Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday at Brassall Shopping Centre in Hunter Street, Ipswich, more than 40 stallholders and more than 1,000 Ipswich and Somerset residents were there for the annual Blair Disability Links expo. The expo, which I hold every year, is in its eighth year and was officially celebrated with the relaunch of the Blair Disability Links booklet and the Blair Seniors Links booklet. The disability links booklet is 109 pages in length and the seniors booklet is 55 pages in length. They list providers and service operators in Ipswich and the Somerset Region. Local disability advocates from Able Australia and the NDIA joined me to cut the cake, as usual, and to deliver speeches recognising the importance of the disability links directory and the seniors links directory for local people living with a disability.

Since beginning the directories, we have provided more than 80,000 copies to residents in Ipswich and the Somerset Region. Since last Friday, we have given out more than 1,000 of these booklets. Just before I came up here to deliver this speech, Ozcare contacted me to ask me to deliver more booklets to them. Many service providers in Ipswich and the Somerset Region deliver or give a copy of one of these booklets to clients on their intake. We're happy to help. In fact, local people can contact my office in Brassall on (07)32015300 to get a copy of each of those directories. I intend to make a country run up to the country towns in the Somerset Region before Christmas. I hope to do that on the 21st of this month, taking boxes of these booklets for disability advocates, carers and organisations in the Somerset Region.

This event continues to grow in size. These booklets were very small when we first started. This year coincides with the rolling out, since July, of the National Disability Insurance Scheme across Ipswich and Somerset. I want to recognise the local service providers, carers and volunteers, who do a wonderful job to enhance the lives of people living with disability. These booklets are complimentary. They're about helping people and making sure people can live their lives more fully—enjoyable lives, healthier lives and happier lives across Ipswich and the Somerset Region. It's important for people to network and know what's available, and that's why my office started this. I want to thank my electorate staff—Chris, Mandy, Janice and the whole team—for what they do in helping people across Ipswich and the Somerset Region.

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