Welcome to QAI
Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI) is an independent, community-based systems and legal advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland, Australia.
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Supported Decision-Making Seminar - Friday 28 June @ The Gardens Point Theatre QUT, Registrations Open! Forms available to download on the Supported Decision-Making page in Events. (see link above). Stop Press! Prof Amita Dhanda from NALSAR, Hyderabad will Keynote
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Who is QAI?Find out more about Queensland Advocacy Incorporated, its mission and people.
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What is systems advocacy?Learn more about systems advocacy and QAI's systems advocacy projects, past and present. |
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Need legal help?Find out more about QAI's legal and support services for people with intellectual disability, cognitive impairment, mental illness or profound physical disability. |
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Want to get involved?Help QAI by becoming a member, making a donation or becoming a law student or legal professional volunteer. |
What's New
Media Release- PM must focus on NDIS positives ‘We welcome the PM’s announcement of partial funding of the NDIS through an increase of the Medicare Levy’ said Mr. Ken Wade, Director at Queensland Advocacy Incorporated, ‘but the PM’s ...
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 11:45
30 April 2013
Media Release
PM must focus on NDIS positives
‘We welcome the PM’s announcement of partial funding of the NDIS through an increase of the Medicare Levy’ said Mr. Ken Wade, Director at Queensland Advocacy Incorporated, ‘but the PM’s Disability ‘crackdown’ plan is soft-targeting the most disadvantaged’.
‘The PM’s pre-budget message on Monday was an unfortunate swipe at people with disabilities’ said Mr. Wade. ‘A UK-style crackdown on people on the Disability Support Pension is no solution to NDIS funding’ he said, ‘It’s blaming the victim’.
‘The government must not undermine the positive intentions the NDIS represents by scapegoating a category of ‘undeserving’ people with disabilities.’
‘How much money would really be saved? A crackdown means retesting to review eligibility then moving people from disability pension to unemployment benefit, as the UK experience shows’ said Mr. Wade. ‘What we need is support to get work, and to keep it- not judgment, and not being used as political pawns. Labour market programs helping people into employment are a more effective solution for involuntary dependency, not tarring us as malingerers’ said Mr. Wade.
‘People with disabilities want to work, but they face demoralizing barriers like prejudice, inaccessibility, and employers unwilling to make adjustments, or even to take a punt on someone with a disability. Too often a job applicant with a disability is viewed as no more than a potential liability. If the proportion of people with disability in the workforce is to increase, this perception must change. Government must drive this change. It must lead by example and employ more people with disability in its own ranks. Government must support with its money and its energy the efforts of people with disability to look for and obtain work. That means proactive engagement in search and placement programs that deliver real change and real jobs, not merely a transfer from the DSP to Newstart. Equally important is the provision to employers of incentives to encourage them to hire people with disability and education that will demonstrate the benefits of employing people with disabilities. These include less absenteeism and greater loyalty, reflected in significantly longer retention periods. A hand up is not a handout, and a hand up is all that people with a disability ask for. ‘
‘The NDIS has the potential to be a great boost to the Australian economy- a catalytic influence that would provide employment to people with disabilities and others alike - 80 000 carers jobs, boosting GDP by $1.5 billion, and an additional 320,000 people with a disability employed by 2050, according to the Productivity Commission’s report and a 2010 report by Price Waterhouse, Coopers’ he said.
Ken Wade 0421849791 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
QAI secures funding for another year
Wednesday, 10 April 2013 10:52
QAI would like to extend their sincere thanks to Attorney-General Jarrod Bleije for continuing to fund QAI's frontline legal and advocacy services for people with disability in Queensland. We also applaud the transparency with which the government has conducted the LPITAF review and the early notification of funding for 2013-14.
Without this funding, QAI would be unable to provide vital services under the Human Rights Legal Service, Mental Health Legal Service and Justice Support Program.
For more information, please see media release from the DJAG website:
Twenty Years Twenty Stories
Wednesday, 03 April 2013 12:40
Last month QAI staff were fortunate to attend the Queensland Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. The Act commenced on the 1st of March 1993 and was an Act that for the first time at a national level, made it unlawful for people with disability to be discriminated against. To mark this important celebration, twenty people with disability told their stories about how the Act had made a difference in their lives. View the inspiring videos here - http://www.humanrights.gov.au/twentystories/videos.html
Young People, Aged Care
Tuesday, 02 April 2013 16:28
2 April 2013
Media Release - for Immediate Release
Allison is Young- and in Aged Care
25 years ago a devout 13 year old girl from Logan made a pilgrimage with her family to the holy city of Lourdes. Allison Bailey had a brain tumour, and with the help of the Make-a-Wish Foundation she went to pray there – not for herself, but for world peace.
For more than three decades now the tumour has driven a slow deterioration of her functioning, to the point where Allison now needs more support than her aging mother is able to provide.
Since August 2012 Allison has been living in Blue Care’s Yurana Aged Care Facility at Springwood.
She is 39 years old.
Allison has deteriorated rapidly since her move to Aged Care. Neurological tests confirm that this is in part attributable to her placement in an aged care facility, with little physical or mental stimulation.
“Aged care services are excellent for someone entering the last stage of their life,” Allison’s sister, Jackie says. “But for someone like Allison, who is not even 40, it can actually be harmful.”
Allison’s family has complained to Queensland’s Disability Services about her inappropriate living arrangements, and about a treatment decision that they believe has led to Allison losing her ability to speak. “Aged care is perfectly fine for people at the end of their lives.
The path Allison has travelled - from home to temporary accommodation to ACAT assessment to aged care - is not an uncommon one.
Today there are over 7,500 young Australians living in aged care, and a further 700,000 are being cared for at home by family and friends, often with limited support. Alternatives are limited.
The problem is so widespread that the Commonwealth, States and Territories initiated the Younger People in Residential Aged Care (YPIRAC) Program to address it - to provide accommodation and support to younger people with disability living in or at risk of admission to residential aged care.
But it is still not enough. That is why Allison is living in relative isolation.[1] Aged care is designed for people at the end of their lives and whose care needs are very different. Allison is young and has a life ahead of her. She shouldn’t be parked in aged care.
(Please contact Ken Wade at Queensland Advocacy Incorporated on 38444200 or Jackie Bailey (Alison’s sister) on 0428 576 372
[1] For those young people living in aged care, statistics suggest that:
- 44% will receive a visit from friends less than once a year
- 34% will almost never participate in community based activities such as shopping
- 21% will go outside the home less than once a month
(Di Winkler et al Winkler, D., L. Farnworth, et al. (2006). Australian Health Review)
Volunteer Lawyer Opportunity at QAI
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 09:05
QAI is a not for profit organisation concerned with the rights and needs of people with disabilities. QAI’s Human Rights Legal Service (HRLS) operates a Telephone Legal Advice Service (TLAS) for people with a disability every Thursday. The aim of TLAS is to expand the provision of legal advice & information to people with disability in Queensland.
QAI is now seeking volunteer lawyers to assist in running the TLAS.
Eligible volunteers are lawyers who are:- Admitted to practise in Queensland (no practising certificate necessary);
- Able to commit to a minimum of 4 hrs/month up to a maximum of 4hrs/week during work hours at QAI's office (located in South Brisbane); and
- Able to attend QAI’s upcoming volunteer induction session (see below).
What type of legal advice does the HRLS provide?
Common legal queries include the use of seclusion and containment, problems with guardianship and administration, problems with funding and support packages and disability discrimination. In situations where QAI is not able to advise we make active referrals on the caller’s behalf.
What’s in it for volunteers?
By volunteering with the HRLS you will gain:
- knowledge and awareness of disability law from a human rights perspective;
- direct client contact;
- exposure to working in a community legal centre; and
- the ability to help some of the most vulnerable people in Queensland to understand and protect their rights.
Essential Criteria:
- Able to commit to a minimum of 4hrs/month up to a maximum of 4hrs/week during work hours;
- Hold a current Practising Certificate or be eligible to apply for a Volunteer Practising Certificate through the Queensland Law Society;
- Recent experience as a legal practitioner;
- High level interpersonal and written communication skills;
- Ability to convey legal information in a manner appropriate to QAI’s target client group; and
- Able to attend the induction session.
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Upcoming volunteer induction at QAI (attendance is necessary) Topics will include disability, human rights and substantive areas of law under the Disability Light refreshments will be provided. |
Please send expressions of interest together with a current CV by Mon 8 April 2013 to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For any questions or more info please call David at QAI on 3844 4200.
More Articles...
- HRLS work featured
- Electronic tracking of mental health patients
- Have a burger and raise QAI some money...
- Supported Decision-Making Seminar-
- Relaunching QAI’s ‘Telephone Legal Advice Service’ (the ‘TLAS’) Thursday 02 May 2013...
- Victoria's MHLC funding cut
- Queensland Mental Health Commission Bill 2012
- New Intake Process for Mental Health Legal Service
- December 2012 Newsletter
- QAI's Office Closure during Christmas and New Year
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Contact Us
2nd Floor, South Central
43 Peel Street (Cnr Merivale Street)
SOUTH BRISBANE QLD 4101
Our mailing address is:
PO Box 3302
SOUTH BRISBANE BC QLD 4101
Ph: (07) 3844 4200
Fax: (07) 3844 4220
Feedback & complaints
Help us to improve the way we provide assistance by completing our client feedback survey online.
Alternatively, a hard copy of the survey is available here.
If you wish to make a complaint about QAI, please see our complaints policy.
