Disability and Health News from Australia 11 October 2008

LOWER interest rates should help to moderate rent increases that have been straining the budgets of families across the country, says Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek.

Welfare groups have called for the cut in interest rates announced by the Reserve Bank to prompt landlords to reduce rents for those struggling to survive. "The lowering in rates could help moderate rent increases by reducing landlords' repayment burdens," Ms Plibersek said, but added that rents were primarily linked to the supply of housing. Sydney estate agents have reported abuse and threats from prospective tenants because of the squeeze on property rental vacancies. A survey of 200 agents around NSW in August found about a third of respondents had been threatened or abused over the telephone by potential tenants in the previous month.

A House of Representatives inquiry into better support for carers is underway in Hobart. The committee has heard carers need more money, support and recognition. Tasmania has the highest prevalence of debilitating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and the Neuromuscular Alliance of Tasmania has given evidence that, coupled with the oldest population in Australia, the State's carers are in high demand. But Janice McKenna, Chief Executive of Carers Tasmania, says some are struggling with their own disability and most are underpaid, with 44 per cent of carers in Tasmania relying on income support. The committee's also heard evidence from the MS society that Tasmania needs better support and education for carers and has been urged to recommend pay parity with their mainland counterparts.

EYRE Peninsula egg producer Compass Farm will celebrate the laying of its three millionth egg coinciding with World Egg Day on Friday. Run by local disability service provider Compass, Compass Farm produces close to 2000 eggs each day, but the celebrated 3,000,000th egg means something special for the organisation. “This egg represents a key milestone in funds raised to benefit people with a disability on Eyre Peninsula, which is a fantastic feat,” Compass manager Rod Sandercock said. Compass Farm is one of only two RSPCA accredited barn laid egg producers in South Australia.

Australians with mental illness smoke at 4 times the rate of the general population, says a new study from the University of Melbourne. The study, published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, says despite smoking halving among Australia's general population over the past 20 years there has been little change in smoking rates among people with psychiatric disabilities. Mentally ill four times more likely to smoke and to smoke more

FORMER premier Steve Bracks has backed controversial legislation to legalise abortions in Victoria, despite his reluctance to take on the issue during his eight-year premiership.

THE states are demanding up to $23 billion in extra funding from the federal Government's already stretched surpluses before they sign on to the major agreements that form the backbone of Kevin Rudd's new federalism agenda. A confidential brief prepared for the states reveals they have developed funding options for the five big agreements in health, schools, disability services, housing and vocational education and training, with the preferred option for an additional $23 billion over four years on top of current federal funding to the states of $33billion a year. States demand $23bn NEWS UPDATE: THE states "must be dreaming" to demand up to $23 billion extra from the federal Government before they sign on to five new funding agreements to be negotiated by next month, Kevin Rudd said yesterday. The Prime Minister described the demand as "one of the larger try-ons of the century".

Australia is being urged to consider improved incentives to work and a more flexible immigration strategy to deal with its chronic skills shortage. It suggests a tightening of the eligibility for disability pensions, and wants the government to extend more onerous requirements to all recipients, as well as abolishing incentives for people to retire at 55.

KEVIN RUDD has been forced to reassure consumers that their bank savings are sound as the Opposition demanded the Government underwrite every account containing up to $100,000 in case a bank collapses.And, after frightening pensioners for the past two days by backing away from guarantees of a pension increase next year, Mr Rudd has reaffirmed there will be relief in the May budget.

AUSTRALIA lags well behind the best-performing OECD countries in preschool education, with only 42per cent of children aged three to four in formal programs. The report says children with a disability and those from non-English-speaking backgrounds "are significantly under-represented in both childcare and preschool services, and fewer than half of all indigenous children receive an early-childhood education". The percentage of the population that has attained tertiary education exceeds the OECD average.

Strength training can help ease pain and improve physical functioning in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, a new review of current data confirms. But more study is needed to determine the long-term benefits of resistance training for these patients, Dr. Angela K. Lange of the University of Sydney in Australia and colleagues conclude. Weak quadriceps muscles and out-of-balance joints can contribute to the development of osteoarthritis of the knee, Lange and her team note in their report. Given that resistance exercise can strengthen these muscles and restore more normal joint mechanics, they add, it should be beneficial to people suffering disability from degeneration in their knee joints.

INTRODUCING or expanding screening programs for just four types of cancer and changing individuals' habits could halve Australia's overall toll of lives lost or impaired by the disease.

A consultancy firm that crunched the numbers on the impact of the disease in Australia -- which currently sees 106,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year -- found that individual behavioural changes held by far the greatest promise, with potential to reduce the cancer burden by 45 per cent. The most important lifestyle changes that would create this reduction were cutting tobacco and alcohol use, improving exercise, obesity and diet, avoiding sunlight and other sources of ultraviolet radiation, occupational carcinogens and unsafe sex.

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