Pensioners demand payment increase

About 200 pensioners have gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to demand an increase in their payments.

The Government is giving pensioners a one-off payment of $1,400 next month, but they say it will not be enough to cover the rising cost of living.

Seniors groups want the Federal Government to increase the pension rate from 25 per cent of average weekly earnings, to 35 per cent.

The Council on Ageing spokeswoman Patricia Reeve says pensioners are struggling to survive.

"Some people are talking about a $30 a week increase and that's just not enough that won't make the difference that's required," she said.

"The other thing is Government has many calls on it. We're asking a whole community to say to the Government it's time to do something about pensions."

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Sydney pensioners rally for long-term reform
Pensioner, retiree and welfare groups have rallied together in Sydney, calling on the Federal Government to improve their standard of living.

Disability group: review migration laws

The Down Syndrome Association of Western Australia says the Commonwealth must review legislation which makes it hard for people with children with disabilities to migrate to Australia.

The call follows the Federal Government's decision to grant permanent residency yesterday to a Perth midwife who has a child with Down syndrome.

In the Senate yesterday the Government and the Opposition argued over whose fault it was that it took the woman several years and attempts to get the application approved.

Jan Gothard from the Down Syndrome Association of Western Australia says the delay is unacceptable and is appealing for the relevant legislation to be repealed.

"So that migration is not exempt from disability discrimination and then people with disabilities would be treated fairly within the migration process just as they should be within Australia as a whole," she said.

She says the Migration Act needs to be reviewed so it does not discriminate against people with disabilities.

"Down syndrome and many other disabilities are not health issues, they are developmental conditions or genetic conditions which don't necessarily impact on health," she said.

"I think we should look at health as a separate issue."

Trio jailed over disabled man's death

Two men and a teenager have been jailed for covering up the brutal torture and killing of an intellectually disabled man.

Christopher O'Brien, 22, died after being viciously assaulted over two days at his Melbourne home in March last year.

His skeletal remains were found five months later in the Dandenong Creek wrapped in a sleeping bag.

Shalendra Singh, 23, Darren Charles Summers, 37, and an 18-year-old man who cannot be named each pleaded guilty to being an accessary to manslaughter.

During their sentencing on Tuesday, the court heard that Mr O'Brien, who had an intellectual age of 14, was grilled over the theft of a bracelet and mobile phone before being punched and kicked, spat on and verbally abused and attacked with ashtrays and sticks.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry said the viciousness and cruelty of the attack almost defied belief.

The court heard that Summers, Singh and the youth cleaned the house in Noble Park to destroy forensic evidence after Mr O'Brien died in the loungeroom.

Summers loaded items used in the killing into plastic bags and burnt them in a 44-gallon drum in his backyard, disposing of the ashes at an unknown location.

Singh and Summers also lied to police to conceal what had happened.

Singh was jailed for two years and three months and must serve 14 months before being eligible for parole.

Summers was jailed for two-and-a-half years and must serve a minimum of 16 months.

The 18-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in a youth justice centre.

In sentencing, Justice Lasry said that while the trio did not cause Mr O'Brien's death, the brutal killing resulted in his family suffering an agonising loss.

Dog lick costs leg, toes, fingers

A woman is rebuilding her life from losing all her toes, fingers and a leg after being licked by a dog.

Julie McKenna from Mildura in Victoria was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital last year after her small terrier licked a superficial burn on her left foot.

It sent her into septic shock, weeks later.

While the former nurse says her case is rare, she thinks people need to be careful around dogs and cats, especially where there is broken skin.

"I mean you see dogs licking kids on the face and things like that, I mean it's just one of those million-in-one chances, it's like the bird flu, you know, how did it hop from bird to human?" she said.

"Definitely changed my life, it's changed my life in every aspect, having no fingers and no, well amputated leg and half a foot, it's everything, you have to think twice about how to do things."

Burns specialist Dr John Greenwood says pet owners need to be careful.

"Dog bites, dog licks, they're never benign, they're always potentially horrendously infective."

Changes aim to help disability pensioners

The Federal Government has announced changes to assist more disability pensioners to find employment by removing disincentives for people who want to look for work.

Currently recipients who sign up with an employment agency have their benefits reviewed automatically and can lose some entitlements even before they get a job.

Federal Minister for Employment Participation, Brendan O'Connor, says from September the process will be changed so people will not lose any payments when they begin looking for work.

"My job is to see more people in work and I think this is certainly a worthwhile opportunity to consider whether the increase will occur as a result," he said.

"I'm hoping it will and I'm confident as a result of today's reception that people who can look for work, who are on the pension will be encouraged by the announcement."

Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten says under the new system people will not be penalised for looking for work.

"Living on $270 a week is a battle but if you think that you're going to lose that $270 a week by simply wanting to apply for a job, it's sending the wrong messages," he said.

"The signals are all wrong and now we've fixed that."

Disabled protected from sex predators?

Sexual predator laws in NSW have been broadened to include victims suffering afflictions such as Alzheimer's and the long-term effects of stroke.

Carers and others found committing sexual acts against people with cognitive impairments now face up to 10 years in jail.

NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos said the new laws were introduced into state parliament on Thursday to protect more people vulnerable to sexual attack.

"Taking advantage of a cognitively impaired person for sexual gratification is reprehensible," Mr Hatzistergos said in a statement.

Prior to the changes, the laws protected only people born with or who acquired an intellectual disability.

"With the introduction of these laws we are protecting a broader group of disabled people who are vulnerable to sexual predators," he said.

A new state inheritance law was also introduced to parliament on Thursday to simplify the administration of deceased estates.

"Moving between states is becoming more prevalent, particularly among baby boomer retirees so the argument for uniform inheritance laws has become more compelling," Mr Hatzistergos said.

Quote: Carers and others offenders? Don't they already come under the general human being type of offenders? And it would be hard to imagine that regardless of being born with or who acquired and intellectual disability a victim would not have been seen as disabled after any sexual offence had been committed. So these alleged new laws and penalties appear to be just filibustering like the government has just done something new? Does that mean prior these new laws that carers and others got away with the crime? I don't think so. It is easy for the Attorney General to grandstand on what is reprehensible like people don't know? If a person made a statement that was already seen by others as reprehensible how many political points should they get? There are lots of reprehensible acts and it is easy to make a statement that somehow gives John Hatzistergos a point when his government has failed miserably to govern NSW. And to rely on the most unpopular person in society and one of the most vulnerable in society for political credibility could also be seen as reprehensible. How about making sure that offenders get programs in prison for their reprehensibility?

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Disabled 'deserve secret ballot'

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission says it is time for New South Wales to introduce better voting methods for people with disabilities.

The call comes after the New South Wales Electoral Commission was found to have discriminated against a blind man, who was not able to cast a secret ballot in braille during the 2004 local government elections.

Darren Fittler asked for an application in braille four weeks before the Randwick City Council election so he could vote in secret.

But the commission failed to provide him with one.

The New South Wales Administrative Decisions' Tribunal ordered the state electoral commission to pay $5,000 for hurt and humiliation suffered.

The Electoral Commission says it will offer ballot papers in braille in the future.

But Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes says New South Wales lags way behind other states and territories in providing equality.

"This is a real wake-up call for the New South Wales Electoral Commission," he said.

"Many of us have been drawing it to their attention for some years. It really sends a signal that it's about time that they let everyone have a secret ballot and not just the majority of people in New South Wales."

Quote: The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission may be right here but everyone knows that they are just another stooge and arm of government and will only push what the government will allow them to. In other words if it is too hard for them and the government won't allow it then they wouldn't take any legal action to providing equality. So I particlularly don't think there is any need whatsoever to give them any credit, at all, for the likes of this article, opposed to all the other inequality and human rights abuses, right under their noses, that they have overlooked, especially during the John Howard government. For the likes of Graeme Innes all human rights abuse and inequality is a real wake up call for Australia. Not just when someone else has to take the action. Quote: "Many of us have been drawing it to their attention for some years."