By Jordon Steele-John
A POWERFUL YEAR FOR OUR COMMUNITIES
Disability Pride & Fixing Our NDIS
I have to begin with our phenomenal win against the Liberal government’s compulsory Independent Assessments! Independent Assessments were the government’s attempt to change the way they reviewed disabled people’s needs - their plan was for strangers to come into our homes, do “an assessment” of our needs, and make decisions that will affect our lives and the supports we need. I’m in awe of the power our community demonstrated in pushing back against the disastrous NDIS cost-cutting agenda the Government attempted to sneak by us.
We’ve run a series of online and in-person disability pride workshops that have been hugely successful in activating and empowering our community. Over 220 disabled people and allies from across the country attended these workshops and together, we discussed what it means to be proud and what disability pride can make possible.
We’re also continuing our campaign to increase the confidentiality protections for people who wish to submit to Our Disability Royal Commission, and of course, leading the campaign to ensure that everyone who needs to get on the NDIS can do, quickly, wherever they are.
Young Leadership
It’s been another enormous year of powerful action from young people. School Strikers continue to protest against the major parties’ spineless climate “policies”. Young people are loudly calling out the Liberal Government for their complete lack of financial support during this crisis. And, we’ve fought hard against continued cuts to our university courses.
To make sure young people have the greatest voice and power in our work, my office has brought together a group of youth advisers from around the country to lead and inform our decision-making and campaigns.
In the lead-up to the next federal election, we’re closely working with young local leaders here in WA on the issues and campaigns that matter to them the most. If we want real outcomes for young people, we need them leading the way.
WA State Election
In last year's report I wrote about how bloody excited I was about the state election here in Western Australia, and the opportunities it was going to bring to our movement. It was heaps of fun campaigning alongside thousands of volunteers wearing Greens t-shirts and championing our key issues from Broome to Albany. So many West Australians voted in support of urgent action on climate change, getting big money out of politics, and ensuring we have access to the services we need to live a good life.
With the election of Brad Pettitt in South Metro, we have a huge opportunity to hold WA Labor to account. They’ve returned to power with control over both houses of government here, and together we can push them to do something worthwhile with that!
While we said goodbye and thank you to four experienced MP’s, our vote largely held up because of our unbelievably dedicated and motivated Greens WA volunteers - thank you all so much!
Federal Election
I’m so excited to support Yamatji Noongar woman Dorinda Cox as she enters the Senate chamber for the first time in September! As a movement, we have lofty goals for the Federal Election - leading out with electing Dorinda, building a statewide people-powered movement, and hopefully, achieving balance of power in the next term of Parliament. This would allow us to take strong action on the issues that are so important to all of us.
This year is a bittersweet moment for WA as we farewell Senator Rachel Siewert. I am deeply thankful to have learned from, and worked, alongside Rachel. Her tireless campaigning for our state and national communities will leave a legacy for us to uphold that spans 16 years of incredibly meaningful work.