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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-29 Daily Xml
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SUPPORTED ACCOMMODATION INNOVATION FUND

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Disabilities questions regarding the Supported Accommodation Innovation Fund (SAIF).

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: On 3 April, in a joint media release, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and federal minister for disability Jenny Macklin announced the nationwide grant recipients for the SAIF. The release states:

Twenty-one organisations across Australia will share $60 million to help build community-based accommodation for adults with severe or profound disability. People with disability need access to a range of supported accommodation models that will allow them, and their carers, to participate as valued members of their communities. The Supported Accommodation Innovation Fund will help address a shortfall in supported accommodation and respite for people with disability. It will encourage innovation and drive change in the way supported accommodation services are provided. Negotiations for funding agreements are in progress with the successful 21 organisations, which will be responsible for 27 projects providing 169 supported accommodation and respite places across the country.

Now, this all sounds wonderful, particularly for this state that has more than 500 unique clients on the Category 1 unmet needs list for accommodation support. However, it would seem the money has not flowed to South Australia.

Of the $60 million, our state (a state representing about 8 per cent of the national population) has received a miserly $740,000 of grant funding for only one project. This represents just 1 per cent of the funding that was available. Tasmania, the Northern Territory and ACT all received larger portions of funding than South Australia did. It is my understanding that the state's Disability Services department needed to sign off on grant applications before they were submitted. So, my questions to the minister are:

1. How many grant proposals generated by South Australian organisations did the department support for the accommodation fund?

2. Did the state department choose not to sign off on some grant applications?

3. Does the minister know why South Australia received such a low level of funding for SAIF grants?

4. Is the minister concerned that South Australian projects seem to be held in such low esteem by his federal counterparts?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (14:47): The Building Innovative Accommodation for People with Disability fund saw the commonwealth government dealing directly with non-government organisations. As I understand it, this was a desired mechanism for this funding round.

The state government has done a great deal to help address the accommodation needs for people with disability. I have highlighted this work many times in this chamber and I can refer honourable members to Hansard of both 14 March 2012 and 3 May 2012, where I spoke at great length on this issue. The information has not changed since I was asked a question on this issue but I will, once again, recap.

As I have said before, the move away from institution style accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities and complex behaviour issues has had a major impact on the unmet need list for accommodation. We need to provide these clients with high-needs, smaller supported accommodation houses within the community. Typically, these houses are shared by four, sometimes five, residents, and they often require around-the-clock care. These houses are expensive to build and operate.

However, the South Australian government has committed funding to a number of supported accommodation projects that will boost the availability of supported accommodation for people with disability. These include:

Disability Housing Project: $30.4 million of state government funding will deliver 61 new disability-accessible homes, providing 132 accommodation places.

Bedford Homes for 100 Project: The state government has committed $5 million, as did the Bedford Foundation, to fund 32 new developments to provide accommodation for 70 people with disability.

Minda 105: The state government committed $15.7 million and, to date, 47 accommodation places have been created, with a further 41 places available in the next year in the Minda 105 program.

Early intervention responses, including the provision of equipment that can assist some people to remain in their own homes rather than require supported accommodation, are also a priority. We have done some good work in this area, but there is always more that needs to be done. I acknowledge that, at the moment, demand outstrips the supply of services available. We know this is the case. Governments have to balance competing priorities for services, and within disability we have to balance competing needs in critical areas such as supported accommodation, intensive in-home support and equipment.

This is not an excuse: it is just the reality. The current system is broken and needs a significant overhaul. That is why we are moving our system away from just topping up crisis situations to one of self-managed and self-directed funding where people can use that money to keep themselves in their own homes with limited supports rather than impose a need on supported accommodation when they do not really need to go into that accommodation at that time in their life.

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