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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-03-20 Daily Xml
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Motions

Disability Services

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:58): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises the thousands of South Australians living with disability who are facing uncertainty regarding their ongoing care and support because of the Marshall Liberal government’s failure to guarantee funding certainty for essential disability services;

2. Notes that this is the second time in less than 12 months the Marshall Liberal government has left disability support providers in the dark concerning block funding, leading to an avoidable drain of institutional knowledge and experience from the disability support sector;

3. Acknowledges that not all South Australians living with disability will qualify for the NDIS, and that the state Liberal government must stop ignoring disability support services; and

4. Calls on the Marshall Liberal government to guarantee funding certainty to disability support providers so that they can continue to provide quality care for South Australians living with disability.

I rise today to move this motion on behalf of the thousands of South Australians living with a disability who are plagued by this government's refusal to guarantee block funding until the NDIS rollout is complete. The Minister for Human Services has repeatedly said the full rollout of the NDIS will be complete by 30 June this year. That deadline is fast approaching, but we are yet to find anyone in the sector who actually believes that the rollout will be complete by that date.

Yet, according to the federal Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher, the NDIS is already fully rolled out in South Australia. In correspondence sent to the South Australian shadow minister for human services on 16 January this year, minister Fletcher enthusiastically noted, 'As you are aware, the NDIS is fully rolled out in South Australia and is providing support to 20,800 South Australians with a disability'. No wonder there is so much confusion and misinformation when it comes to the NDIS in South Australia. Instead, we find organisation after organisation saying the same thing. They are worried that they will have to let their staff go or even close their doors because this government will not guarantee their funding certainty and commit to block funding until the NDIS rollout is complete.

The minister must take responsibility for the impending crisis occurring in the sector and take urgent steps to address block funding guarantees for the full transition of those currently receiving state-based services to NDIS agreements. Sadly, however, the minister refuses to take responsibility, as we saw today in question time. The minister refuses to answer questions, refuses to take responsibility and refuses to acknowledge the difficulties facing people with disability in our state today.

The NDIS has the potential to be of life-changing benefit to people living with a disability. That is its potential, but only if it is managed effectively and only if it is actually implemented. The Marshall government's refusal to guarantee block funding to funded disability service providers means that members of our community are at risk of missing out on much-needed services. This includes many state-based services that they are currently utilising.

Without these service guarantees, people living with a disability are less mobile and less able to live their lives with choice and freedom. This means they have less opportunity to spend time with family and friends. They are less able to get to work and therefore their quality of life is damaged. NDIS funding is meant to improve the lives, but mismanagement of block funding transition means that their lives are harder rather than easier.

People living with a disability in rural and regional areas are particularly vulnerable because their services are so specialised and specific to their needs. This means their anxiety about the continuity of their funding is particularly high. The government could take steps to ease this anxiety, yet this is clearly not a priority for this government.

It is not just South Australians living with a disability who are affected. This government and this minister's failure to guarantee block funding also hurts workers in the disability sector. Organisations big and small are having to review programs and in many cases let workers go because there is just no funding certainty going forward. We are now at the point where the continuity of services is at risk, and therefore thousands of jobs are at risk.

Everyone knows for themselves how central a job is to a person's security and life. For workers in the disability sector, who are some of the lowest paid in our community, the loss of their job would be disastrous for themselves and their families. The Liberal government likes to boast that they care about jobs and are concerned about unemployment. If this is true, then why are they not addressing the urgent crisis facing the disability sector by guaranteeing block funding to employers? The loss of jobs in this sector through mismanagement of the NDIS transition would be a tragedy not just for the individual workers involved who dedicate their lives to supporting people with disability but also for skills in the sector. The fact is that service providers are businesses and they cannot guarantee jobs if their block funding arrangements are not guaranteed.

This government is fast moving towards a funding cliff, with no solution in sight, and are therefore also moving quickly towards a jobs crisis in the disability sector, which is a major employer and a crucial skills base for South Australia. The service providers are the experts in the delivery of much-needed care and resources to people living with a disability. They are the ones telling us that their businesses are at risk. Without funding guarantees, these service providers risk not being able to deliver much-needed services. They risk not being able to guarantee the thousands of workers in their sector will keep their jobs and they are risking the very continuation of their services.

We are calling on the Marshall Liberal government to address this crisis immediately for the sake of South Australians living with a disability, for workers in the sector who are experiencing a crisis of job security and for the service providers who need continuity of funding to enable their services to continue to provide quality care. It is well past time for a solution to this impending NDIS funding cliff. I call on the minister to stand up for disability services in South Australia. I commend the motion to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.

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