Page 2657 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
with disability, their families and carers and other members of the ACT community seeking information about disability matters in the ACT. The ACT government has made a decision to gradually withdraw over a three-year period from the provision of specialist disability and therapy services provided by the Community Services Directorate and early intervention services provided by the education and training directorate. Those in the deaf community in the ACT are looking to find more information about how that is going to affect them and whether this is something that they would need to incorporate into their own NDIS packages.
Generally, my motion today calls on the ACT government to improve communication accessibility for Canberrans, especially with respect to ACT government material; to improve employment opportunities for people with disability in the ACT public service, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing or have a chronic disorder of the ear; and to consider methods to raise community awareness of hearing loss and ways to avoid it.
In concluding, I would like to reiterate that Hearing Awareness Week is an important week in our calendar that raises awareness of hearing health issues in our community. I would like to encourage everyone to consider communication accessibility, improving employment opportunities any way that they can, and considering those people who are deaf or hard of hearing or have a chronic disorder of the ear and how they can improve their own personal communication with them on a day-to-day basis.
I commend my motion to the Assembly.
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability, Minister for Small Business and the Arts and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (4.53): I shall pause for a moment whilst the Auslan interpreter joins me. I thank Ms Lawder for bringing forward this motion, which the government will be supporting, and highlighting some of the important messages around Hearing Awareness Week.
Hearing Awareness Week presents an important opportunity to bring together experts from the industry, community organisations and people affected by hearing loss to provide advice and raise awareness of all the supports and services which can provide assistance to those people.
Hearing impairment is common. We know that an estimated 3.5 million Australians, or approximately one in six people, are affected by varying degrees of hearing loss, with that number expected to increase to one in four people by 2050. This includes some 60,000 Canberrans who are affected by hearing loss. Preventative action is vital and unless it is taken, especially in young people and people in the workforce, avoidable hearing loss will increase.
This is an important component of screening programs in the health sector. In the ACT, for example, the ACT newborn hearing screening program, delivered by ACT Health, aims to identify babies born with significant hearing loss and introduce them to appropriate services as soon as possible. About three babies out of every thousand born will have a significant hearing loss. Babies are offered hearing screening as soon as possible after birth.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video