Essay by Luke
Julia Gillard introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.
“Few actions in public life give me greater pleasure than introducing the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill does today.
The Scheme to be established by this bill will transform the lives of people with disability, their families and carers.
For the first time they will have their needs met in a way that truly supports them to live with choice and dignity.
It will bring an end to the tragedy of services denied or delayed and instead offer people with disability the care and support they need over their lifetimes.
This is a complex bill, yet at its heart is a very simple moral insight: Disability can affect any of us and therefore it affects all of us.
To be born with or acquire a disability is to encounter one of those “shafts of fate” of which Ben Chifley spoke in his last great speech as Prime Minister.
The existence of disability in our community cannot always be avoided.
But the consequences of disability – isolation, poverty, loss of dignity, stress, hopelessness and fear of the future – can be.”
House of Representatives: National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012, Second Reading Speech by former Female PM Julia Gillard
The government has done a lot of amazing things that have made my life easier but nothing as much as the introduction of the NDIS by Julia Gillard.
It gives me two carers, cleaning once a fortnight and access to a psychologist once a fortnight. Yannick Soyez has helped me most in particular and he gives me advice on emotional problems, diet and exercise but most of all he shoots my art videos and photo shoots and showed me how to use I Movie to edit them and add a sound track. But more than that he is like a brother to me and we share our joys and woes and both talk about our issues. On Wednesday if it’s not rainning I shall do two video/photo shoots. One dressed as an astronaut in front of Ballina’s big prawn flicking through an artist book I made of drawings and text called People and Things I Like About America and the other me dressed in Tibetan robes reading a book of drawings and text called Literally Trying to Become the 15th Dalai Lama on the beach with the ocean behind me. My psychosocial recovery coach Ava Freeland is also very important and we meet fortnightly for coffee and chats and she always kindly shouts me a coffee.
My psychologist Daniel Murphy uses cognitive behavioural therapy to nurse me through my emotional trauma and problems.
This is a video that Yannick made for me. Yannick is German from Berlin.
I also adore Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Australian indigenous people particularly over the stolen generation on his inauguration day as PM. I think it was a break-through for not only the indigenous people of Australia the Aborigines and Torres Straight Islanders but also with the trickle-down effect it shall have around the world for similar apologies that I am certain will happen.
I want to take it one step further not just that we need to close the gap for all Australians and that one day like Barack Obama in America where an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander man or woman shall become Australia’s Prime Minister.
The following song My Island Home by Jessica Mauboy one of Australia’s most loved people is one of my favourites. I am not sure which version I like best, hers or the Warumpi Band or Christine Anu.
In conclusion these are just a few things that Julia and Kevin achieved as PM’s and I think the ripple on effect shall not just make way for a better life for all Australians now but for all future generations too in Australia and globally.
Black Fella White Fella iconic song by Warumpi Band
I love this song by Christine Anu
