Deaf Society president Alastair McEwin will take up the role as Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission in late July, filling the vacancy left by Graeme Innes in mid-2014.

He takes the reins from Susan Ryan, who has been juggling the role along with that of Age Discrimination Commissioner since the departure of Mr Innes nearly two years ago.

While disability advocates have respected her work, they have wanted someone with a disability in the role as a full-time commissioner.

As well as his role at the Deaf Society, Mr McEwin is the chairman of the Disability Council of NSW. He is profoundly deaf.

He said the appointment was "an incredible honour."

"I've been born with a disability and I've lived with a disability all my life. So this is a humbling thing to be able to be the national advocate for all people with a disability," Mr McEwin said.

The successful implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be one of his key priorities over the coming years.

"My mandate is to make sure that it fulfils its aims of making sure that people with disability, no matter where they are, can be active members of the community."

"We still have a long way to go in recognising the human rights of all people with disabilities, and I look forward to working with the government, the disability sector and the human rights

commission to realise equity for all people with disability."

Mr McEwin is also a former chief executive officer of People with Disability Australia and a former manager of the Australian Centre for Disability Law.

His predecessor as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Innes, is blind. He said he was excited by Mr McEwin's appointment.

"He is a very effective advocate, he is a strategic operator and has a real depth of understanding of the disability sector and he will do a great job in this role," Mr Innes said.

Attorney-General George Brandis announced two other new appointments to the Human Rights Commission on Thursday.

Former Victorian senator Dr Kaye Patterson is the new Age Discrimination Commissioner and Edward Santow has been appointed a Commissioner.

The new appointees will start their five-year terms in late July.

This article was originally sourced from ABC News and was written by Samantha Donovan.

June Oscar AO, has been presented with the Desmond Tutu reconciliation award by former Australian Governor General, Dame Quentin Bryce.

The award is hosted by the Australian-initiated organisation Global Reconciliation, which seeks to promote reconciliation around the world.

It was awarded to Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi in 2013.

"It was a very humbling experience," Ms Oscar told Fiona Poole on ABC Kimberley radio.

"Standing alongside the 2013 recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman that I greatly admire."

Ms Oscar is a Bunuba woman who has worked with her community in the Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing to stem the damage caused by alcohol and disadvantage.

"This is definitely a community-reconstruction journey we're on and it feels good, it feels right," she said.

Ms Oscar, along with Emily Carter and other Fitzroy Crossing women, successfully lobbied for alcohol restrictions in their town in 2007 that have helped reduce rates of domestic violence and incidents of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

"We can, in this day and age, stand up and say we are no longer accepting of some of these things," Ms Oscar said.

"The way in which alcohol has devastated communities, and how that has been allowed to happen is absolutely unacceptable."

Ms Oscar is using the opportunity provided by receiving the reconciliation award to try and direct more attention to Indigenous issues in the 2016 federal election campaign.

"It's politicians' and everyone's business to become properly informed and make informed decisions," she said.

"And the way they do that is they engage across communities."

This article was originally sourced from ABC News and was written by Ben Collins.

The Turnbull Government’s first budget was delivered this week. We have studied the budget papers and other source materials to present the implications as we see them for the not-for-profit (“NFP”) sector. In summary, there are clearly some wins, but many losses.

We have commented on matters that will affect the whole NFP sector, and those specific to certain sub-sectors.

Impacts on the whole sector

Due to the Government placing such high importance on high income earners and small businesses, NFPs are unlikely to see this budget as the solution to their problems. While we note that there are some positive elements (i.e. in relation to youth employment and the funding of schools), NFPs may be disappointed. What’s more, some areas like foreign aid and aged care will have to deal with having their funding slashed.

According to Stephen Walters, Chief Economist for the Australian Institute of Company Directors, this shouldn’t be a surprise. He states that:

“I think we need to look at the context- this is an election manifesto and [the government] are really clearly targeting middle Australia. Let’s be honest, the NFP sector is not the sector that the government is focused on at this point. That is not to say that they are ignoring NFPs- but the priorities for the government clearly at this time is to get small business owners and high income earners on board.”

While we agree that this budget is not ground breaking for NFPs overall, there are facets of the budget that will impact certain NFP sectors quite significantly. We will now take you through these affected areas one by one.

Overseas aid and development

The Government has announced that it will maintain the foreign aid cuts made under the Abbott Government last year, which means a further $224 million fall in aid for the 2016/17 financial year. To put this cut in perspective, the remaining aid program ($3.8 billion) represents 0.22% of the national income.

The cuts were criticised by aid organisations, with World Vision CEO Tim Costello stating that “this latest round of aid cuts puts lives and futures at risk as well as regional and global security and prosperity; it’s both unwise and unworthy of our nation”.

Australian Christian Lobby managing director Lyle Shelton also followed suit, remarking that “given Australia is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, it is deeply disappointing that tonight’s budget sees Australia’s overseas aid cut to the lowest in our history”.

On the positive side, the aid budget is expected to increase by 1.1% over the next three years.

Health sector

Putting aside the $2.9 billion in funding for public hospitals agreed to at the Council of Australian Governments in April this year, the health sector will largely be disappointed by the budget.

The major area of concern will be the $182 million removed from 16 flexible funds that provide financing for programs, interest groups and NFPs. The funds cover a diversity of health priority areas, including: chronic disease prevention, substance misuse prevention, rural health outreach, health workforce, communicable disease prevention, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island chronic disease, and primary care incentives.

This cut is in line with previous years, where $600 million was slashed from the flexible funds in 2015/16 and $197 million in 2014/15.

The Government states that the cuts to the flexible funds will be achieved “through various methods, including by reducing uncommitted funds and continuing the current pause in the indexation of the funds for a further two years from 2018-19”.

The budget also includes a plan to continue the pause on indexation for Medicare rebates (until 2019-20), estimated to save the Government $925 million over the four year forward estimates.

According to Brian Owler, the President of the Australian Medical Association, this will in fact have a negative impact on people that need help. He states that “it means $925 million out of the pockets of everyday Australians. It means people are going to have to pay more out of their pockets when they receive medical treatment.”

It was not all doom and gloom for the health sector however, with the budget including:

• $1.7 billion for a new Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme to be delivered by the states and territories under a National Partnership Agreement (although the benefit of this funding has been disputed);
• $0.8 million to develop online support resources for women who are experiencing, or are at risk of developing, perinatal depression;
• $2.2 million to consider the future ownership of Australian Hearing Services to ensure it has a strong and viable future and continues to provide services to Australians with a hearing loss; and
• $37.9 million to extend access to certain mental health services to all current and former permanent Australian Defence Force members.

Education sector

The budget can be seen as mixed bag for the education sector.

On the one hand, the Government has announced that it will provide an additional $1.2 billion for schools between 2018 and 2020, and $118.2 million for students with a disability (with funding targeted to schools with the greatest need).

On the other hand, the $1.2 billion falls short of the Gonski funding that the Liberal Party promised it would match at the 2013 election, and well below the $4.5 billion that Labor promises to fund if it were to win the upcoming election.

According to the Australian Education Union President Correna Haythorpe, “this budget fails the fairness test. It confirms Malcolm Turnbull will walk away from needs-based Gonski funding and turn their backs on disadvantaged students.”

Furthermore, the Government has announced a series of large cuts to the universities.

Firstly, $152.2 million will be cut to the Higher Education Participation Program (which funds universities to bring in students from the lowest socio-economic levels) and $20.9 million to the Promotion of Excellence in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Program (which “supports teaching excellence”).

Secondly, in a funding cut that the government describes as a “sustainability measure”, university funding will be cut by $601 million in 2018-19 and $868 million in 2019-20.

Universities Australia CEO Belinda Robinson claims that “cuts worth a combined $180 million to university programs that support disadvantaged students and teaching excellence are fresh blows”.

Therefore, it appears both schools and universities may be frustrated with this budget.

Community welfare sector

The community welfare sector received both good and bad news in this year’s budget.

On the positive side, the Government has announced that it will provide $751.7 million to establish a Youth Jobs Path program for young job seekers aged under 25. The program is designed to provide real work experience to up to 30,000 young people each year, with the hope that this will translate into new employment opportunities.

This program has been heralded as something that could provide real benefits to those seeking employment, with ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie stating:

“We are very pleased to see the new approach to helping young people into paid work. This Budget recognises the failure of work for the dole, and has instead provided an opportunity for young people to get work experience in real jobs with a wage subsidy, something we have urged for some time and should be used more widely.”

The Government has also announced that it will crackdown on super tax concessions for higher income earners. Accompanying this crackdown will be a Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset, which will give people with incomes up to $37,000 a refund of up to $500 in their super account of the amount of tax paid on their super contributions.

While the above are certainly positive for the social welfare sector, NFPs may see it as a case of what funding is not included. For example, the budget has maintained the cuts from previous budgets, including cuts to family payments for low income families, reductions in Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme concessions, higher age pension eligibility age, one month waiting period for young people to access income support and lower payments for many young unemployed people.

An area where the cuts have not only been maintained but increased is the aged care services area. The Government has announced that in addition to the $1.9 billion in cuts to aged care services found in the 2014 budget, a further $1.2 billion will be cut over the next four years.

NFPs may also not see the funding that they think should be included. These include community services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, family violence against women and children (receiving $33 million next year compared to the $572 recently announced by the Victorian Government), under resourced legal aid centres, and the rising rate of homelessness.

The decision to not fund these issues have left certain NFPs feeling disenfranchised by the Government, with St Vincent de Paul Society CEO John Flazon claiming “tonight’s budget, like its predecessor, entrenches inequality rather than fighting it.”

Disability services sector

The disability services sector is likely going to be quite happy, with the Government reiterating its commitment to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (“NDIS”) (which is due to be implemented from 1 July 2016).

The Government has also revealed that it will meet the future costs of the NDIS through the creation of the NDIS Savings Plan. A deposit of $2.1 billion of budget savings will be placed in the NDIS Savings Plan Special Account and these funds will be quarantined, which will lock them in as protected contributions to the NDIS in the future.

According to the Government, the savings will come from:

• Closing carbon tax compensation for new welfare recipients from 20 September 2016;
• Closing carbon tax compensation for those single income families not already in the welfare system but who will enter the welfare system from 1 July 2017; and
• Additional reviews for Disability Support Pension recipients.

While the recommitment to the NDIS is sure to be positively received by those in the disability services sector, People with Disability Australia President Craig Wallace raised serious concerns over how it is funded. He states:

“We have always welcomed a discussion about funding the NDIS so it is sustainable into the future and to ensure it is taken out of the budget cycle. However, the NDIS Savings Fund announcements risk moving the NDIS further into the budget cycle by creating an expectation that the NDIS will be funded from ongoing trade-offs against other equally important human services expenditures. If there is to be a savings fund, it should not be a device to make savings, and poor trade-offs between programs and services supporting and sustaining vulnerable members of our community.”

Conclusion

Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, in his speech to parliament said:

“This Budget is an economic plan, it’s not just another budget.”

Unfortunately there will be some NFPs that will be disappointed with the level of funding made available for their own plans.

This article was originally sourced from Moores and was written by Andrew Brooks.

School's head says hiring policy a necessary step due to lack of representation in maths and statistics. 

An Australian university will only accept applications from women for three senior, full-time positions currently advertised within its department of mathematics.

The job advertisement for roles in applied mathematics, pure mathematics and statistics at the University of Melbourne states: “The school is seeking to lift the representation of women and therefore will only consider applications from suitably qualified female candidates for these three positions.”

The head of the school of mathematics and statistics, Prof Aleks Owczarek, said it was the first time the university had taken such a step. But with only 9% of mathematics professors in Australia women, it was necessary, Owczarek added.

“This isn’t just something that happens in the workforce, it happens in our student body,” he said.

“Only 28% of our mathematics students are female students and even earlier than that women stop studying high-level maths as they proceed through high school."

“So to drive change we believe it is important to provide role models for our female students and provide female mentors. This is a strategic move to drive change. And while hiring three outstanding female academics won’t change overall percentages too much, hopefully we will add momentum towards equality through new role models in the school.”

Women’s under-representation in high-paying jobs in engineering and information technology reflects earlier patterns in high school and contributes substantially to the gender wage gap, a University of Melbourne report published in November found.

The report, which followed 58,000 Victorian seventh-grade students in 2008 through to 2013, also found it was a myth that women did not choose science, technology, engineering and maths – known as Stem subjects – in high school because they are not as good at numeracy as men.

Among boys and girls who scored exactly the same in numeracy results in their early years of high schooling, the boys were much more likely to choose Stem subjects for their final school years, the study found. When girls did choose those subjects they actually performed better, on average, than boys.

In December, a Professionals Australia survey of 432 women working in Stem fields found a third expected to leave their job within five years. Women responded that a lack of career advancement and professional development opportunities meant they were considering leaving their job; 26% said their employer rarely or never proactively ensured men and women had equal opportunity to progress.

Just two of the 21 professors in the University of Melbourne’s mathematics department are women.

A professor of astrophysics at the University of Queensland, Tamara Davis, said there was “clear discrimination” in the hiring process of many workplaces. She referred to a study from Princeton University in the US that found when a resume for a science laboratory manager was randomly assigned either a male or female name, faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent than the identical female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male.

“So there is actually solid evidence that discrimination is happening,” she said.

Davis’s department recently established an equity and diversity committee to review factors such as gender imbalance. One of the first things they did was review how many women were invited to deliver a colloquium about their work, a sign of prestige that provides an opportunity to gain broader recognition.

“Over three years we had exactly 100 people invited to deliver a colloquium,” Davis said. “Four of them were given by women. Two of them were given by me. Given 15-20% of our high-level postdoctorate students are women, that’s the percentage you would have expected to see invited to give a colloquium.”

The school has since raised the percentage of women delivering a colloquium from 4% to 35%.

“All we had to do was find and recognise the bias and, once we did, we easily found females capable and worthy of the honour,” she said.

“There are many forms of subtle discrimination like this against women and once you notice it, you say: ‘Oh my god.’

“These subtle biases, when they accumulate over a career, keep women down. Initiatives like the hiring process at the University of Melbourne that explicitly promote women are counteracting lifelong biases.”

Davis is the second woman to have been appointed a professor of physics in the University of Queensland’s almost 100-year history. The first was appointed in 2000.

The University of Melbourne was unlikely to run into any legal issues by advertising for women only, Kamal Farouque, a principal in Maurice Blackburn’s employment practice, said.

“Under discrimination law there are exemptions for special and positive measures directed at achieving substantive equality, as this measure clearly is because of the low number of women appointed to academic positions in this field,” he said.

“Anyone who challenged the university’s scheme would find it very difficult to win.”

This article was originally sourced from The Guardian and was written by Melissa Davey.

Welcoming today’s release of the Pathology Australia report on the community health benefits, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of Australia’s pathology sector, the AMA is again calling on the Government to abandon its planned cuts to bulk billing incentives for pathology services.

AMA Vice President, Dr Stephen Parnis, said the report confirms the efficiency and quality of the pathology sector in Australia, and the value for money it provides to Australian taxpayers.

“Australia’s high quality pathology services are vital to the work of GPs and surgeons who consult patients and conduct surgery every day across the country,” Dr Parnis said.

“We have a highly efficient pathology sector that provides affordable services to the Australian community."

“It is irresponsible to disrupt this core element of the health system."

“Today’s report is further conclusive evidence that the Government should abandon its ill-conceived cuts to the bulk billing incentives, which will have a direct harmful impact on patients."

“These incentives support patient access to essential services without any out-of-pocket costs.

“They provide greatest benefit to the poorest and sickest in the community."

“If the cuts go ahead, pathology providers will have no choice but to pass on costs to patients.”

Dr Parnis said the report demonstrates that the pathology industry has already increased productivity and efficiency to maintain high bulk billing rates, enabling high levels of access to these services.

The analysis undertaken in the report is based on reliable and official data sources. The key findings are that:

• Australia is a leader in delivering value for money pathology services while maintaining quality of services, when compared internationally;
• the increase in government-funded pathology expenditure has been driven by growth in the Australian population, and ageing and increased referrals, not by pathology services prices. Prices have actually fallen overall in the last 15 years; and
• around 17 per cent of pathology tests are provided free to the Australian community, providing savings to the Australian Government of around $450m last year.

The Pathology Australia report is available here.

This media release was sourced directly from the Australian Medical Association.

There will be an election to decide the next Federal AMA President, with two nominations for the position being received at close of nominations today.

The election will take place at the AMA National Conference in Canberra on Sunday, 29 May.

The candidates are current Federal Vice President and former AMA Victoria President, Dr Stephen Parnis, who is a Consultant Emergency Physician at St Vincent’s Hospital and John Fawkner Private Hospital in Melbourne; and current AMA WA President and AMA Federal Councillor, Dr Michael Gannon, who is Head of Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, St John of God Hospital, Subiaco, and the Lead Obstetrician of the Perinatal Loss Service at King Edward Memorial Hospital, both in Perth.

There will be an election for the position of Vice President. The candidates are Dr Brian Morton, a Sydney GP, AMA Federal Councillor, outgoing Chair of the AMA Council of General Practice, and former AMA NSW President; and Dr Tony Bartone, a Melbourne GP, immediate past President of AMA Victoria, Federal Councillor, and Chair-elect of the AMA Council of General Practice.

Both AMA President and AMA Vice President serve a term of two years.

Final nominations are as follows:

President:

Dr Stephen Parnis (Vic)

Dr Michael Gannon (WA)

Vice President:

Dr Brian Morton (NSW)

Dr Tony Bartone (Vic)

This media release was sourced directly from the Australian Medical Association. 

AuSAE has welcomed new members from the following organisations this month.

Is your organisation on this list? If your organisation is on this list as an AuSAE organisational member but you are unsure if you are part of the membership bundle, please contact the friendly AuSAE team at info@ausae.org.au. 

Not on this list? To join AuSAE today please visit our membership information page here.

This month AuSAE welcomes Lea McLean of the Law Society of the ACT as our Member in Focus. Lea recently spoke with AuSAE about the Law Society of the ACT's membership strategies and their biggest challenges. Plus, exciting projects underway for the Society. 

Can you tell us a bit about the Law Society of the ACT and the goals they strive to achieve?

The Law Society exists to represent, advance, and defend the interests of an independent legal profession in the ACT. We strive to protect the public interest in the ACT system of justice through the efficient regulation of the profession in accordance with the Legal Profession Act and the Society's Rules for Solicitors.

Main activities include:

• Lobbying for "good law" and to reduce costs and improve conditions for members.
• Maintenance of professional standards and guardianship of the profession's public image and reputation.
• Business, professional and personal counselling, education and training.
• Information and communication.
• Spiritual, social and networking.
• Commercial services.
• Community services.

What are the Law Society's most successful membership strategies to increase engagement and membership retention? 

In the past twelve months the Society moved to premises that better suited the needs of the organisation – with meeting and training rooms that facilitate a better flow of members through the organisation. The Society now interacts with more of its members on a daily basis.

We tailor CPD events to best suit the needs of members – we now run a series of themed CPD afternoons for different areas of law. This has proven to be popular with members and allows us to specifically target particular membership sectors.

We continue to expand the use of technology – in terms of membership sign ups, membership renewals and later in the year, electronic voting at Council elections, as well as webinars for CPD topics.

New strategies to interact with our membership base have included the introduction earlier this year of a new look Ethos magazine and subsidised flu shots for sole practitioners.

What do you personally feel has been the biggest challenge that the Law Society of the ACT has overcome in your time with the organisation? 

The Society needed to improve the membership database system to reduce the duplication of data entry. To ensure a positive take up by members using online membership application, the Society enforced compulsory online applications and did not allow the option of paper forms. This was not only challenging for our members, but also required greater IT support to be provided by the Society over the phone. 

How does the future look for the Law Society of the ACT (or what exciting projects are underway at the Law Society of the ACT)?

Membership continues to increase which is pleasing. Government lawyers are a significant portion of the membership which places the ACT in a unique position.

The Society is looking to enhance a range of services to members in areas such as:

• CPD (in terms of range, quality and delivery methodologies). Later this year we will be hosting CORO, the Conference of Regulatory Officers, for the first time.
• Facilitating networking and social interaction between members of the profession.
• Working with government and our members to ensure they have a voice in law reform initiatives. This is particularly important this year where there is both a Federal and Territory election.
• The Society continues to monitor important developments within the legal profession - such as the uniform law – to ensure that the interests of our members are fully considered in deciding what position the ACT should adopt.

What would you say to someone starting out in the legal profession with a view to become a future leader?

The legal profession is undergoing significant change with the implementation of Uniform Law in NSW and Victoria and other jurisdictions looking closely at the changes that brings.

There are changes in the demographics of the profession with increased female graduates completing their degree. This requires the profession to consider the best way to mix career needs and personal needs. There are a number of organisations now looking at new innovations to service clients more broadly, with long held methodologies being challenged.

Graduates completing a law degree have a variety of options within the private and public sector. They should expand their interest groups and make the most of volunteer opportunities to broaden their horizons and take up any opportunities available with mentor programs.

Almost every Association runs a significant conference or meeting each year. As the Association for Associations we feel a sense of additional pressure to perform, to showcase innovate ideas, to inspire Associations and Association Professionals, to raise the bar.

The AuSAE Conference and Exhibition 2016 held in Canberra has been a huge success. From the AGM and welcome function on Monday evening through to the final presentation on Wednesday afternoon, ACE was filled with inspiration, learning, networking, business solutions and innovation.

My personal thanks go to all the delegates, sponsors and exhibitors for sharing the experience. 380 attendees, 60 exhibition booths, 37 presenters, 27 sessions, four key note presenters, two social functions, an unconference session, and one live streamed TV show. Special thanks to the amazing AuSAE staff for pulling it all off.

If you couldn’t make it this year, block out your diary on 11-12 May for ACE 2017 at the ICC in Sydney. ACE will be among the first conferences to be held in this wonderful new facility in Darling Harbour.

This year, AuSAE was at the Treasury Budget Lockup and are able to bring you a brief report.

The budget outlines a relatively soft economy over the forward estimates with long term growth and income projections being adjusted downward. However, since May 2012, employment has grown by over 500,000 jobs. The services sector has added 90% of these. The association sector is a part of that growth.

For the association sector (as distinct from the sectors served by associations), the budget was unremarkable. The strong features of this budget centre around superannuation, tax cuts for small business, jobs and innovation. The economic outlook remains soft as the economy transitions from mining establishment toward mining operations and the services economy.

Some small associations may benefit from the small business tax concessions where they rely on mutuality for tax exemptions and they have taxable non mutual income and may be able to access the immediate tax deductibility of assets up to $20,000 through to 30th June 2017 where that asset is used to attract non mutual income. There may also be some benefit for small to medium associations (under $10mil in turnover) from the simplification of GST administration which will be trialled from the 1st July 2016.

Associations may also benefit from the signing of free trade agreements with the USA and and China. The Federal Government is investing $1.8 million to expand the Open for Business Website which may offer associations opportunities for growth.