Australia does not have a national debt. This might sound surprising, given how often people tell us we do. The latest version of the ‘huge debt’ scenario is to say that there is “a trillion dollars of debt and nothing to show for it.” This is the line favoured by the Federal Treasurer. Sometimes he…
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Only 5% or so of total Australian money exists as coins or notes. The rest is kept in digital form. This article discusses thus fact and examines a key difference between digital Australian money and cryptocurrency as most people understand it. While privately-traded cryptocurrencies are becoming more well known, they are unlikely ever to be…
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One of the most prominent players in the Australian economy is the Reserve Bank of Australia – or the ‘RBA.’ Amongst many other things, the RBA makes the news each month when it announces its policy for interest rates. The RBA is Australia’s Central Bank. This means that it is the banker for the Commonwealth…
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Did you know that there is more than one type of money? We recently came across a fascinating book by American economist Joseph Wang. The book is titled Central Banking 101 and it is billed as an ‘insider’s’ account of how central banks work. Wang spent five years working for the US Federal Reserve –…
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2 January 2024 Jim Chalmers has overseen two budget surpluses in his time as Federal Treasurer. He didn’t plan either of them. Strangely, this is the best thing about them. Unexpected surpluses are the best surpluses. A Government surplus sounds like a good thing, especially when contrasted with a budget deficit. After all, who wouldn’t…
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One of the really knotty problems in support coordination, especially with psycho-social disability, is high staff turnover. It happens almost across the board and it is bad for everyone – bad for participants, bad for providers and annoying for LACs. High staff turnover means only one thing: unhappy staff. So, to avoid high turnover, providers…
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More than for most disabilities, the effectiveness of a support service for people with a psychosocial disability depends on the individual people involved. Especially when it comes to support work, the right person is almost always more important than the ‘right’ training and experience. Over the last fortnight, we have sourced and presented potential support…
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As a young person, I lived in a house with people who have sensory disabilities. In my work life, I have worked with people who experience physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities and psycho-social disabilities. I can safely say that psycho-social disability is different to all the other types of disability. The difference is important, especially if…
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Adrian McMaster here. Before starting Calm, I spent most of the previous twelve months running a large support coordination service (16-17 coordinators) within an even larger organisation. The experience was valuable and I got to meet a lot of truly great operators. To a person, the support coordinators working in my team were dedicated, committed…
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Recently, I was talking to some support coordinators who work for a large provider of NDIS services in the psychosocial space. They were mostly young, very bright and obviously very passionate about their work. Intriguingly – and very puzzlingly – these support coordinators kept referring to NDIS participants as ‘customers.’ I did a bit of…
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