Page 3476 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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NDIS, reported that two-thirds of the support that people with a disability receive generally comes from in-kind care and support from family, friends and extended community. To put that in dollar terms, it is estimated that that support equates to over $40 billion in the Australian economy each year. It is a substantial contribution that must be acknowledged and recognised. As a community, we need to value the contribution that is made by carers in any way we can. Therefore I pay tribute to the love, the care and the commitment made by all of the unpaid carers in our community. I again commend Ms Lawder for bringing this motion here today.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.02), in reply: I thank everyone for their support today for this important motion. As we have heard from several speakers, it is important to reflect that providing care does not imply that the person you are caring for is a burden on the carer. However, sometimes carers can feel that they are excluded from social activities and certainly may feel other pressures on their lives such as financial stress.
Carers Week last week gave us the opportunity to reflect on the important work that carers do every day and every night. As we have also talked about, it is not the only opportunity. We can do that on any day and any week of the year, but it is good to have that focus for one week of the year. It reminds us how important the work of carers is. Once again, thank you to all members for their support of this motion today.
Motion agreed to.
Schools—early intervention programs
MR WALL (Brindabella) (4.03): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes:
(a) that the ACT Government will withdraw from providing early intervention and therapy services for pre-preschool age children from the end of the 2014 school year;
(b) the Minister for Disability committed to providing a report to the Assembly in the first sitting week of Term 4, 2014 with an update of the readiness of early intervention non-government service providers to commence in the 2015 school year as a result of a motion moved in the Assembly on 4 June 2014; and
(c) that the subsequent report provided by the Minister is wholly insufficient and fails to provide any assurances to families who will be seeking early intervention services at the commencement of the 2015 school year; and
(2) calls on the Minister to provide the Assembly by the end of the next sitting week, a factual and detailed response as to how many providers have been registered and are equipped to provide early intervention and therapy services at the beginning of the 2015 school year, as well as the details of how many places will be available in these programs in total.
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