Motions

International Day of People with Disability

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (10:58): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises that 3 December 2022 is International Day of People with Disability;

(b) notes that this is a day to celebrate people living with disability, to promote public awareness of the issues people face, and to consider how we improve access and inclusivity in our communities;

(c) acknowledges that 46,000 South Australians, including children, receive support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, with South Australian taxpayers contributing more than $840 million to the scheme each year;

(d) remembers that the NDIS is a scheme that was designed by Labor to give people with disability choice and control over their own lives—which is an objective we continue to strive for in our state-run supported independent living homes and other disability services; and

(e) applauds the dozens of state and local bodies that have developed and implemented disability access and inclusion plans.

I am delighted to speak on this motion, which celebrates people with disability and the importance of the International Day of People with Disability. This year, we are being asked to look beyond and to start having real conversations about disability, to challenge some of our preconceived community attitudes and to celebrate the unique stories and experiences of people.

This is a call to action. Together as a community we need to start to look beyond and discover more about the person, their skills, talents and interests, and to change attitudes and perceptions of disability while taking real action to be more inclusive. People are not defined by their disability. It is also important to note that, while there are 4.4 million or one in five Australians who have some form of a disability, not all disabilities are visible.

Promoting a similar theme in South Australia, the Department of Human Services launched the multiaward-winning See Me for Me campaign aimed at shifting the narrative by asking people to see disability as another form of diversity in society. The campaign focused on the interests of four people while using humour to get the message across. The campaign introduced us to Annette, who cannot change that she is a motorsport fanatic with a need for speed; Charles, who is tired of feeling judged for being Nickelback's number one fan; Michael, who does not care what anyone thinks about his love for pineapple on a pizza; and, finally, Charlie, who is not changing his Crocs and socks for anyone.

International Day of People with Disability asks our community to stop and think about how we can be more inclusive, and I am proud to be part of a government with a vision to build an accessible and inclusive South Australia that is based on fairness, respect and equity. Through the state's Disability Inclusion Plan, Inclusive SA, we have a commitment to address the challenges facing people with disability and to ensure our state is accessible and inclusive for all South Australians.

All government agencies and nearly all local councils have released and commenced implementing the actions in their Disability Access and Inclusion Plan. These plans and actions are decreasing barriers and increasing opportunities for people living with disability, their families and carers to participate in the community more fully.

This year our government delivered the country's first, and perhaps the world's first, Assistant Minister for Autism. The Hon. Emily Bourke MLC from the other place will help our government to deliver South Australia's first Autism Strategy, which has been co-designed with the autistic and autism community. We will also develop an autism charter that all government agencies will be required to sign up to.

Our Minister for Human Services recently launched the uniquely South Australian Pavely smartphone app, which provides users with a directory of venues and facilities across the state and the opportunity to find, rate and review their experiences based on accessibility and overall inclusiveness. The minister also announced in this chamber the members of the new disability ministers' advisory council, which will play an important role in advising the government on high-level strategic issues relevant to people living with disability right across our state.

Importantly, the Minister for Housing and Urban Development has advocated for new minimum accessibility standards for residential builds that will improve our accessible housing stock. It was unfortunate and very concerning to learn that those opposite did not support these new minimum accessibility standards at the previous Building Ministers' Meeting.

A critical part of inclusive communities is the ability for people to get out and about and for people to be visited at home. So it is great that tens of thousands of people, especially those living with disability, will continue to be able to use the South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme after our government secured a deal with the commonwealth to fund its NDIS participants.

Following years of mismanagement, our new federal Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the Hon. Bill Shorten, has been working with our state minister and disability ministers right across the country to rebuild community trust in the NDIS. As well as agreeing to bring forward to this year a much-needed review of the scheme, the disability ministers have set an ambitious agenda focusing on:

employment opportunities for participants;

forward and compliance;

hospital discharge; and

reducing the number of cases referred to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

We need to get this right.

In closing, I would like to touch on some of the events and celebrations that will occur across South Australia in line with the International Day of People with Disability this year:

Minda Incorporated will be holding its annual celebration, featuring 24 market stalls, food trucks, live music, dances and amusement rides and a petting zoo, and I am told there will even be an appearance by Father Christmas himself;

the Mount Barker Library will be hosting an art exhibition by members of the local disability community;

AMPLIFY! is a new theatre production by No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability running from 1 to 3 December at the State Opera's rehearsal studio;

Nature Play SA will be hosting a guided nature work through Onkaparinga National Park; and

the City of Playford will be hosting Celebration of Ability—Mission: Is Possible at the Playford Civic Centre.

These are just a few of the events that are being run by community organisations and local government across this weekend. I encourage everyone in this place to get out to these events and ensure that you look beyond the disability. Information on those events this weekend across the state and the country can be found by visiting www.idpwd.com.au. I commend this motion to the house.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (11:05): In speaking to this motion, I will reflect on some personal experiences I have had with a friend who had a terrible accident at the age of 23. He went from a self-employed, successful person working with livestock to falling off a horse, breaking his neck and becoming a quadriplegic. It is really not until you experience something with someone who is close to you, whether that is a child who is born with a disability or a child who has had an accident, or where a disability has been detected some time later, or in the case of a close friend who has had a life-changing accident—and I have experienced some issues through my friend.

Back quite some time ago, in 1986, there was a lot less awareness of those with disability, a lot of ignorance, I guess, of what to expect—for example, when you book a table at a restaurant and say, 'And, by the way, we'll need a chair removed because one of our guests is in a wheelchair,' and you turn up at the restaurant and find that the table is the furthest away from the door and that it is impossible to get to the table without everybody in the restaurant standing up and moving their chairs to allow the wheelchair through.

You think, 'Well, why did that happen? How could that possibly have happened?' Obviously it is a lack of awareness and perhaps some embarrassment by those running the restaurant not knowing what to expect when somebody turns up in a wheelchair. This may sound like a very First World problem, but it can be humiliating for that person with the disability. In this case it was a wheelchair, but of course it could be any disability that may require special attention or an alteration or a special request, whether that be when visiting a restaurant, whether it be on public transport, or whether it be even in private transport.

One of the other things my friend experienced was the use of disability cabs. Most of us take for granted that, when we want a cab, we simply ring for one, or if we are in a busy street we can wave one down, or we call an Uber or equivalent and one turns up. But of course if you want a disability taxi, often you need to book the day before for an appointment, in particular, whether that be a social appointment or a medical appointment, but there is still no guarantee that taxi will turn up on time. There are stories of a taxi being three hours late for a booking that was made 24 hours prior.

I am very pleased that situation has improved since the previous government increased the lifting fee that would be paid for those who were operating disabled cabs to increase the incentive to use those cabs to service people with disabilities, rather than using them for anybody who wanted a cab. I believe that has improved the situation, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

I was also pleased that, through the previous government's Skilling South Australia program, we saw the highest growth in the nation quarter after quarter of those with disability who were starting apprenticeships and traineeships. Paid traineeships and apprenticeships were taken up by those with disability. South Australia had the best numbers for quite some time in that space, and it was because of the flexibility of the Skilling South Australia program, that we were able to work with RTOs that specialised in working with people with disability or working within that industry.

With the extra funding they received to support on-the-job training, they were able to work with disabled people and bring them into the workforce not as people with disability but as part of a team, as part of the workforce in a business or an industry in which non-disabled people work because of the changes that were made and the flexibility that program gave.

It is important that we recognise the International Day of People with Disability. I am so pleased that so many gains have been made over the years from what I first experienced with my friend back in 1986 and also for families of people who unexpectedly have a change of life situation, whether it be a young child breaking a neck while skiing or a workplace accident or some other situation that has impacted the person and hence the family. I know that planning the future in those early days and the adjustments that are made are very difficult.

In my friend's case, from working as a livestock contractor he transitioned into becoming an artist, an artist who was able to produce work that demanded thousands of dollars and sold out exhibitions. It was quite an amazing transition, but of course there was a lot of support from family and friends in order to get that up and running. Obviously, I am talking about a success story, but it was not without a lot of pain and a lot of adjustment in that person's life. Programs like the NDIS are very important because not everybody has family support and not everybody has the financial ability to buy those services.

It is also very important that the NDIS be sustainable and that we do not have a situation where those who provide NDIS services have one price for customers who walk in without NDIS support and a higher price for those who have NDIS support. I have had reports in my office of people who have made an appointment to see a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist or some other provider and, and when they arrived and presented their qualification for NDIS funding, all of a sudden the price went up. This must change. I do not know why that is happening, but it is obvious that it is not a situation that is sustainable.

We have seen it with products sold to support the lifestyle of those who may require chairs that lift, for example, or machines that help with exercise. If you buy them from a normal retailer, often they are half the price than if you buy them from somebody who is on the NDIS list and specialises in providing those things for people with disability.

I think it is important that we recognise the different lifestyle, the different challenges that people with disabilities have, but that we also recognise not just the challenges brought about by their disability but the challenges in navigating everything from catching a cab to actually receiving the health services and care services that they require to help them live a standard of living closer to that of the rest of the nation. In doing that, we can provide a service through government, through not-for-profits and through families and friends that improves the quality of life for those with disability and, of course, their families.

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (11:15): I would like to thank the member for Unley for contributing to the debate and sharing some of his personal experiences over the years. I take this opportunity to once again encourage all members to get out and about this weekend and visit some of these fantastic events and to start some real conversations about disability. I commend this motion to the house.

Motion carried.