We Met With New Disability Services Minister Gareth Ward
At recent meetings between new Minister for Disability Services Gareth Ward and PDCN, the Minister made it clear that as a person with disability himself he is very keen to hear from people who are worried about the imminent loss of disability advocacy funding to PDCN and other organisations.
He suggested that people who are concerned about the loss of vital funding to PDCN should write to their local MP and ask them to make a formal representation to Minister Ward and Premier Berejiklian on your behalf to ensure continued funding and access to services and supports.
And now we’re asking for YOUR Help!
We’ve created this easy-to-use form which will automatically locate your local MP and allow you to send a letter to them. We’ve prepared a letter for you so you can send it as it is – or you can easily edit it to tell your personal story.
Please take a few minutes now to take this simple action, which will help to bring home to the NSW Government just how important advocacy services such as PDCN are to you!
Of course, if you want to take this further, you can organise to visit your MP in person – just print out the letter and take it with you!
PDCN at the ATSA Expo
Last week’s Assistive Technology Suppliers Australasia (ATSA) expo was once again a resounding success.
The PDCN stand was incredibly busy throughout the two days – providing information and resources to over 300 people.
PDCN always find this a useful event, gaining much needed insight from those that visit our stand on the issues they are facing in the current environment – and getting a chance ourselves to review the latest ‘gadgets’ and technologies available to people with disabilities, along with make connections with other organisations in the sector.
PDCN Board Member Jacob Cross, with Peer Support Project Officer Jane Scott and a member of the public at the ATSA Independent Living Expo.
Staff Changes
There have been some recent changes to staff here at PDCN as long time Policy and Project Officer Ellen Small has moved on to other work in the community sector. We’d like to thank Ellen for all the work she undertook for PDCN, writing a huge number of submissions on some fierce deadlines, and representing PDCN on any number of committees and working groups. We’ll miss her expertise on government policy and the disability sector, her passion for progressive change and her presence in the office.
Alice Dixon-Wilmshurst has now stepped into the role of Policy Officer having up until now been doing crucial work as the Campaign Coordinator for the Stand By Me Alliance, based out of the PDCN office. Stuart Greenfield has taken over Alice’s role of Alliance Campaign Coordinator for two days a week and is undertaking a 3 day a week internship on the Alliance Communications team too. We’re lucky to have such a talented team of people to continue our work.
