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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-30 Daily Xml
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TRANSPORT SUBSIDY SCHEME

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:55): I seek leave to make an explanation before directing questions to the minister representing the Minister for Transport Services about the South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme (SATSS).

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: My office receives calls from constituents every week voicing serious concerns about the inadequacy of the current SATSS regime which fails to meet their transport needs. As a state government website states:

The South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme (SATSS) is a State Government subsidised taxi travel program. It is for people with permanent and severe disabilities who, because of their disabilities, cannot safely use public transport either independently or accompanied by a companion/carer.

The SATSS provides up to 80 vouchers per six months per client, or just over three vouchers per week, and will be either a 50 per cent subsidy for people who are ambient or 75 per cent subsidy for people who are permanent wheelchair users. There are also supplements to the scheme: the Journey to Work vouchers for getting to work and the Tertiary Access Assistance for getting to approved study institutions. These are only accessible to those who permanently use a wheelchair. Both the study and work vouchers are printed with only one address from home and one address for work and study on them.

People with disabilities need to get around. They need to attend appointments, go to family events, get to work, study and training commitments, go shopping and maybe even enjoy a social event. Given that our metropolitan public transport system is very limited—for example, you still cannot go to Noarlunga on a train after 10 months of closure of that line, and there is no public bus service to Strathalbyn—it is even more important that those with additional mobility needs are provided with adequate support to get around Adelaide using taxis through the SATSS system. According to constituents who call my office this is not occurring.

There is not adequate support, and the inflexibility of the scheme is making it very difficult to get around for work, study, socialising, shopping and general living. My questions are:

1. Can the minister provide an explanation as to why SATSS Journey to Work vouchers only allow the client to have one work or study address and one home address?

2. Will the minister remove this limiting factor of only one printed address from the SATSS voucher scheme that prevents SATSS clients from having more than one home address or more than one work or study address?

3. Does the minister believe that people with disabilities are only able to live in one house and do not have a lifestyle or living situation that might see them at different parents' houses or staying at their partner or boyfriend's/girlfriend's house?

4. Does the minister think that people with disabilities only study at one campus or in one work location?

5. Why does the inflexibility of the SATSS limit study and work opportunities for people with disabilities when they are already limited by so many other societal factors?

6. Can the minister explain why client applications for the SATSS are rejected on the ground that someone is able to catch public transport even if there is no public transport available in that area?

7. When will the minister increase the maximum subsidy rate (either 50 per cent or 75 per cent of $40), since it has not been increased in more than half a decade?

8. Will the minister index a SATSS subsidy rate increase to the CPI on an annual basis?

9. Why does the minister insist that a SATSS voucher cannot include a stop, such as a quick stop at an ATM on the way to the doctor or a hair appointment?

10. Why are only 80 vouchers provided every six months per client, equivalent to only 1.5 return trips per week, effectively locking many people with disability in their homes and preventing them from the freedom of social access?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for her most important and multifaceted questions on the South Australian Transport Subsidy Scheme (SATSS). I undertake to take those questions to the Minister for Transport Services in another place and seek a response on her behalf.

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