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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-02 Daily Xml
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TECHNICAL AID FOR THE DISABLED

Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Disability. Can the minister outline how the government supports the volunteer group Technical Aid for the Disabled?

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) (14:44): This group, Technical Aid for the Disabled, is one of the quiet achievers in the community. It is a volunteer group of mainly men (often retired engineers) who are the type of people who like to keep themselves busy in their retirement by coming up with innovative and pretty amazing solutions to the equipment needs of people with a disability or the frail aged. I recently invited their members to an afternoon tea here at Parliament House to help them celebrate their 30th anniversary, and it was a great pleasure to host them.

We give them a small amount of money each year—about $23,000, and we gave them some once-off money of $100,000 last year—but it is largely a volunteer organisation. They come up with some fantastic one-off solutions. One solution was an aid for a one-armed fishermen—which can be important. They modified a remote control for a car so that it could be used by someone with a disability. In another case, members repaired a baby alarm light for deaf parents, and they also built a walker for a child with a disability. In one special case, members created a timer for a woman's microwave because she had the unfortunate habit of putting unopened tins in the microwave; it provided a locking device for that.

No job is too small, and every job makes an incredibly important difference to the life of a person with a disability. There is a very interesting side benefit. A number of women came up to me at this 30th anniversary and said, 'Thank you very much for what you do to support this organisation because we'd be divorced if we couldn't send our husbands out of the house, in their retirement, to do these very interesting things.'

But they never give up. Whenever they are confronted with a difficulty, they always manage to solve the problem. It is group of intelligent, innovative and very skilled people. They are always on the lookout for volunteers. I want to place on record the government's appreciation for the work that this tremendous group of volunteers does.

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