Page 1242 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It is not good enough to shut services that are heavily relied upon by families and individuals without first providing information to those that are going to be affected by the change and the information surrounding the alternatives that are available. It seems that some of the lessons that were portrayed last year have not been considered properly and have not been learned from.
As I mentioned earlier, there has been a significant amount of correspondence that has come into my office in recent weeks surrounding the government’s decision. I will quote very briefly from a parent who has written to me:
The newspaper reports say the ACT Government is shutting down its therapy services for school students with a disability ... but the NDIS does not cover education-related services. Surely this means some students with a disability will be worse off with the arrival of the NDIS ... but no one was supposed to be worse off with the NDIS. To my knowledge, there was little or no service for students with ASD …
I think those sorts of comments, coming from a parent, clearly articulate the uncertainty and the need for more clarity and a more defined approach to how these changes are going to be transitioned. I think it is incumbent on the government to articulate clearly how this is going to happen, what services are going to be changed, when they are going to change and who is going to be picking up the slack and filling the gaps from those service providers.
It is completely understandable. Many of us have children of our own. If we were on a waiting list to have our child assessed for what may be a disability knowing that the services that are currently catering for those diagnoses are soon to be wound up, we would be concerned that there still was no clear articulation as to who would fill in those gaps.
As I mentioned, the correspondence continues to roll in. A couple of moments before I came back down to the chamber to move this motion, a parent from Cranleigh School contacted us about her concern. I saw in the email that the minister has also been included in on that email. I am sure that in due course the response will come either through the Assembly or direct to the parent but I think it is dependent upon the government to clearly articulate the proposed changes. That is the crux of my motion. I call on all members to support it today.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (6.05): I thank Mr Wall for bringing forward this motion. We broadly support it, but I seek leave, Madam Speaker, to move two amendments together.
Leave granted.
MS BURCH: I move:
(1) Insert the following new paragraphs:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video