Polio Australia is this country’s only national organisation representing the interests of Australia’s 400,000 polio survivors. Polio Australia provides information, education and support services to polio survivors, their families and carers, and the health professionals who treat them.
From its inception Polio Australia has been providing funding proposals and submissions to the federal government. To date, no funding has been forthcoming – polio survivors, Australia’s largest group of people with physical disabilities, remain totally unsupported by the government.
Polio Australia continues to separately apply for project and operational funding through philanthropic sources. We are also establishing a productive and mutually-beneficial relationship with Rotary Clubs and Districts.
Since 2007, representatives of Polio Australia have been travelling to Canberra at least once a year to advocate for specialised services to satisfy the unmet needs of polio survivors. Funding is also urgently required for Polio Australia itself to properly resource our unique and important services.
The PDF documents below represent just some of the supporting material which has been left with the Parliamentarians across party lines to whom we have spoken over the years. To date, no funding has resulted for either Polio Australia or for polio-specific support services.
In addition to the funding proposals presented directly to the government, Polio Australia has also put considerable resources into preparing four major funding submissions in response to the only relevant funding rounds conducted by the Department of Social Services and the Department of Health and Ageing:
Post-Polio Practices for the 21st Century
Aged Care Service Improvement and Healthy Ageing Grants – 2014
The Late Effects of Polio – Best Practice Clinical Recommendation Modules
Health System Capacity Development Fund – 2012
The Prevention, Early Intervention and Management of the Late Effects of Polio
Chronic Disease Prevention and Service Improvement Fund – 2012
Living and thriving with the late effects of polio: Australia-wide 3 day residential retreats
Education of Consumers in Chronic Disease Self-Management and Lifestyle Risk Factor Modification – 2009
(submitted in partnership with Polio NSW)
Relevant extracts from these funding submissions can be downloaded below. Despite the effort put into preparing these detailed and cogently argued submissions, none of them has been successful. It is not known when, or if, any future applicable funding rounds will be announced.
In response to government invitations to the Australian community to have input into Budget deliberations, Polio Australia lodged the following submissions. The aim was to raise the profile of the late effects of polio and start to quantify the funding required to meet the needs of polio survivors on at least a basic level. No feedback was received in regard to the submissions, and neither resulted in funding becoming available.
