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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-12-03 Daily Xml
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International Day of People with Disability

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:16): Today is International Day of People with Disability. We celebrate the rich diversity that community members bring and also acknowledge the hardship and exclusion that they have experienced over the years. I think it is also a good time to remember that over the last year we have heard the federal government announce a disability royal commission, which I am sure we can all agree is long overdue. It is likely to highlight some horrific stories and the community needs to prepare for this.

I know many people will need support during this time and I am sure those in this place will be ready to provide that. I also hope that the royal commission can highlight and recommend some best practices that are occurring already in the space of disability. It should also help us to continue to make the sector safer and the service better and more dignified. The end result should be true equality and inclusion.

I will take the opportunity to do a review of 2019 from a human services point of view. It has been quite an eventful year. There has been a real need to focus on the transition of people from state-based disability support services and funding to the NDIS, which itself is an amazing scheme, but we cannot be complacent. As we in this place all know from the number of complaints and concerns that come through to our offices, it does not work for everybody all the time. People who are within or transferring to the scheme often need somebody to support them in order to get better outcomes. We in this place are trying to do that.

One of the biggest issues of transition across this year has been the threatened end to the South Australian taxi subsidy scheme. This would leave many people in the disability space without any support because not everybody receives funding through the NDIS for transport. As we know, these people have also lost their Centrelink payments.

With that compounding amount, we have seen a great grassroots campaign happen, which I was happy to support with members of our parliamentary Labor Party. We have since heard the announcement of an extension to the scheme until 2021. We do need to watch this and make sure that actually happens for all people and that no hidden surprises or concerns come to light. There is still a long way to go in terms of transport and we will certainly be making sure that we hold the federal government and the state Liberal government to account for those changes.

It was a pretty embarrassing backflip that we saw from the Minister for Human Services (Hon. Michelle Lensink) in the other place. She had to walk away from plans to privatise the supported disability accommodation after concerns were highlighted not just by participants but by their families and carers and by workers regarding that privatisation.

With the introduction of the NDIS, we have also seen the rapid withdrawal of block funding arrangements from the disability space. Many organisations have come forward independently to talk about this, including Deaf Can:Do and the Royal Society for the Blind. Many have raised concerns that their financial position and their capacity to deliver services have been compromised by the withdrawal of block funding and the transition to the NDIS, which simply does not equate to the same capacity to provide services as it did before. We need to fight to get this reviewed, and we need to see a better way forward for people with a disability who have previously received block-funded services.

Homelessness is an issue that we all think is becoming more visible in our community, particularly in the CBD. Those numbers came to light in May 2019. Since the Marshall government was elected in 2018, inner city homelessness has pretty much doubled. According to the Don Dunstan Foundation's by-name list, there are currently around 150 people living rough on the streets of the City of Adelaide. We have seen delays by the minister in the calling of Code Blue on cold, wet evenings. This means that people on our streets suffer through extreme conditions, and one woman sadly passed away in the South Parklands. It should not happen. We need to see investment in more services and shelter provisions around the state and in the CBD.

We also need to see a stop in the rise of Housing Trust rents. I met with a woman named June in Modbury last week. Her rent has increased by 10 per cent over the past 12 months, which has seen poor June have to give up her home insurance, stop eating meat and give up her private health insurance. It is a disgrace.

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