Capricorn Citizen Advocacy in Rockhampton, Queensland | Community organisation

Capricorn Citizen Advocacy

Locality: Rockhampton, Queensland

Phone: +61 7 4922 0299

Address: 118-120 George Ln Unit 3 4700 Rockhampton, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.capca.org.au/

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• Non-profit organisation
• Community organisation

25.01.2022 We have decided to extend the time frame to receive Expressions of Interest to execute a very important project related to the Disability Royal Commission. We are seeking an independent contractor who can make it a success - see attached 2 page document. If this is you, please email your Expression of Interest by 5:00pm AEDT 30/11/2020 to [email protected]. If you know someone who might fit this bill, please pass on to them as a matter of priority. Thanks!

23.01.2022 One of my favourites.

18.01.2022 So, it's that time of year again... AGM time! Our AGMs are great fun as we try to break our own record of how quickly we can get through the "business" of the meeting, and get down to a wonderful catch up with both old and new friends. If you'd like to come along and meet some like minded people or get a bit of an idea of what we're about, we'd love to see you. All information on the attached flyer. We truly would love to see you there.

17.01.2022 Here's an event to answer some of your questions about Citizen Advocacy. Why not come along and meet with others who are also curious about what CA does and how it works. You're sure to have your questions answered and meet some other great people as well. As they say in the classics... For One Night Only!!! Please help us by sharing this flyer amongst your networks.

17.01.2022 We can all fulfill our purpose every day.

15.01.2022 I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. Edward Everett Hale

13.01.2022 Just imagine... Now think what a difference one human being can make in the life of another.

13.01.2022 A fantastic article for us all to deeply reflect upon.

10.01.2022 We are finally able to hold our Garage Sale! Please come along and support one of the smallest, most grass roots community organisations there is. Your help to share this flyer far and wide would be much appreciated too! TIA

10.01.2022 This should be well worthwhile tapping into!!

09.01.2022 I hope Queenslanders With Disability Network are looking at the National Disability Insurance Agency’s quality and safeguards commission very closely? Overwhelm...ed disability watchdog routinely dismisses abuse and neglect The NDIS regulatory body is overwhelmed and ineffective, with thousands of complaints going ignored. This article discusses allegations of abuse, violence, neglect and sexual assault of people with disabilities, and suicide. The National Disability Insurance Scheme’s (NDIS) regulatory body, the Quality and Safeguards Commission - Often, the last line of defence for people with disabilities - Is so overburdened with complaints and reports, that allegations of abuse, neglect, sexual assault and rape go un-investigated. The commission is overwhelmed. More than 10,000 cases are submitted every month on average and staff are walking off the job in tears. The commission has powers to issue sanctions and ban providers who put people with disabilities at risk, but since its inception in 2018 just 22 providers have been banned. An Investigation has revealed A 52-year-old woman became underweight, malnourished, injured and possibly sexually assaulted while staying in supported living accommodation A young man’s head injury was left unreported and untreated by his carers A non-verbal man was moved out of his group home and left in hospital without his family’s knowledge Each case was reported to the commission and dismissed. No providers were punished The commission received more than 71,000 cases in six months but employed just 187 staff. Head injuries, assault and neglect ignored Six months into her 2018 stay at assisted living accommodation with disability service provider Achieve Australia in Sydney’s north, Georgi Hadden, 52, had become malnourished, underweight, and suicidal. She had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Hadden was found unconscious after a suicide attempt, naked from the waist down with a black eye and bruises all over her face and torso. Neither the hospital nor Achieve Australia investigated the incident. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission dropped her complaint when Hadden moved out of the accommodation. Hadden still does not know what happened that night. At another service provider, James Wheatley, who is non-verbal, came home from respite care with a large head injury. His support worker told his mother she had not noticed the lesion, and the facility did not submit an incident report - As is required under the NDIS code of conduct - To the commission. A complaint lodged by his mother was dismissed, with no criminal investigation launched into what happened to her son. For 16 hours, RG’s family had no idea where he was. RG has Down syndrome, autism, epilepsy, and memory loss. He needs an aid to help him communicate. His group home sent him to hospital when he became aggressive and then refused to take him back, leaving him homeless. His family had to fly in from interstate last minute. The commission dismissed the complaint. WHEN RG WAS REMOVED FROM HIS GROUP HOME AND TAKEN TO HOSPITAL, HE HAD NO WAY OF COMMUNICATING WITH STAFF. HIS FAMILY was not TOLD WHERE HE WAS. Regulator overwhelmed and under-resourced Former employees at the commission have told that staff members had walked off the job in tears. Others said staff had been told to favour companies over people with disabilities when investigating a case. By June 2019 - The latest figures available - The commission employed 185 ongoing staff. Of those, 113 were in NSW. In the last six months of 2019, the commission received more than 71,000 complaints and reportable incidents. Federal MP Rebekha Sharkie estimates that fewer than 1% of cases are escalated to the investigations team to be analysed in South Australia, with allegations of rape and sexual assault ignored. The commission can issue compliance orders, forcing a provider to change their practice, and ban providers from being able to register with the NDIS. These powers are seldom used. A commission spokesperson acknowledged it had a high caseload but would not comment on individual complaints. Some incident reports are multiple notifications of the same issue. They said if an incident involved allegations of harm to a person with a disability, it was immediately assessed, and criminal allegations were referred to the police. Complaints are closed if the commission believes a provider is meeting their registration and conduct obligations. They also said some participants choose to change services, rather than lodge a complaint. As to the question of staffing: Staffing levels are determined within the allocation available to the agency. Last year 2019, the commission recorded an operating surplus of $4.7 million due to savings in employee benefits expenses. It was allocated almost $55 million in the latest budget. Opposition spokesperson for the NDIS Bill Shorten said not enough was being done to protect people with disabilities. We have grave concerns successive Liberal governments have allowed the disability watchdog to become a toothless purse poodle, he said. Tragic deaths like Ann Marie Smith and constantly-emerging other cases reveal a cultural problem of reluctance to properly monitor or investigate dodgy providers. Will an inquiry help? A federal inquiry and a joint standing committee inquiry into the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission are both currently underway. The federal inquiry is focusing on the circumstances relating to the death of Ann Marie Smith, a South Australian woman who was left soiled and neglected in a cane chair. The joint standing committee’s inquiry will look at the efficacy and resourcing of the commission. Submissions closed at the end of July 2020. No media releases into the inquiry have been published. Several disability advocates only became aware of the inquiry through friends on social media. There have been questions raised around what another inquiry will achieve. Public sector staff have been anonymously submitting their experiences through their union. Under-resourced, underfunded and overburdened, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission deals with complaints and reportable incidents slowly and ineffectively, with a reluctance to punish non-compliant providers. In a way, Hadden, Wheatley and RG were all fortunate: they were able to advocate for themselves or had loving family members to do so on their behalf. But, despite being the fortunate few who can navigate the complexities of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, their experiences were still dismissed. People with disabilities continue to have allegations of neglect and abuse swept under the rug.

09.01.2022 We never know! #disabledmagazine

08.01.2022 Capricorn Citizen Advocacy Inc. (based in Rockhampton) has a seriously important project about to commence and we're looking for the right independent contractor who can make it a success - see attached 2 page document. If this is you, please email your Expression of Interest by COB 13/11/2020 to [email protected]. If you know someone who might fit this bill, please pass on to them as a matter of priority. Thanks!

04.01.2022 FOR SALE: 1. 1500 x 1400 Office Divider with grey Frontrunner $50 2. Luggage Barrier suits Holden Commodore CE Wagon $50 Both as is and for collection only. 07 4922 0299 for details.