13/08/2026
A few hours ago, we went to Disability Minister Louise Upston's latest announcement about the DSS Bill. And we had questions.
We asked her to clarify the Bill's expectation of families' 'responsibility' to provide care, and Upston said the Bill will not change the status quo. We followed up - does she think the status quo is good enough? Upston avoided the question.
Our editor Olivia also asked Upston - did you watch any submissions on the DSS Bill? She said no.
Although some of our communities' concerns have been heard, it does not yet feel that there is a genuine desire to embrace disabled community wisdom, or to make real, effective change.
Upston said this is not the end of improving disability support services, and we hope that's true - but we also hope that going forward, disabled people are in the process from start to finish, given decision-making power, and not forced to protest for our voices to be heard.
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EDIT: Comments are now switched off. Although there was important community conversation going on, it was swamped by violent and offensive comments which made it very difficult to moderate. We've shared some more thoughts on the DSS bill here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bw5C9hm9w/
