presently. In fact most the kids excluded from daycare and schools are the children with disabilities even though they are not the ones causing fights. It is often an automatic denial. We don't have the facilities for your child, we cannot safely ensure your child stays in school, we don't have the class resources/teaching resources/resources for necessary building upgrades etc. ORS funding is a nightmare most parents would not be able to access when needed.

Hence many of the neurodiverse kids are prone to escaping and running on the roads. OT callouts for kids not in school or daycare regularly, prone to outbursts when they are poorly supported with few language skills taught, would need fulltime monitoring (pushing even well paid parents into destitution when one has to give up work and the other has to take time as well), it is not surprising.

Those children grow up to be adults & parents who are far more represented in intimate partner violence stats as victims and being victims of crime. The rates of abuse against disabled partners is far higher then that for non disabled. That is ministry of justice and support org studies by the way. Now many disabled partners will have children (both non disabled, disabled but poorly diagnosed with limited access to medical services and disabled diagnosed) but when they are receiving less support (because the support available to non disabled people is less accessible to disabled parents - more ministry of health, ministry of justice and victim support org studies) then yes they are unsupported, more likely to experience violence, less able to escape violent relationships with no income etc and yeah OT gets involved. 

The ministry had done reviews on their staffing levels and they do discriminate against disabled people for employment. Unless it is gradual degeneration while you are in employment, your chances of employment in a govt department with a disability (even the ministry of disabilities lol) is worse then 1/100. The ministry will prejudge and limit roles to those who have full transport access, who have no visible disabilities, who can get access into office spaces and homes (less then 98% are accessible), and who already have prior experience with other work (which multiplies the level of discrimination & bias as expecting one org to hire someone visibly disabled can be slim to none, expecting more then one is a joke).

Hence the phrase it is mainly people with disabilities who hire those with disabilities. The level of bias in employment hiring processes is exceptional. Especially in govt roles that mandate office work instead of WFH. Hence during lockdown disability employment improved but after when the in office mandates came back it stalled (and govt depts were the most in favor of having in office mandates instead of more flexible companies that use WFH/remote for most work e.g. work with international clients). 

In most govt departments the most likely disability hire (that is not degeneration) is dyslexics, a "disability" in the slightest definition of the word in that it has absolutely no physical disabling barriers faced and no major learning, no social and no behavioural barriers faced. In education it can be 'cured' with the use of spell and grammar checks or even a basic proof read. So no real disability at all (using the rights based model). Yet most people are advised openly to never ever disclose disability in the hiring process. It is real easy to understand why when you interact with recruiting company staff often.  

The Roman empire was cruel and discriminatory, but race was not considered important. Even the emperor Septimius Severus was black.

It’s sneaky “auto correct” probably.