Page 2496 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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MRS BURKE: Yes, we did. We get a real buzz out of it. The minister was very gracious in allowing me to jointly launch the one in Black Mountain. I understand there is one in Tuggeranong. Hopefully we can spread those across.
Mr Hargreaves: Up in the north, too.
MRS BURKE: Up in the north, too. I thank Rotary for initially bringing this to my attention quite some years ago now, and I really applaud the government for taking on this initiative. I do praise it there. Unfortunately, suburban footpaths are often not accessible due to disrepair. We heard this talked about when we dealt with territory and municipal service. We have talked already tonight about serious lack of spaces and limited hours for education post-school options with nine students due to graduate from Black Mountain school this year. There are only five 10-hour places for the north side. I think we really can focus on some of these things, which are not going to use huge amounts of money but will obviously alleviate the situation in a very critical way for a lot of people.
Moving on to health and equipment and ACT Health Services, unfortunately, there seems to be—and I am hoping that the minister will pick up on this in Hansard—an attitude to people with disabilities within the sector. It may be some sort of cultural shift or change or education campaign that we need, but we need to get the community at large to feel very comfortable with people with a disability.
Access to ongoing community nursing for chronic conditions is also an issue. Community health intake line is a barrier when seeking services, especially when consumers know exactly which service they need—that is, when a GP or other referral is not enough. Other concerns are the bureaucratic referral system, long waiting lists for specialised wheelchair and posture seating service. Many of us take sitting down and getting around for granted. Clearly, we have a problem here if we cannot expedite people getting specialised wheelchairs and posture seating. There is a real issue there. The equipment scheme, as I have said already, with a lack of funding and limited lists of items, is possibly the worst scheme in the country by their observations. Another issue is the cumbersome, inconvenient and unresponsive booking system for wheelchair repairs. Staff are enthusiastic and helpful but overworked.
There are many more issues to talk about, and I may run out of time, but we will see how we go. I thought it was worth putting all of these things in Hansard. We need, as I have done with the public health system, to put things on paper and have a public debate about this in the hope that we can move forward. Yes, my job in opposition is to hold the government accountable, to agitate and make sure that people’s voices are heard. There is a chronic shortage of support workers for people with disabilities, trained or untrained. Families have to pick up vacant shifts and this leads to added stress and family breakdown.
Disability ACT strategies are aimed at ISS workers, not improving the situation for the community at large. There are restricted trade practices by some employers towards support staff—reducing the overall available support hours to the community. Low rates of pay and ambiguity of awards are all things that we really need to get our
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