From Graeme Innes:

Dear Adam Creighton,

I have seen you on the ABC's The Drum. I know you are economics correspondent for The Australian, have worked for the Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

I am writing to you about your comments on Thursday, after we learnt the government no longer intends to renew the position of Disability Discrimination Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission. You said: "Lots of people are discriminated against. Why don't we have a gay rights commissioner, or a left-handed commissioner, or a short persons commissioner, or a commissioner for people who aren't good-looking."

As a person with a disability, I am hurt and saddened by your comment. Hurt because you trivialised the significant issues having an impact on the day-to-day lives of Australians with disabilities, and the work the Disability Discrimination Commissioner does to address them. Saddened because your comment demonstrates your total lack of awareness of the magnitude of these issues.

I'd like to meet you and introduce you to some of my friends. Let me tell you about us.

I qualified as a lawyer, then failed at about 30 job interviews because employers could not understand how a blind person could do such a job. My first job was as a clerical assistant in the public service. That was some time ago, but not much has changed.

Adam’s areas of expertise include financial markets and services, tax and fiscal policy, superannuation, and political economy. Prior to joining the CIS Adam was a Senior Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition and economic adviser to the Shadow Assistant Treasurer.

He spent six months at The Economist in London in 2009, writing for the finance and arts pages. He has also written for The Spectator, Policy Review, The American Spectator and co-authored a chapter for Oxford University Press on funded retirement systems.

Adam completed a Master of Philosophy in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford in July 2008, as a Commonwealth Scholar.

He started his career at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. For six years from 1995 he was an (award winning) checkout operator at Woolworths.

See Toon at top... 

All the heart-less in government and their smart advisors, should spend a couple of weeks in a wheelchair with their hands and feet restrained, plus having to travel by bus to go to work and having all their needs attended by a carer... People like Creighton might learn something.

When Korey Gunnis - sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis, cerebral palsy, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, chronic asthma, hearing loss, anxiety disorder and clinical depression - asked Joe Hockey on the ABC’s Q and A program how he was supposed to cope with the new “heartless” $7 Medicare co-payment, the treasurer’s answer was unequivocal. Gunnis would not have to pay it.

“Well from what you said you wouldn’t be hit by the so-called medicare co-payment, you wouldn’t be affected,” Hockey said.

“Initially I would”, Gunnis interjected from the audience, presumably referring to the fact that even concession card holders are required to pay the co-payment for their first 10 visits to the doctor each year.

“No you wouldn’t because you would be on a care plan with your doctor, obviously you have a number of chronic diseases, in that situation you would not be affected by the co-payment,” Hockey insisted.

But according to the Australian Medical Association, Gunnis is very probably right.

The budget does exempt doctors’ visits listed as “chronic disease management items” from the co-payment, but these are likely to be only a very small proportion of the visits to the doctor by someone with chronic health problems like Gunnis.

“Chronic disease management items” include an initial consultation to develop a chronic disease management plan and another consultation with other health professionals - for example with a diabetic educator and a podiatrist for a sufferer of diabetes.

But if a chronic disease sufferer gets sick, or needs a new prescription, or has any other health problems their visit to the doctor counts as a standard consultation and attracts the $7 co-payment - for the first 10 visits if they are hold a concession card, or indefinitely, if they do not.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/joe-hockeys-qa-interrogator-right-co-payments