Disability Unmet Need

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:42): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Disabilities questions about the unmet needs list in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: When I was first elected to this place some four years ago, one of the early issues I raised in question time was the public monthly disclosure of the growing unmet needs list for disability services and support in South Australia. As of January 2012, that information has indeed been available on the website of the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion and, while it has been shifted about, through website upgrades and changes, I am fortunate that I am still able to find it via Google.

While this transparency by government is positive and welcome, and indeed should be required, the figures being reported each month tell a less happy story and there continues to be a growing source of constituents calling my office in crisis and/or close to crisis as they struggle across the four services of accommodation support, community support, community access and respite.

Despite all of the increases in disability funding and the rhetoric that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will be the panacea that solves all problems in disability, the numbers being reported on a monthly basis show otherwise. In January 2012, category 1 reported unmet need of 1,217 services across 995 clients. In February 2014, the most recent report available, the same category 1 figures show that there is unmet need of 1,818 services across 1,504 unique clients. This is an increase of 50 per cent in both cases—unmet need and unique clients. Remember, this is just in category 1 (critical need) meaning clients are homeless or at immediate risk of harm to self or others. My questions are:

1. Is the minister aware of the ballooning unmet needs list in disability services?

2. What will the minister do to prevent the unmet needs list growing further and reduce the clients and services going unmet each month in South Australia?

3. Does the minister agree that, given the NDIS (all going well, and we've no guarantee that it will) is still six years away from full rollout, claiming the NDIS will solve this problem is not good enough?

4. Does the minister agree that the 1,500 South Australians on the category 1 unmet needs list are not having their basic human rights met under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

5. Is the minister concerned that in this case we are in breach of the convention and optional protocol of the United Nations convention, and is he concerned about our reputation at a national and international level, given this?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions, and I will refer them to the Minister for Disabilities in another place and bring back a response. I just want to briefly put some comments on the record at this point, and that is to say that since coming into office this government has significantly increased assistance for people with disabilities.

In terms of our concerns about what is happening nationally, we are horrified—not to put too fine a point on it—at what the Tony Abbott federal government is contemplating in terms of changes to the national disability scheme. There are threats that funding will be significantly eroded and services significantly dismantled, so there are grave concerns about the impact that might have on services for those people suffering disabilities. Of course, we see that as part of the DNA of Liberal governments, don't we, Mr President—to slash and burn, and to cut and strip back all of those really important services that support the community—

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Point of order, Mr President.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —things like Medicare—

The PRESIDENT: Point of order.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: My point of order is one of relevance. The minister is going across debating with herself about the commonwealth and not sticking to answering the question.

The PRESIDENT: The minister will answer the question as she sees fit.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Exactly, and this goes directly to the question that the Hon. Kelly Vincent asked: she asked about our concern about what is happening nationally, and that's exactly what I am addressing—our concerns about what is happening nationally, not only in terms of disability services but those other services that people with disabilities also access, such as Medicare and vocational services. I spoke in this place yesterday about the federal government, Tony Abbott's Liberal government's attack on—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Point of order: the minister has been here long enough to know that the title of the Prime Minister is actually the Hon. Tony Abbott; as she has the title Honourable, she should use it.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We see that not only are attempts to dismantle Medicare and vocational services being considered, and I talked about that in this place—that something like $74.6 million is being looked at by the federal Liberal government to dismantle those services—but also, as to support such as the aged-care pension, we are looking down the barrel of a gun in that respect. In terms of that last question, we are deeply concerned; in fact, we are horrified at what the implications of that might be, not only for people with disabilities but for the community generally.