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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-01 Daily Xml
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DISABILITY, UNMET NEEDS

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:49): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations, representing the Minister for Disability, a question about unmet needs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Last night, along with 210 people, I attended a public meeting about the concept of a national disability insurance scheme (NDIS). I note that the Hon. Stephen Wade was there. I very much thank him for his presence, as I do thank everyone who attended.

At that meeting we heard from people who are desperate to access basic and essential services for themselves or their loved ones—people who are sick and tired of being left at the bottom of government priorities.

As the government well knows, the situation for people with disabilities in this state is, quite frankly, deplorable. According to the government, we have at least 663 people on the unmet needs list who are in critical need of services. These people are at risk of homelessness, self-harm or harm to others.

However, I do not need to reiterate the figures because the government knows about them. It has all the figures which represent unmet needs—at least the registered needs—on its website. I point out that the figures on that website are rather difficult to access. Unfortunately, it is difficult—even more so—to ascertain the needs of children with disabilities as that data is not published.

Of course, behind these statistics we find the people. We have young carers looking after their parents and children who come home from school or even skip school in order to do their duties. They do not come home to the television or an Xbox. They come home to give their mother, father, brother or sister something as basic and as difficult for them as a shower.

People are languishing in hospitals for months or years at a time while waiting for a couple of hours of in-home support. I note that I have spoken already on this issue—as I am sure members would recall. Mothers and fathers are worried about what will become of their disabled children when they pass away and can no longer provide for their needs.

Yesterday in this place the Hon. Mr Hunter pointed out the state government has increased its disability funding budget by $100 million over the past eight years. While that does sound like a big figure, quite frankly it is spare change for a government that is happy to increase its funding overnight for a sports stadium by $85 million.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: So far, indeed. It is clearly not enough to meet the needs of people with disabilities. Again, that just points out how desperate things are when $100 million over eight years is still not enough. This is not new, of course. People with disabilities and their carers have always got a raw deal from our governments, yet we always seem to find ourselves at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to priorities. My questions are:

1. How much will it cost the government to clear the unmet needs list?

2. What is the true extent of the unmet needs list for children with disabilities and when will the government publish this data on the Disability SA website?

3. When will the government accord people with disabilities the respect that we deserve by prioritising people over sports stadiums and clear the unmet needs list?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:54): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. She has raised a number of very significant issues in her explanation. I will pass those questions onto the Minister for Disability in another place and bring back a response.

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