News

What is Stretch Capacity and how do we use it?

Stretch Capacity is a 10 per cent allowance on top of your Outlet Capacity. Stretch Capacity places are used when your organisation has no vacancies and an employee who has previously been suspended or exited from your service wishes to return to work. To access Stretch Capacity you must return the cases from suspension or exit within 12 months of the initial suspension or exit.

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Request for Tender for the Succession Planning Information Package for parents of sons and daughters with severe disability

The Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) invites suitably qualified organisations to tender for the provision of a Succession Planning Information Package that can be used by parents and families considering making private financial provisions for the future care, accommodation or support of a son or daughter with severe disability.

Applicants should have experience in developing information kits. They must be able to research and develop accurate and relevant content for the target group. It is expected that the applicant will have the ability to adapt extensive information around financial, tax, estate planning and associated legal information for the purposes of this project and target audience.

Tenders close 08 May 2006.

Information on this tender is available on the Aus Tender website.

All enquiries about this tender should be directed to Jolanta Willington by phone on
02 6244 5776 or by email to jolanta.willington@facsia.gov.au.

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Personnel Certification Scheme

The mid-term Evaluation of the Quality Strategy raised accreditation of personnel for audit teams as a key recommendation. In 2005, FaCSIA convened a Sub-Scheme Committee to develop a personnel certification scheme for auditors and technical experts of Disability Employment Services Quality Assurance (DESQA). The Committee included representation from consumer groups, certification bodies, training providers, industry peaks and government departments. From July 2007, all auditors and consumer technical experts conducting audits of federally funded employment services will be required to be individually certified under the Scheme. It is anticipated that a more consistent approach to audits will result from the implementation of the Scheme. The Scheme will also ensure that people with disabilities who are receiving assistance from disability employment services continue to receive high quality service. RABQSA International will be administering the Scheme including certification of personnel and contracting of skills examiners and training providers.

For more information on the Personnel Certification Scheme for DESQA, visit the RABQSA website.

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Work Choices

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has a WorkChoices website detailing information about workplace reform. The site contains the following links which services may find of interest:

Disability wages

Apprentices and trainees

Junior rates

For more information contact the WorkChoices information line on 1300 363 264.

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BizAbility

Web site links to BizAbility

In previous issues we have mentioned that the success of BizAbility lies in part with the sector. A practical and easy way to show your support for BizAbility is for each organisation to place a link to BizAbility on their website. This will not only help the marketing of BizAbility, but also provide information about business services overall and what they offer.

Managing your service’s information

A reminder to all business services and organisations to keep their BizAbility details up to date. This is especially important where business services merge. If you require any assistance with the management of your business service’s or organisation’s information, please send your query to bizability@facsia.gov.au.

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Two Day Conference - From Tolerance to Respect: Cultural Competence in Practice

Thursday 7 – Friday 8 September 2006
Novotel Hotel, Sydney Olympic Park, Australia

The Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW (MDAA) and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) are pleased to announce a two day conference for researchers, policy makers and anyone who manages, receives or provides services in diverse communities. The focus is on practical approaches to working with people from diverse backgrounds.

Topics will include:

• ‘Cultural competence’: what is it and why does it matter?
• Best practice examples of cultural competence
• Creating environments for cultural competence to flourish
• Cultural competence tools and resources
• Building capacity and developing communities
• Workforce development: the challenges and opportunities in building a culturally competent workforce
• Government policies and planning for diversity
• Culturally competent service planning and development
• Evaluation: how to build cultural competence into evaluation frameworks and how to evaluate the impact of culturally competent policies, planning and practices

MDAA and NEDA invite practitioners, consumer advocates, researchers, academics and policy makers to submit proposals for individual papers, panels and/or workshops. If you are interested in delivering a paper/workshop please contact us for more information, by email to theresa.clark@mdaa.org.au.

For more information, including registration forms, contact:

Ms Theresa Clark
Conference Coordinator
Ph: +61 2 9891 6400
Email: theresa.clark@mdaa.org.au

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Feedback

We want your feedback

Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program or to let us know what you think of this e-newsletter.

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Contributions

Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.

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