	{"id":72517,"date":"2020-11-06T04:54:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T18:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=72517"},"modified":"2020-11-06T07:39:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T21:39:35","slug":"a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\/","title":{"rendered":"A voice for people of all abilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A NEW complaints service has been established for people with disability and their families to raise concerns about workers entrusted with their care.<\/p>\n<p>Set up by the State Government in response to the 2016 inquiry into abuse in disability services, the Victorian Disability Worker Commission\u2019s complaints service is headed by commissioner Dan Stubbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDisability workers play a valued role in supporting people with disability to participate and most workers deliver safe and respectful services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, since launching this year the Commission has been responding to daily complaints and enquiries about workers who pose a risk, and we\u2019re seeing a range of health and safety issues from physical abuse, to breach of privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The service fields complaints with disability workers across the state who breach new Victorian regulations set up for the sector, including compliance with the Disability Service Safeguards Code of Conduct and formally notifying of unsafe conduct at work.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a \u2018no wrong door\u2019 policy and the service assists anyone who reaches out. If the Commission does not have the power and scope to address an issue they\u2019ll seek to ensure complaints are referred to the right place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI encourage Victorians with disability, and their families, to use our independent complaints service,\u201d Mr Stubbs said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a right to speak up and make a complaint. Reach out to us, we will listen and assist you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough our complaints service, we will continue to act on unacceptable treatment of people with disability and ensure greater accountability for the delivery of disability services.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A NEW complaints service has been established for people with disability and their families to raise concerns about workers entrusted with their care. Set up by the State Government in response to the 2016 inquiry into abuse in disability services, the Victorian Disability Worker Commission\u2019s complaints service is headed by commissioner Dan Stubbs. \u201cDisability workers [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":72518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-72517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A voice for people of all abilities - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A voice for people of all abilities - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A NEW complaints service has been established for people with disability and their families to raise concerns about workers entrusted with their care. Set up by the State Government in response to the 2016 inquiry into abuse in disability services, the Victorian Disability Worker Commission\u2019s complaints service is headed by commissioner Dan Stubbs. \u201cDisability workers [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alistairfinlayjournalist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-05T18:54:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-05T21:39:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/11\/Images-DWRS-media-release-30-October-2020Woman-assisting-man-using-tablet-scaled-e1604448954582.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"665\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alistair Finlay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alistair Finlay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alistair Finlay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9bf999ff27982396123a6d7a9abe115b\"},\"headline\":\"A voice for people of all abilities\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-05T18:54:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-05T21:39:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":265,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Images-DWRS-media-release-30-October-2020Woman-assisting-man-using-tablet-scaled-e1604448954582.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/\",\"name\":\"A voice for people of all abilities - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Images-DWRS-media-release-30-October-2020Woman-assisting-man-using-tablet-scaled-e1604448954582.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-05T18:54:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-05T21:39:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/a-voice-for-people-of-all-abilities\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Images-DWRS-media-release-30-October-2020Woman-assisting-man-using-tablet-scaled-e1604448954582.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/Images-DWRS-media-release-30-October-2020Woman-assisting-man-using-tablet-scaled-e1604448954582.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":665,\"caption\":\"There to help: Victorian Disability Worker Commission\u2019s complaints service hears issues relating to risks and health and safety issues within the sector. 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