Minister for Communications and the Arts, in response to an Australian Sign Language video question on the ABC’s Q and A program last night, pledged that Australians who are deaf, deafblind, hearing and/or speech impaired will have the service they need when the Government implements the next National Relay Service (NRS) contract.

The question, submitted by Deaf Australia CEO Kyle Miers, on behalf of coalition of NRS user organisations, asked Minister Fifield how the government would be able to assure the NRS community that no services would be cut back given that the current cost of providing the NRS is in excess of $32 million per annum and the recently released NRS request for tender has capped the service funding at $22 million per annum for the next 3 years. Questioning how a 30% reduction in funding can ensure that the services will continue on a 24/7 basis.
While Minister Fifield stated that there are new and merging mainstream technologies that many NRS users may be able to access instead of relying on the NRS, Mr Miers has today said, “People with disability are already using mainstream technologies as a first choice”, adding “the high usage of NRS services indicates that there are no adequate mainstream services suitable for many NRS users’. The NRS service with the highest take-up is captioned telephony where a hard-of-hearing person speaks their part of the conversation and reads the text of the other person’s response in addition to using their residual hearing. Mr Miers pointed out that there is no mainstream equivalent service for these NRS users and that few alternative technologies provide the real-time equivalence of a phone call.
Mr Miers also said that Minister Fifield incorrectly stated that the NRS has always been funded at $22 million per annum. “The $22 million funding cap was introduced in the current contract. Previously, the NRS was funded on a cost-recovery basis funded by the NRS levy impost on Telecommunications providers” said Mr Miers, noting that the Government has covered the funding shortfall in part from a drastic reduction in the NRS outreach service. Mr Miers asserts that “The NRS, as an essential communications bridge for many Australians with disability, needs to be provided on a cost-recovery basis and not capped at some arbitrary amount”.
In a follow-up question on the Q and A program Mr Miers asked Minister Fifield if he would pledge on National television that NRS users would not be worse -off as a result of the current tender process. The Minister answered in the affirmative, pledging that NRS users would have the service they need.
Mr Miers and the NRS community will be pressing the Government to ensure that it delivers on the Ministers pledge.

Please see this video with some answers to common questions about the 6th WFDYS Junior Camp, Victoria, Australia, 11 – 17 April 2017.
Please note: The deadline for registration is on 11 November 2016. 

Deaf Australia Board would like to announce few important messages to our members and the deaf/ hard of hearing community.

As many of you are aware, the Department of Social Services (DSS) – A Department of Commonwealth Government – has defunded Deaf Australia in favour of supporting five cross-disability organisations.
This means that Deaf Australia’s funding will end on 30 June 2015 and will not be renewed by the Government. From 1 July 2015, Deaf Australia will be run entirely by volunteers.
Over the last 6 months, Deaf Australia has been focusing on a number of key areas to ensure the existence and sustainability of Deaf Australia. These are:

• Closure of Head Office: Deaf Australia’s head office in Brisbane has closed and resources have been relocated to Melbourne. Our new postal address can be found on the Deaf Australia website.
• The Auslan Shop: Our brand new Auslan Shop website remains open and is available for online purchases. The Auslan Shop now accepts payments through PayPal to make it easier for us to process the orders and for you to get your products faster. Some popular products can be viewed in person before buying, if required, at certain locations around Australia. Please check out auslanshop.deafaustralia.org.au for more information.
• Membership Renewal/ New Members: Current Deaf Australia memberships are now due for renewal. Please note there have been some important changes in the membership structure – joining / renewal fee is now $100.00 for deaf/hard of hearing and hearing people.
  • Deaf/ hard of hearing: $100.00 one off life-time membership
  • Hearing: $100.00 – every 5 years
  • Corporate: $250.00 every year 

For more information about Membership fees and renewals, please visit www.deafaustralia.org.au/membership.

• Deaf Friendly: This program is an initiative of Deaf Australia, intended to create an inclusive society for deaf people by linking the deaf community to businesses and organisations that have deaf / hard of hearing staff or hearing staff with good Auslan skills.

If you are a member of Deaf Australia, it is FREE to register to access the Deaf Friendly scheme. To get Deaf Friendly status, please go to www.deaf-friendly.com and complete your registration (the one registration form and payment covers both Deaf Friendly AND your membership to Deaf Australia).

• World Federation of the Deaf: Todd Wright and Kyle Miers will attend the WFD Congress in Istanbul Turkey at end of July 2015. Deaf Australia will present the Deaf Friendly initiative to members of the World Federation of the Deaf and propose a new international symbol of sign language. 

• Deaf Youth Australia: Deaf Youth Australia is recognised as an ordinary member of World Federation of the Deaf Youth Sector and will be sending two youth delegates: Shirley Liu and Olwyne Ho.

• Jeenee Mobile: Deaf Australia entered into a partnership with Jeenee Mobile to offer data/text only mobile plans for deaf people. Jeenee Mobile also have other plans that may be suitable for deaf/ head of hearing people, eg, voice/data/ and text plan. Deaf Australia received donations for Jeenee Mobile for every person who signs up to a plan using the copdeword. Please quote codeword ‘DeafAu’ when applying: jeeneemobile.org.au

Advocacy activities:

Please note that from 30 June 2015, many of the advocacy activities will be limited to the capacity of a volunteer organisation. If you have any concerns or issues, you should email us at [email protected] and Deaf Australia will redirect your inquiry to the relevant organisation(s) and keep a record of your matter. We will still advocate for deaf and hard of hearing people as much as possible.
Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA): Kyle Miers and Dr Breda Carty represented Deaf Australia at ACARA’s scoping workshop that is responsible for the development of the Auslan curriculum for primary and secondary schools. ACARA expects to complete the curriculum by December 2016.
Deaf People Serving on Juries: There are several developments in this area.

1. Court of Appeal in Queensland – Gaye Lyons has appealed against the tribunal case in Queensland on 20 May 2015. It is expected that the judges will determine the outcome within 3 months of the date. Deaf Australia attended the appeal. We will give an update when the case is decided.
2. Deaf Jurors Project – the University of New South Wales will be presenting their findings on 15 July 2015. Their preliminary findings have indicated that deaf people are capable of serving as jurors.
3. Victorian Disability Advisory Council (VDAC) – the Deaf Jury issue is on the agenda and is awaiting the outcome of the Deaf Jurors Project and Queensland Court of Appeal decision.

Disability Employment Framework: There is a current consultation in the community about the Disability Employment Framework. Deaf Australia has conducted a review on Disability Employment Services last year and will be reinforcing the issue of communication access and skilled knowledge of deafness for deaf job seekers and disability employment service providers.
Australasian Railway Association (ARA): The Australian Human Rights Commission has sought our opinion on ARA’s request for exemption of discrimination. Deaf Australia will be responding with this advice. Deaf Australia does not support the exemption.
Commercial Divers License: Deaf Australia has been approached by an organisation that wish to work alongside Deaf Australia to campaign Governments (both state and federal Governments) to remove discrimination for deaf people from acquiring (or being forced to accept restrictions on) commercial drivers licenses (truck drivers, taxi, or other paid positions). We received a favourable response from the Australian Human Rights Commission and several ministers (state organisations) who agreed with our position.
Deaf Australia would like to acknowledge Deaf Victoria’s submission (2014), which was used to strengthen our position for discrimination.
Australian Electoral Commission’s Disability Advisory Group: Deaf Australia has been involved with the Australian Electoral Commission over the years. We have agreed that communication guidelines will be developed to support delivering information to all consumers more effectively after identifying that each of the state/ territory and commonwealth agencies have different (and inconsistent) approaches to inclusive information. Deaf Australia will lead this development.
ABC News: Deaf Australia provided some comments to journalists regarding the CaptiView system and explained our belief that there is more work that needs to be done to ensure deaf patrons are happy with their cinema experience. For more about this article, please view here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/deaf-people-critical-of-movie-captioning-service/6512914.
Early Intervention: Deaf Australia is close to finalising the position statement: ‘Requirements on Early Intervention for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Australia’. This document is developed in collaboration with various stakeholders including: The Shepard Centre, Parents of Deaf Children, Aussie Deaf Kids, Deaf Children Australia, Royal Institute of Deaf and Blind Children, National Association of Australian Teachers of the Deaf, community members, and parents of deaf children.

Congratulations:  

• Carla Anderson (AM) (Vic) – Received the Australian Honours Award during the Queen’s Birthday for her significant contribution to the deaf-blind community through advocacy, support and service delivery roles.

• Jonathon Powyer (NSW) – Received High Achieving Referee with a Difference Award in NSW Touch Football Association Referees Awards.

Greetings from Chief Executive’s Desk.

In the last few months, we have been working hard to ensure that Deaf Australia is sustainable, to ensure that your views are appropriately represented. You may be aware that the government has changed the way that peak organisations are funded. Our current funding will cease at the end of December 2014 after so many years of the peak-funded program.
Deaf Australia has put in several funding applications seeking for funding for program initiatives and projects. These funding programs look favourably on organisations being part of a consortium as well as national peak organisations. We will know the outcomes of these submissions later this year.
The head office of Deaf Australia is currently based in Queensland and will continue to be based there until further notice.
Some of the activities we have done in the last few months are:

• Launched our brand new website
• Redirecting internet users from the old website www.deafau.org.au to the new website www.deafaustralia.org.au
• Improved communication distribution; linking Blog, FaceBook and Twitter
• Conducted Members and Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey
• Undertook consultations on NAPLAN, Disability Employment Services and National Disability Strategy
• Sent out several media releases
• Submitted and published an article on Emergency Announcement and use of interpreters
• Reviewed Deaf Australia’s Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

Membership Renewal:

Deaf Australia has developed a new way for you to renew your membership or become a new member. This system will ensure your information is up to date and current allowing state organisations to view their members quickly. If you have not renewed your membership for 2014-15, it is a good time for you to renew your membership now. Renew your membership here. www.deafaustralia.org.au/membership.

National Week of Deaf People (NWPD):

NWPD will take place between 18 and 24 October and the theme is Strengthening Human Diversity. Please check out www.deafaustralia.org.au/NWPD to find out how you can participate or register the events for NWPD.

Awards:

We will be announcing Deaf Australian of the Year, Deaf Youth Australian of the Year and Fair – Go Awards during the week. Please take this opportunity to nominate deaf adult, deaf youth and organisations worthy of recognition. Please nominate from this website: https://deafaustralia.org.au/information/awards/

AGM/ Special General Meeting:

Deaf Australia will be having our 28^th Annual General Meeting and Special General Meeting on Saturday 22 November 2014 in Perth.

Constitution Review:

The board believes that the constitution needs reviewing so that Deaf Australia are meeting the current needs and views of deaf people. There are three areas we will be covering:

• Membership fees and structure
• Inclusion of ‘hard of hearing’
• Board and governance.

Members will be asked to complete a survey through survey monkey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2014_Constitution_Review). The closing date for feedback is 12 September 2014.
Members will have opportunity to comment on the draft Amendments (due 26 September 2014) before the final Amendments on 17 October 2014. A Special General Meeting will be held on 22 November.
It is important that you have your say in the review.

Deaf Youth Australia:

Deaf Australia is very pleased to announce that Deaf Youth Australia (DYA) is formally a part of Deaf Australia. DYA is applying to the World Federation of the Deaf – Youth Sector to be an official Deaf Youth designate of Australia as a Youth Ordinary Member. This will enable DYA to represent Australian Deaf Youth at the international level.

Dot Shaw Writing Competition:

Deaf Australia will be calling deaf children and youth to submit their writings as part of Dot Shaw Writing Competition. Winners will be announced at the Annual General Meeting. To register and submit writing competition, please check www.deafaustralia.org.au/dot_shaw_competition_2014.

World Federation of the Deaf:

Turkish National Federation of the Deaf is hosting the XVII World Congress in Istanbul Turkey from 28 July – 2 August 2015. The organising committee is calling for abstract submissions. Closing date for submissions is on 30 September 2014.
Early bird registration due is on 15 February 2015. Regular registration is due 15 May 2015. Late registration is after 15 May 2014.
For more details about the XVII World Congress, please go to this website: http://www.wfdcongress2015.org

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse:

Deaf Australia has last year negotiated with the Commission to create accessible forum for deaf people to respond to child sexual abuse. Deaf Society of NSW has organised information session to enable deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing and their families as well as organisations all over Australia to understand its very important work. This information session was filmed: please check this link. http://stagingconnections.org/webcasts/royal_commission_2014/.
If you wish to contact the Commission to share your story, you will be able to do so in privacy by phoning them at 1800 099 340 or email at [email protected]. Please ask for an interpreter.
Deaf Australia is going through interesting and challenging times ahead this year. It is important that your views are represented to ensure that deaf people are not left behind.

The deaf community is outraged by today’s Queensland Supreme Court ruling that deaf people are to be banned from sitting on a jury for criminal cases.

A recent ruling by Justice James Douglas has decided that deaf people are ineligible for jury service as Queensland currently has no legislation to cover interpreters in a jury room during deliberations.

Read the reaction from Deaf Australia.

Read outgoing Executive Officer, Karen Lloyd’s final activity report for the months of January and February 2014.

We wish Karen all the best as she enters retirement.

Christmas is almost upon us. It has been an amazing year and next year will bring many changes.

Thank you very much to all our members, supporters and friends for their support throughout 2013, it’s been great to work with you. We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season and we look forward to working with you again in 2014.

Read more about what we’ve been up to during November and December.

Congratulations to the winners of the Deaf Australian of the Year 2013 Awards! As always, it is great to get nomination forms detailing the wonderful things Deaf people and organisations are doing in our community. Read more about this year’s recipients.

September was a quiet month as several of us, including our President Ann Darwin, were overseas on leave. Nevertheless we managed to achieve a great deal over the past three months.

Karen (left) with Phillipa Sandholm from the World Federation of the Deaf

Karen with Markku Jokinen, immediate past president of the WFD

• Work with industry – get industry on-side and then approach government and regulators together with an agreed position.
• Identify clear campaign positions and then bring in other organisations to support your position.
• Cinema captioning: the USA has the same problems we have. The basic problem is that the industry does not want open captions. She believes that the issue will only ultimately be solved with legislation/regulation.

• A Board meeting of the new WFD Regional Secretariat – Oceania on Tuesday 15 October
• The first General Assembly of the WFD Regional Secretariat – Oceania on Wednesday morning 16 October
• A workshop for representatives of WFD Ordinary Members at the State Library of NSW Mitchell Library in the afternoon on 16 October.

All events were a great success and people especially loved the historic State Library venue for the OM workshop. A big thank you to Peter Davies and Danni Wright for looking after the venue and catering arrangements for these meetings.
Capacity building
New Website
We are working on developing a new website and it’s looking beautiful, very clean and crisp. We expect it to go live early in 2014.
4Senses
Since July, meetings have been held approximately each fortnight involving the 4Senses team, our staff and the State Library of Queensland staff, to prepare for the 4Senses event on Friday night 15 November at the State Library of Queensland. All is set for another fabulous and unique music event. [/accordion] [/accordion_set] [content_box style=”green-2″ title=”Notice”] Earlier this year, we were notified by the 2012 Deaf Australian Youth of the Year Award Winner, Michelle Curtis (Goodison) of Adelaide that there were some errors in the award nomination information about her, and for that reason she did not wish to accept the award. It was Deaf Australia’s view that the errors were minor and had no impact on Michelle being a deserving recipient of the award. However, Michelle advised that she still did not wish to accept it. Deaf Australia accepts and respects her decision. [/content_box]

Deaf Australia is always a hive of activity, busy with all sorts of tasks; working hard to make life better for Deaf people. Read more here about what we’ve been up to lately.

Date, Location, # participants

Tuesday 9 April 2013, Geelong Vic (Melissa Lowrie), 25
Wednesday 1 May 2013, Gosford NSW (with DSNSW), 30
Monday 6 May 2013, Burnie Tas, 14
Tuesday 7 May 2013, Hobart Tas, 15
Tuesday 7 May 2013, Launceston Tas, 14
Thursday 16 May 2013, Mackay Qld, 4
Friday 17 May 2013, Townsville Qld, 8
Saturday 18 May 2013, Mareeba Qld, 7
Saturday 18 May 2013, Cairns Qld , 16
Thursday 23 May 2013, Melbourne Vic, 5
Monday 27 May 2013, Sydney NSW, 4
Thursday 6 June 2013, Darwin NT, 5
Tuesday 11 June 2013, Bendigo Vic, 2
Wednesday 12 June 2013, Ballarat Vic, 6
Wednesday 19 June 2013, Perth WA, 50
Wednesday 19 June 2013, Perth WA, 25
Saturday 22 June 2013, Adelaide SA, 45
Thursday 27 June 2013, Brisbane, 65
Total number of participants, , 340
[/table]  
Captioning Working Group
The Working Group will meet again on 22 August.
Cinema Captioning
Cathy Clark represented Deaf Australia at the ACAG meeting on 30th July.
Qld Civil and Administrative Tribunal Hearing on Deaf people and jury service
Our Office Administrator Gaye Lyons, in a personal capacity, filed a complaint against the Queensland Government for discrimination in refusing to allow her to do jury service. The case was heard at the Qld Civil and Administrative Tribunal on 4-6 June. Another staff member and I went along on 5 June to offer support to Gaye, and Gaye and I were then interviewed by Channel 10 TV news. It was on the news that night. The decision on the case has not yet been handed down.
Deaf Jurors research project
We agreed some time ago to be a partner to a research project (an extension of an earlier project led by Jemina Napier at Macquarie University) and the project is now going ahead. It will involve several universities but is led by University of Sydney. Our role is to have a representative on the reference group and help identify Deaf research participants. The first meeting will be in August.
Census
In May I sent a letter to the Deaf Society of NSW supporting their submission to change the Census question about language used at home.
Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse
I met with one of the Commissioners and the Commission secretary on 3 July to discuss how best to ensure that Deaf people know about the Commission, can access it and tell their stories to the Commission. They were very open to information and suggestions and I expect to have more follow up discussions with them.
DETE Auslan Short Courses
Deaf Australia has had an agreement with the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE) to provide Auslan classes for Queensland School staff since January 2009. The provision of these classes had to go to tender again because there is a time limit on how long such an agreement can be. We submitted a tender offer and await the outcome. So all DETE Auslan Short Courses had to stop and there have been no classes since the end of June.
Disability Rights Research Collaboration Roundtable
The University of Sydney and People with Disabilities Australia are collaborating on a new initiative – the Disability Rights Research Collaboration As part of this project they will seek to build links with Disable People’s Organisations working to improve the recognition of rights for people with disability in Australia and the Asia Pacific.
They are hosting a roundtable on Political Participation, Inclusion and Decision Making on 9 August to explore how political participation and decision making for people with disability can be thought about in new ways. I will make a short presentation at the roundtable.
Captioning on free to air TV multichannels
The Department for Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy sent us a letter with two proposals for increasing captioning on free to air TV multichannels. We sent a letter rejecting both proposals, saying that we want 100% captioning between 6am and midnight on all multichannels within three years. (The main channels – ABC, SBS, 7,9,10 must have 100% captioning between 6am and midnight by June 2014).
ALRC inquiry into legal barriers for people with disabilities
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is doing an Inquiry into Legal Barriers for People with Disabilities. It appears that they will consult with organisations like Deaf Australia and will also develop discussion papers for us to respond to. The inquiry was announced on 24 July. [/accordion] [accordion title=”Key Priority 4: Organisational stability and growth” active=”no”] Information Management
We have done an analysis of our members and stakeholders survey and will put the results on our blog.
Partnerships
State Branches:
Deaf Australia’s board and I and the Deaf Victoria board and Manager had a meeting, followed by dinner together when our board had a meeting in Melbourne on 25-26 May.
We have received a copy of a letter that SA Deaf community have sent to Australia Federation of Deaf Societies requesting help with preventing the sale of the 262 building and their problems with DeafCanDo. Deaf Australia’s board will discuss this at their meeting on 11 August.
Deaf Children Australia
Ann Darwin and I met with DCA on 24 May.
AFDO
I attended the AFDO members meeting in Sydney 28 and 29 May.
National forum for peaks
The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), which funds Deaf Australia and other peak disability organisations, has requested that AFDO organise a national forum for peak disability organisations. AFDO is continuing to work on trying to set up this forum and I attended a planning meeting by teleconference on 4 July. It has become apparent that FaHCSIA wants this forum to review how the disability peak sector and funding is structured in the future.
Everyone’s funding is under threat including ours.
One of the peak organisations has sent to the Minister a proposal to withdraw direct funding from a number of organisations, including Deaf Australia, and for Deaf people to be included in a cross disability organisation or an organisation for people with sensory disability.
The proposal is included for discussion at our next Board meeting, and I have been working on a document that sets out some thoughts for the review.
This forum will happen on 18 and 19 September.
I believe that Deaf people need representation from an organisation that specifically focuses on Deaf people, culture and issues, and being absorbed into a wider organisation would not be appropriate for the Deaf Community.
We all need to be fully aware of what is going on and ready to get involved with this process in a meaningful way, in order to have a strong presence and protect our members’ rights for the type of representation that best suits them now and into the future.
You can help us show that Deaf people need their own representative organisation by becoming a member of Deaf Australia and telling us what you need us to advocate for on your behalf and encouraging your friends and family to do the same.
AFDS
Deaf Australia’s board and I attended a meeting with some of the CEOs and board members of the Deaf Societies on 25 May. We discussed how we might better work together in positive ways.
WFD
Deaf Australia will host meetings of the new WFD Oceania Region in Sydney on Tuesday 15 October (afternoon) and Wednesday 16 October (morning), as well as the WFD Ordinary Members meeting in the afternoon on 16 October. Peter Davies has very kindly offered to help us with the arrangements for the meetings.
We will also share an information booth with the WFD at the WFD Conference and the International Deaf Festival in October in Sydney in October.
ASLIA
Ann Darwin and I met with Paul Heuston and Teresa Cumpston-Bird on 24 May. Ann Darwin and Paul Heuston signed a Memorandum of Agreement between Deaf Australia and ASLIA.
Capacity building
4Senses
The State Library of Queensland approached us and the 4Senses team and offered to host a special 4Senses event at the library, as the final event in an extended program they have had running for several months that is about Brisbane’s band culture. It will be a special 4Senses event on Friday night 15 November. Ticket numbers will be limited so be sure to buy your tickets early. [/accordion] [/accordion_set]