It
has been an interesting time to be researching an article on the National Disability
Insurance Scheme in Australia, with lots of discussion about it in the
Australia media and on social media.
has been an interesting time to be researching an article on the National Disability
Insurance Scheme in Australia, with lots of discussion about it in the
Australia media and on social media.
My
aim is to write an article based on interviews with one or two of the
participants in the scheme. So I joined a Facebook discussion group on the NDIS
and hoped to find someone who was part of the Barwon regional trial in Victoria
to interview. I decided to lurk for a while to see what they were talking about
and hopefully identify a few people to approach who were part of the Barwon
trial.
aim is to write an article based on interviews with one or two of the
participants in the scheme. So I joined a Facebook discussion group on the NDIS
and hoped to find someone who was part of the Barwon regional trial in Victoria
to interview. I decided to lurk for a while to see what they were talking about
and hopefully identify a few people to approach who were part of the Barwon
trial.
Beaten
to the Request
Unfortunately,
while still lurking, a journalist from The
Australian posted an interview request. I worried what sort of interview he
would conduct. For those who don’t know, on the night of the last federal
election Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The Australian, tweeted something along
the lines of “now we can get rid of all these welfare bludgers.” So I worried that
his journalist might have an agenda to show the NDIS, which the ill-informed mistakenly
think of as welfare scheme, in a bad light. I have had a look in The Australian and there articles seem to be overwhelmingly negative towards the NDIS.
while still lurking, a journalist from The
Australian posted an interview request. I worried what sort of interview he
would conduct. For those who don’t know, on the night of the last federal
election Rupert Murdoch, the owner of The Australian, tweeted something along
the lines of “now we can get rid of all these welfare bludgers.” So I worried that
his journalist might have an agenda to show the NDIS, which the ill-informed mistakenly
think of as welfare scheme, in a bad light. I have had a look in The Australian and there articles seem to be overwhelmingly negative towards the NDIS.
Meanwhile,
I decided to wait a day before posting my interview request on the discussion
group. The next day, I logged on to the discussion
group and find that the administrator of the group has had a request from the
ABC to interview NDIS participants about their fears of the upcoming budget.
Bloody hell. I decided not to delay my request for interviewees any longer and
posted a request to the group. I stressed in my post that I did not have an
agenda, hoping they would take the hint about the journalist from The
Australian.
I decided to wait a day before posting my interview request on the discussion
group. The next day, I logged on to the discussion
group and find that the administrator of the group has had a request from the
ABC to interview NDIS participants about their fears of the upcoming budget.
Bloody hell. I decided not to delay my request for interviewees any longer and
posted a request to the group. I stressed in my post that I did not have an
agenda, hoping they would take the hint about the journalist from The
Australian.
Negative
NDIS Article in The Australian
The
following day I logged onto the Facebook and the NDIS discussion group is abuzz
about an article that has appeared in The Australian: Mother
sees merit in NDIS slower rollout. The article was written by a
different journalist to the one who had contacted the discussion group.
following day I logged onto the Facebook and the NDIS discussion group is abuzz
about an article that has appeared in The Australian: Mother
sees merit in NDIS slower rollout. The article was written by a
different journalist to the one who had contacted the discussion group.
In
the article, a mother suggests that the NDIS be delayed because she had some
difficulties with it. As pointed out in the discussion group, if she had had
the years of frustration of trying to survive and cope with a fragmented and
underfunded non-NDIS disability sector, her attitude to her NDIS hassles might
have been very different. I am curious, if she had enthusiastically endorsed
the NDIS and not said its rollout should be delayed, would the Australian have
reported her comments?
the article, a mother suggests that the NDIS be delayed because she had some
difficulties with it. As pointed out in the discussion group, if she had had
the years of frustration of trying to survive and cope with a fragmented and
underfunded non-NDIS disability sector, her attitude to her NDIS hassles might
have been very different. I am curious, if she had enthusiastically endorsed
the NDIS and not said its rollout should be delayed, would the Australian have
reported her comments?
Found
an Interviewee
So
far, no one has gotten back to my post. I am not surprised, as I have had
limited success with similar requests I have made on social media. But while
doing more research, I discovered the LEAD program in Geelong which has a
number of participants in the NDIS who volunteer to tell people about it. And one
of those participants is a fellow Divine writer. I sent him an email and he has
agreed to an interview. Yay. I just sent him a number of questions.
far, no one has gotten back to my post. I am not surprised, as I have had
limited success with similar requests I have made on social media. But while
doing more research, I discovered the LEAD program in Geelong which has a
number of participants in the NDIS who volunteer to tell people about it. And one
of those participants is a fellow Divine writer. I sent him an email and he has
agreed to an interview. Yay. I just sent him a number of questions.
But
I would still like another point of view for the article, preferably from
someone who is just an ordinary client of the NDIS. So I have just reposted my
request to the discussion group, this time including my questions.
I would still like another point of view for the article, preferably from
someone who is just an ordinary client of the NDIS. So I have just reposted my
request to the discussion group, this time including my questions.
0 Responses
It's horrendous what this Government are doing. All newspapers are biased and corrupt. The more I learn, the more distressed it makes me and the more powerless I feel.
Best of luck with your research Graham. I have thought of you many times when this comes up in the media.
Thanks for the thoughts Anthony. I just wrote the first draft of the article today. Although I am all for the NDIS – even more so after all the research I did for this article – I feel my personal opinion has not stopped me from writing a balanced article on one partipant's experience of the NDIS.