Hope In Colour- Disability & Child Safety Advocacy

07/07/2026

There are some things that deserve absolute condemnation.

Child abuse is one of them.

So is the creation, distribution, downloading, printing and possession of child abuse material.

Every image is a real child.

Every video is a real child.

Every file represents abuse that happened to a child and continues to cause harm every time it is viewed.

There is no such thing as a victimless crime.

Today, one of Australia’s most prominent disability advocates, Craig Wallace, was charged with child abuse material offences.

According to reports from court, the prosecutor alleged that Mr Wallace told police he had been downloading and printing child abuse material “since the internet began” and further alleged that there appeared to be “decades of offending.”

These are allegations before the court, and the legal process must now take its course.

But let me be crystal clear about one thing.

I don’t care how many governments you’ve advised.

I don’t care how many boards you’ve sat on.

I don’t care how many conferences you’ve spoken at.

I don’t care how many years you’ve spent in advocacy.

No position of influence should ever place someone above accountability.

The disability community deserves advocates whose integrity matches the responsibility they’ve been entrusted with.

I stand with children.

I stand with survivors.

I stand for accountability.

Protect children. Every time. Without exception.

07/07/2026

The future of the NDIS is being decided now.

If you haven’t made a submission yet, it’s not too late.

There are 3 days remaining to have your voice heard.

The disability community deserves to be part of the conversation. 💪♿️

07/07/2026

Are disabled Australians being unfairly blamed?

For years we’ve been told that the NDIS is under threat because of fraud.

But a recent article raises an important question: Is the public conversation focused on the wrong problem?

According to the article, business tax fraud is estimated to cost Australia around $16 billion every year, while estimated NDIS non-compliance is around $3.4 billion.

The article also points out that, as a proportion of each system, the estimated losses are not dramatically different around 11% of company tax revenue compared with approximately 8% of NDIS expenditure.

Yet only one of these is regularly described using words like “rorts,” “dodgy providers” and “crime”.

The concern isn’t that NDIS fraud should be ignored. Fraud should always be investigated and prosecuted.

The concern is that disabled people are increasingly paying the price for the government’s response.

The article argues that reforms justified by concerns about fraud are expected to prevent around 350,000 people from accessing the NDIS over four years, while people with disability continue to face greater scrutiny, tighter eligibility and reduced supports.

As a disability community, we should be asking for greater transparency.

How much of the reported NDIS losses are actually proven fraud?

How much is administrative error?

How much involves providers compared with participants?

How much has actually been recovered?

These questions matter because evidence should drive policy, not headlines.

The integrity of the NDIS is important. So are the rights of people with disability.

We can protect public money without creating a system where disabled Australians are treated as the problem.

🔗 Link to article

https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260630-business-tax-fraud-is-worse-than-ndis-fraud-disabled-people-are-paying-the-price

30/06/2026

This is your chance to help shape the future of disability policy in Victoria.

The Victorian Government is currently consulting on the next State Disability Plan and Victorian Autism Plan and they need to hear directly from disabled people, autistic people, families, carers, advocates and service providers.

If you’ve ever experienced:
• Barriers to education
• Inaccessible healthcare
• A lack of appropriate disability supports
• Poor inclusion in schools, workplaces or the community
• Gaps in the NDIS or state-funded services

…now is the time to speak up.

We know that lived experience must be at the centre of policy, not as an afterthought, but as the foundation.

Whether your experience has been positive or incredibly difficult, your voice matters. Governments cannot address issues they don’t hear about.

The consultation closes at 5:00 pm on Friday, 17 July 2026, so don’t miss the opportunity to have your say.

If you do make a submission, we’d love to hear what issues you raised in the comments. Together, we can push for a Victoria that is genuinely inclusive, accessible and accountable for all disabled people and their families.

There’s still time to share your ideas on planning for a more inclusive, accessible, and fair Victoria.

Consultation for the next State Disability Plan and the next Victorian Autism Plan is still open, closing soon.

Help the government learn what’s working well, what could be improved, priorities for the future and your ideas for the next plan.

As part of this plan, the Victorian Government will also work with the disability community to respond to national disability reforms.

There are many ways to get involved. But you have to be quick, consultation closes on 5pm, Friday 17 July 2026.

Learn more at https://brnw.ch/21x3Kpr

29/06/2026

You don’t have to take an unexpected NDIS call just because your phone rings.

We’ve had increasing reports of participants and parents receiving calls from NDIS planners or Local Area Coordinators (LACs) that begin as a simple “check-in” but quickly move into discussions about plans, funding or supports.

It’s important to remember that you have rights.

• You can ask for the conversation to be rescheduled to a time that suits you.
• You can request your Support Coordinator, advocate or another trusted support person be included in the call.
• If you’re a parent, you can ask to be involved in discussions about your child’s plan.
• If you feel overwhelmed, pressured or dysregulated, you can pause or end the conversation and arrange another time.
• Always write down the name and role of the person you spoke with, along with the date, time and a summary of what was discussed.

You should never feel pressured into making important decisions on the spot.

Being prepared, having the right supports around you, and taking the conversation at a time that works for you can make a significant difference.

Have you experienced one of these calls recently? We’d love to hear your experience in the comments.

Please share this post so more participants and families know they have options and can advocate for themselves with confidence.

23/06/2026

Important update: Labor’s NDIS Bill has been delayed again, with the Greens securing another Senate Inquiry.

What does this mean?

• The bill will not pass this sitting fortnight as planned.
• There is more time for scrutiny of the legislation.
• Disabled people, families and advocates have more time to make submissions and have their voices heard.
• The campaign against these proposed changes continues.

Some amendments have reportedly been secured, including limiting the Minister’s ability to make broad cuts across key support categories and strengthening protections around health-related supports.

While this delay is positive, the bill has not been defeated. The fight is far from over.

This delay happened because the disability community spoke up, organised and refused to stay silent.

13/06/2026

Parents are not the enemy.

If there are genuine threats to teacher safety, Victoria already has laws, workplace protections, intervention orders, police powers and existing processes to deal with that. Nobody is arguing against protecting staff from real abuse or violence.

But this is not what this is.

These exclusion and “school safety” orders are already being used punitively against parents who advocate for their child, particularly parents of disabled children who challenge schools over discrimination, restraint, physical and sexual assaults, unsafe environments, lack of supports or breaches of duty of care.

We are watching a dangerous shift where parents who raise concerns are increasingly labelled “aggressive”, “difficult” or “unsafe” simply for refusing to stay quiet.

Parents go public because internal complaints processes so often fail them. Because meetings go nowhere.
Because emails are ignored.
Because their child has already been harmed.
Because the DET protects itself.

Instead of asking why so many families feel forced to speak publicly, the Victorian Government appears more focused on controlling criticism and shielding institutions from scrutiny.

Silencing parents will never fix unsafe systems. Accountability will.

Disabled children deserve protection.
Parents deserve the right to advocate without fear of retaliation.

12/06/2026

Disabled people are being publicly blamed for supposedly committing fraud, while governments use “NDIS sustainability” to justify cuts, surveillance and stripping supports from vulnerable families.

Meanwhile, an NDIA employee someone trusted with direct access to participant information and public funds has now been charged over an alleged $5 million fraud plot against the NDIS.

According to investigators, the worker allegedly:
• accessed more than 40 participant records without authorisation, including outside work hours
• allegedly used insider access to submit fraudulent claims against the plans of family members who were NDIS participants
• allegedly claimed supports and services that were never even provided
• allegedly failed to disclose conflicts of interest connected to an NDIS provider business and relatives linked to that business
• allegedly received more than $53,000 as part of the wider alleged fraud operation.

Think about the damage this does.

Disabled people are forced to prove their disability over and over.
Parents are interrogated over therapy invoices and support worker hours.
Women are leaving the workforce to provide unpaid care because supports are being cut in the name of “fraud prevention”.

Yet alleged large scale fraud is repeatedly being uncovered within providers, organised networks and now allegedly from inside the agency itself.

Disabled people are not the reason the NDIS is under pressure.
They are the ones paying the price for systemic failure, poor oversight and governments that would rather scapegoat vulnerable Australians than address the real problems.

11/06/2026

“Governments will have blood on their hands.”

Hannah said it hannahthewildflower
And people should be listening.

Because disabled people are already suffering.
Carers are already breaking.
Families are already drowning.

These are not just “policy changes.”
They are decisions that will push vulnerable people further into crisis while governments stand back and call it “reform.”

How many carers need to collapse from exhaustion?
How many families need to hit breaking point?
How many disabled people need to lose critical supports before governments admit the damage they are causing?

If governments continue forcing impossible burdens onto unpaid carers while stripping away supports, then yes they will have disabled people’s blood on their hands.

And they will have carers’ blood on their hands too.

The disability community is warning them now.
They do not get to say nobody told them.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AHRK5dryF/?mibextid=wwXIfr