NEWS-HR

A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by the Gladstone Community Linking Agency Inc. T/A Gladstone Community Linking Agency for its Gladstone Community Linking Agency Inc Enterprise Agreement 2016 has been approved by Commissioner Saunders in Melbourne on the 25 January 2017.

Sao Duarte has lost her unfair dismissal claim against The Paraplegic & Quadriplegic Association of NSW because Deputy President Booth ruled that “she was unable to undertake the inherent requirements of her job as a result of incapacity.”

A former disability support worker sprayed petrol over a shop attendant and threatened to set him alight during an armed robbery, a court has heard. Police allege Kepa Kemp, 40, separately threatened five people with weapons and robbed them in Melbourne’s west between December 10 and December 27 last year. The alleged armed robberies include threats made against attendants in a tobacco shop, convenience store and pharmacy and a taxi driver. Mr Kemp later told police he was drinking between four and six litres of cask wine each day at the time and also using the drugs cannabis and ice, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard.

A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Speaking Up For You Inc. for its Speaking Up For You Enterprise Agreement 2016 has been approved by Commissioner Lee in Melbourne on the 18 January 2017.

Disability services provider Kira has appointed not-for-profit executive Vik Jeyakumar to lead the organisation as its new chief executive from February 6. Based in Perth’s northern suburbs Kira was founded in 1992 and is funded through the Disability Services Commission, providing individualised programs and tailored to the needs and outcomes of people with a disability.

The “Automotive, Food, Metals, Engineering, Printing and Kindred Industries Union” known as the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) – New South Wales Branch and Quad Services have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Deputy President Dean in Hearing Room 14-2 – Level 14 in Sydney.

When volunteers visited the 21-year-old woman, who had a severe intellectual disability and cerebral palsy, she clung to one of them sobbing. Her visitors, who came from the Office of the Public Advocate, had watched as she was half-carried, half dragged from a taxi by her carers, falling several times as she was brought inside the residential care facility. When the visitors questioned staff from the government-funded residential home about the woman’s swollen elbow, staff claimed that she “did not really feel pain” and she had “an extreme tolerance – even indifference – to pain”. They claimed they could distinguish between the different cries she made. They left her sobbing. Community Visitors, and the Office of the Public Advocate – which supports them – raised repeated fears over eight months about the woman’s safety. This included a written notice to the Department of Health and Human Service’s division deputy secretary in January, warning of “grave” concerns about her wellbeing, safety and dignity. She was fed propped in a beanbag, despite the choking risk it posed, in a house that lacked the safety equipment she needed. The woman died in hospital five months ago, two days after her 22nd birthday. Her death is now under Coronial investigation. Her plight is just one of the horrific failures uncovered by the Office of the Public Advocate’s community visitors – volunteers who visit people living in disability services and mental health facilities, and people in supported residential services. The office’s annual report shows community visitors’ reports of abuse, neglect and assaults in the sector rose to 321 in the past financial year, up from 265 the previous year – a 21 per cent increase. They include assaults made against staff, by staff, and between residents.

An application for approval of the Disability Living Incorporated Enterprise Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will be determined by Commissioner Saunders in the Fair Work Commission at Terrace Tower 80 William Street East Sydney.