Disability Care now a reality but how can we protect its future?
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Author(s)
McDonald, Donna Marie
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
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Legend has it that before the introduction of Medibank (now Medicare) in 1974, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam convinced the premiers at a Commonwealth-states meeting to introduce a national disability insurance scheme similar to New Zealand’s comprehensive insurance scheme, which was established in 1972.
But during a meeting break, his treasurer Bill Hayden apparently persuaded Gough Whitlam to delay this reform as he feared it might undermine his ambitions for the successful introduction of Medibank, which was limited to universal health cover.
Now, almost 40 years later, Treasurer Wayne Swan’s sixth budget is finally ...
View more >Legend has it that before the introduction of Medibank (now Medicare) in 1974, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam convinced the premiers at a Commonwealth-states meeting to introduce a national disability insurance scheme similar to New Zealand’s comprehensive insurance scheme, which was established in 1972. But during a meeting break, his treasurer Bill Hayden apparently persuaded Gough Whitlam to delay this reform as he feared it might undermine his ambitions for the successful introduction of Medibank, which was limited to universal health cover. Now, almost 40 years later, Treasurer Wayne Swan’s sixth budget is finally providing a ten-year funding pathway for the DisabilityCare Australia scheme. It is the first time in Australian history that disability has been at the centre of a federal budget.
View less >
View more >Legend has it that before the introduction of Medibank (now Medicare) in 1974, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam convinced the premiers at a Commonwealth-states meeting to introduce a national disability insurance scheme similar to New Zealand’s comprehensive insurance scheme, which was established in 1972. But during a meeting break, his treasurer Bill Hayden apparently persuaded Gough Whitlam to delay this reform as he feared it might undermine his ambitions for the successful introduction of Medibank, which was limited to universal health cover. Now, almost 40 years later, Treasurer Wayne Swan’s sixth budget is finally providing a ten-year funding pathway for the DisabilityCare Australia scheme. It is the first time in Australian history that disability has been at the centre of a federal budget.
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Journal Title
The Conversation
Volume
2013
Issue
20 May
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2013. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/) which permits unrestricted distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Subject
Care for Disabled