Page 2506 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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established a robust disability services sector and we have supported the needs of people with disabilities and the families who care for them. Over the last five years prior to this budget, we have provided approximately a 25 per cent increase in disability investment. That increase has gone into transport; supporting young people; addressing unmet need; intensive care and treatment programs; children with high and complex needs including autism; additional therapy support for children with high and complex needs; and meeting the increased costs of disability support staff in relation to relief support staff. Essentially, we have provided additional investment in this critical area in almost every single budget.
The Gallop inquiry demonstrated what can happen when governments take their eye off this critical area. Through this budget, we are continuing to ensure that we do not do so. The $15 million investment in this budget represents the most significant funding increase for people with disabilities since self-government. I know this from my own tenure as minister for disability services, and I applaud my colleague the Deputy Chief Minister for her tenacity in achieving this result.
The new funding will enable people with disabilities to access much needed accommodation and increased carer support, access to respite and improved community access programs. The funding is allocated at $3 million in the first year, with an increase to $4.1 million in the second year, acknowledging the ongoing demand for support.
This increase for the disability sector is substantial. It recognises that there is unmet need in the community, that we are trying to deal with that but that more is needed to be done. This will target supported accommodation, additional respite services, community access places and individualised funding. Some of that will be provided by the community sector because they have expertise in this area. The government has already received feedback from the sector that the strategic direction of those funding decisions has been warmly welcomed. The government looks forward to working with them to implement the best arrangements and the best models that we can to support those members of our community who need such assistance.
Community agencies and Disability ACT have been working with a number of people who have high support needs and diminishing support or who have been receiving non-recurrent funding for over two years. This includes people whose support needs are escalating because of a deterioration in their physical health, people who need intensive behavioural support, carers who are ageing and families who have been assessed for a priority service but who have had no surety of funding. These people will be given priority for assistance.
This new pressure is coming from a range of different factors. It is coming from people surviving illnesses and accidents that they would not have survived in the past, and who require ongoing care. There is also a new group of people with a disability: people whose parents have been caring for them for many years, who have never sought help and who are now getting to such an age that it is impossible for them, and they are advocating very strongly about the need for some services for their children—children who are adults. The funding will also respond to the priority needs of young people leaving school at the end of 2007 who will be seeking places with local community access and respite services.
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