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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-26 Daily Xml
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DISABILITY FUNDING

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Disability. Will the state government investigate the introduction of self-managed care for people with a disability?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for her question. I also acknowledge her expertise in this area as a former administrator in the disabilities field in the area of autism. The short answer is yes, but we have come to that decision because over a period of time we have heard demands from advocates, people with disabilities and their carers for a more flexible way of delivering disability services.

With the best will in the world, bureaucracies and service providers have difficulty in meeting the precise individual needs of every person with a disability. This new model of funding that we are exploring will put more control back into the hands of the person with the disability. In 2005 we first explored this with a pilot project through Enhanced Lifestyles which was funded to prepare a preferred model and conduct some research, and we received a report on that.

We also considered representations made to us by a range of advocates, including Mr Robbie Williams of the Julia Farr Housing Association, who carried out a detailed study of new initiatives in the United Kingdom, which has gone in for self-directed care in a very extensive way. I had the opportunity to consider that myself when I travelled there. At the moment we are benefiting from the visit of an officer from an organisation called In Control, which has taken a leading role in the implementation of a new system of self-managed care in the United Kingdom. He is in Adelaide at the moment and I will meet with him next week.

I have asked our new Disability Advisory Council to consider this question of self-managed funds. The new council, chaired by Dr Lorna Hallahan, is charged with providing a high level of advice, so the council is well placed to investigate this new system and provide a report to me about how it could possibly work.

It is necessary to consider appropriate safeguards to ensure that scarce resources are not squandered; we need to ensure that people are protected from predation by somebody who may see that those resources are now in their hands and seek to obtain them; and of course we have to protect workers in the area. These are three very important considerations. I have been heartened by what I have seen in the United Kingdom where those sorts of fears have not been realised.

I think this is a very exciting way forward. It puts the person with the disability at the centre of our disability services system, which is where they belong, not at the convenience of bureaucrats or service providers. This will challenge us to do things differently, but that is how it should be. It is about returning control and dignity to people with disabilities.

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