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Stopping abuse means recognising who holds power. This week’s evidence tests if protection reaches the people who actually need it.

People with Disability Australia is asking NSW to extend its coercive-control offence to paid and unpaid disability carers and support workers. Its submission, published yesterday, identifies a gap: the offence covers current and former intimate partners, while people with disability can experience coercive control in other relationships. PWDA’s submission.

The relationship determines what offence applies. PWDA wants to change that, challenging a law intended to protect people from patterns of control: can it really recognise how they actually experience abuse?

The report is due next year. NSW review.

On Monday, the Commonwealth opened consultation on a commissioned support-coordination and connection service, due from July 2028. It will replace the way participants currently receive support coordination. The government says it wants better quality and consistency, but the final design remains undecided. Health Department.

That leaves an immediate opportunity for participants to shape how the service works. The consultation asks how providers should be commissioned and how people should move to the new arrangements. Those decisions will determine how the promised improvement is delivered.

Thursday’s Courier-Mail report supplies a different test: Leo Hall’s family has won a second dispute over prosthetic-eye funding after yet another tribunal battle. Courier-Mail report.

Six offenders; 31 years in prison: the NDIA’s summary of Operation Pegasus, after final sentencing. The syndicate defrauded the NDIS and ATO. NDIA

Free mental-health support: The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is promoting Medicare Mental Health Check In, a free online and telehealth service for people aged 16 and over living in Australia. No referral or diagnosis is required, and resources also help families and carers support someone experiencing mental-health difficulties.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Close protection gaps: People with Disability Australia has published a submission calling for NSW’s coercive-control offence to cover paid and unpaid disability carers and support workers. It says limiting the offence to current and former intimate partners fails to capture abuse experienced by people with disability in other relationships.

Source: People with Disability Australia

Air travel barriers: People with Disability Australia has published findings from its aviation-access forum with AFDO and the Justice and Equity Centre, highlighting inconsistent assistance and unclear responsibility between airlines and airports. Its updated guide helps people contribute their experiences to the aviation disability standards consultation, which closes on 2 October.

Source: People with Disability Australia

Rural abuse barriers: Monash University research identifies isolation and limited transport as obstacles to seeking help for older people experiencing abuse outside major cities. Drawing on interviews and focus groups, the study recommends placing legal and elder-abuse specialists within healthcare settings to make support easier to reach.

Source: Monash University — Medianet distribution copy

Service desert warning: Brian Cooper argues that reducing NDIS participation while constraining provider prices risks leaving people with funded plans but no accessible services. He warns that provider contraction could also reduce student placements and supervision, weakening the future disability workforce, and calls for geographic, workforce and education impact assessments.

Source: Brian Cooper | Linked-In Policy analysis

Qantas backflips to fund broken wheelchair after ABC questions

ABC News reports that Qantas plans to replace Akii Ngo’s powered wheelchair after initially limiting compensation to $3,000, against a replacement quote of almost $6,000. The airline changed its position following ABC questions and apologised; Ngo says the damaged chair has restricted independence and forced them to hire unsuitable replacements.

Source: ABC News | Paywall: No

NDIS fraud: Ebtesam Fahmy set to join ‘worst of the worst’ list

The Daily Telegraph reports that Ebtesam Mahmoud Ibrahim Fahmy is due to be sentenced after a jury convicted her of five dishonesty offences and dealing in proceeds of crime exceeding $1 million. The report also reviews other NDIS fraud prosecutions. Summary based on visible public preview only.

Source: Daily Telegraph | Paywall: Yes

One Nation’s Zoolander: Warren Pickering’s past as a ‘diversity model’ revealed

The Australian’s Victoria Ink column reports that One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering previously modelled through Diversity Models, subsequently banned from providing NDIS services. There is no suggestion Pickering was involved in the agency’s misconduct. Summary based on visible public preview only.

Source: The Australian | COMMENTARY | Paywall: Yes