Local mums join campaign trail

Anne Vetter and Vicki Horne are campaigning.

GYMPIE mothers Anne Vetter and Vicki Horne have joined a passionate group of Carers Alliance candidates across Australia to contest Senate seats in the federal election on August 21.

The Carers Alliance Queensland welcomes the energetic women who are out to win the votes of all who think people with disabilities and their families should have a disability system that helps them join in with everyday life, not hinders them.

Both Mrs Vetter and Mrs Horne, mothers of children with disabilities, were motivated to try their hand at politics by sitting through two days of Public Inquiry’s submissions into a proposed national disability insurance scheme.

They were also inspired by the success of grass-roots disability campaign group Australians Mad as Hell, started by two other mothers who were determined that politicians can no longer ignore the legitimate needs of people with disabilities and their families.

Mrs Vetter said, in the UK, people with disabilities and families or carers who provided daily living support had legislated entitlements to services and support, but not in Australia.

Carers Alliance wants a national disability insurance scheme with self-directed funding to be introduced from July 2011, following a report to be tabled by the Productivity Commission.