Evaluation of the Quality Strategy for Disability Employment Services and Rehabilitation Services: Final Report

[Excerpt] The Quality Strategy for disability employment and rehabilitation services is part of a reform agenda announced in the 1996-1997 Federal Budget with the overall aim of improving the participation of people with disabilities in the workforce. The Quality Strategy was designed to address issues raised in a 1997 report, Assuring Quality, prepared by the Disability Quality and Standards Working Party. The goal of the Quality Strategy is to ensure that people with disabilities can seek assistance and support from a range of Australian Government-funded employment services certified against the Disability Services Standards. The aims of introducing the Quality Strategy were to improve service quality and to guarantee that people with disabilities could access appropriate quality services that provide high level and appropriate support. The introduction of the Quality Strategy reinforced the Australian Government’s commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities can access the same rights and opportunities as other Australians, including being appropriately supported in the workplace. The Quality Strategy has three components: ◗ a quality assurance system (introduced on a voluntary basis from 1 January 2002 and legislated from 1 July 2002, now applying to all disability employment services and CRS Australia); ◗ continuous improvement activities; and ◗ complaints and referrals mechanisms (the Complaints Resolution and Referral Service and the National Disability Abuse and Neglect Hotline)

Department of Fisheries Annual Report to the Parliament 2010/11

This annual report provides an overview of the Department and its operations for the financial year ended 30 June 2011. It has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Financial Management Act 2006, the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 and the Public Sector Commission’s Annual reporting framework – 2010/11 reporting year.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/ar_fish/1001/thumbnail.jp

National consultation informing development of guidelines for a palliative approach for aged care in the community setting

Aim: This study aimed to obtain perspectives from key stakeholders to inform the development of Australian national guidelines for a palliative approach to aged care in the community setting. Methods: A descriptive, exploratory qualitative design was used. Sampling was purposive. Data were collected during audiotaped, semistructured, individual and focus group interviews that addressed the need for the guidelines and aimed to identify practice areas for inclusion. Thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Interviews were conducted across Australia and included 172 participants: health-care providers, consumers, volunteers and researchers/educators. Themes emerging from the data were: Provision of a Palliative Approach in Community Aged Care, Carer Support, Advance Care Planning, Physical and Psychological Symptom Assessment and Management, Psychosocial Support, Spiritual Support, Issues for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People, Older People from Diverse Cultural and Language Groups, and Clients with Special Needs. Conclusion: Findings underpinned development of new guideline documents

Department of Fisheries Annual Report to the Parliament 2009/10

This annual report provides an overview of the Department and its operations for the financial year ended 30 June 2010. It has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Financial Management Act 2006, the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 and the Public Sector Commission’s Annual reporting framework – 2009-10 reporting year.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/ar_fish/1000/thumbnail.jp

Australian Government Disability Services Census: 2003

[Excerpt] The 2003 Australian Government Disability Services Census recorded information about 68,137 consumers who received assistance from Australian Government disability employment services between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2003. These are referred to as ‘All Consumers’ and Tables and Figures referring to all consumers have the suffix ‘FY’(financial year)

Guidelines for the planning and development of childcare facilities

Local governments across Australia make a vital contribution in strengthening the economy and securing the well-being of children and families. Ensuring existing and future communities have access to adequate child care is an ongoing challenge. To address this challenge, the Commonwealth Department of Education engaged the UTS Centre for Local Government and Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government to develop national Guidelines for the Planning and Development of Child Care Facilities. These guidelines are now available for local governments, developers and child care providers.  They enable councils to plan better for the future child care needs of their community through their strategic planning, land use planning and development assessment functions.  The guidelines provide evidence-based guidance and easy to use checklists to help local governments build capacity to plan systematically and strategically. Supporting councils to work in partnership with a range of stakeholders to improve the availability of child care is also an important objective of the guidelines. All local governments can shape the availability of child care through strategic planning, land use planning and development assessment processes.  Through these functions, they help decide the priority of child care in their locality, where it is located and the size and the type of child care provided.  Local governments work within a broader context of state and national policy, legislation and regulations which govern the land use planning and service approval processes.  Within this framework, access to child care can be facilitated by local governments planning in collaboration with other government agencies, child care providers and the local community.  The information contained in the Guidelines for the Planning and Development of Child Care Facilities can also inform discussions with state level organisations responsible for the establishment and delivery of child care services.  The ultimate objective is to promote more streamlined mechanisms for development and service approval. • Guidelines for the Planning and Development of Childcare Facilities won a Planning Institute of Australia (NSW) Planning Excellence Award in 2014. This original resource provides up-to-date, inter- jurisdictional planning advice and resources for councils looking to increase the availability of child-care centres within their municipalities.&nbsp

Early analysis of the Australian COVID-19 epidemic

As of 1 May 2020, there had been 6808 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. Of these, 98 had died from the disease. The epidemic had been in decline since mid-March, with 308 cases confirmed nationally since 14 April. This suggests that the collective actions of the Australian public and government authorities in response to COVID-19 were sufficiently early and assiduous to avert a public health crisis – for now. Analysing factors that contribute to individual country experiences of COVID-19, such as the intensity and timing of public health interventions, will assist in the next stage of response planning globally. We describe how the epidemic and public health response unfolded in Australia up to 13 April. We estimate that the effective reproduction number was likely below one in each Australian state since mid-March and forecast that clinical demand would remain below capacity thresholds over the forecast period (from mid-to-late April)