Page 4169 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 18 November 2015
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students with complex and challenging behaviour, given that I committed way back in April to tabling the report and the government’s response in the Assembly by the last sitting day of the year.
I also note that members opposite took up my invitation made to Mr Smyth last week of a briefing this morning on the expert panel’s finding and the government’s response. I know that they were provided with an embargoed copy of the report and the government’s response yesterday afternoon. I am sure that they are as proud as I am that Professor Shaddock and the panel recognised the strength of the ACT school system and the outstanding result that we achieve on many measures.
Yet while I remain puzzled as to why this motion did not make mention of the expert panel, I am even more astonished that it makes no mention of the reforms underway under the national disability insurance scheme. Perhaps those opposite have missed the transition to the NDIS. But, then again, Mr Wall was the person who declared proudly in this Assembly that his approach was to provide “a loaded, misinformed commentary”—go to Hansard to check that—when discussing the needs and concerns of families of children with developmental delay and autism. That, indeed, is an absolute shame.
Mr Wall has made extensive comments on the AEIOU, a model that has been by all accounts successful elsewhere. I would encourage Mr Wall to invite them to join the growing numbers of providers that are now registered on the national disability insurance website to put their money where their mouths are and to seek support. I would say that if they want to come and set up, Mr Wall should encourage them to do that.
The ACT government recognises that early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism is most effective and provides the best possible outcomes for children. This is why from the beginning of next year families with concerns about their child’s development, including concerns with autism, will be able to access new support services. The child development service will commence with the child health medical officers, paediatricians, speech pathologists, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists specialising in child development working together to provide assessment, intervention and support for families.
The child development service will provide an integrated service, including highly skilled staff providing autism assessment, support and education for families after a diagnosis is made and support to link families with the National Disability Insurance Agency. Appropriate intervention programs will also be provided. Perhaps the biggest change to the space will be the transformative opportunities that the introduction of the NDIS is bringing to people, including people with autism.
It is quite sad that the NDIS, the biggest reform to the way to disability services are delivered in our community, seems to have completely escaped Mr Wall’s attention in this motion. I am sure that most of us in this building are aware that the ACT will be the first jurisdiction to accept all eligible participants to the NDIS. Our colleagues in other states are watching how we transition so they can pick up areas to learn from.
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