Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak today on one of the many challenges facing hundreds of disabled Australians. Australians with severe and profound disabilities are being forced by this government to apply and reapply for financial support, despite having no prospects of their condition changing and being unable to fill in or sign documents. Families that are struggling to cope with profoundly disabled children are often left without the resources and support they need to be able to provide the 24-hour care that some children need. Many individuals with severe disabilities need financial support in conjunction with support from their immediate community.

We should believe in a society where having a disability does not ostracise you from the community but rather compels people to accept and accommodate your needs. Being disabled should be viewed as a unique characteristic of an individual rather than an impediment to their character. Individuals with a disability need to engage with the community and feel that they are supported by the Australian community as a whole.

Currently, support in different government departments for those with disabilities is dwindling. This government is forcing Australians with disabilities, including paraplegia, brain damage and severe and profound disabilities, to apply and reapply for support again and again, making it impossible for some people to submit their forms for income support benefits as they grow older, when it is painfully obvious that these disabilities will never diminish or go away. This process lacks common sense and costs disabled people and their families both time and money. This money could be better spent on providing the services that disabled Australians need to ensure that they have the best quality of life possible. There seems to be no long-term solution available for Australia’s disabled. There has been a significant rise in the cost of living, and I am often approached by disability advocacy groups, such as Dignity for Disabled, and disabled individuals within the electorate of Hindmarsh who are struggling to meet their own daily needs.

One case brought to my attention in my electorate was of the Violi family. They have a 16-year-old daughter on a disability support pension who has profound intellectual and physical disabilities. She is being required to attend a number of interviews with Centrelink. She has been required to attend both alone and with her parents. It is quite obvious that she cannot leave the house without the assistance of her parents and she is constantly being told to apply and reapply for the DSP as she gets older and closer to the age of 18. This is despite the young woman being unable to conduct a conversation, having a syndrome that gets worse, not better, having already been assessed as profoundly disabled with a severe intellectual disability and having already been assessed as eligible for the disability support pension. This has not stopped Centrelink from constantly asking her to go for interviews.

Labor objects to the fact that medical certificates prepared by doctors verifying a patient’s ongoing incapacity to sign or fill in forms appear to be routinely ignored by Centrelink because of government policy. Clients with conditions such as quadriplegia or a severe intellectual disability should not be asked to sign documentation and to appear constantly as they are obviously eligible for income support and unable to fill in forms.

Under the Howard government, Centrelink’s workload has massively increased. This had led to the sorry situation where not enough staff are trained to help clients with profound disabilities, and misinformation is given time and again. I am calling on the Howard government to reassess the process within Centrelink and put in place a system that better looks after our profoundly disabled citizens. Families within my electorate who have a disabled child, such as the Violis, frequently contact me because Centrelink has given them wrong information, hounded them for medical certificates and refused to accept reports written by qualified medical professionals.

Australian families caring for profoundly disabled children are forced to deal with a lot of red tape for no reason and there should be better accommodation for those with disabilities within the Australian community. The Howard government is not helping disabled Australians; it continues to be inactive in the disability sector and, as such, has left vital groups such as the National Disability Advocacy Program without the resources they require to help thousands of Australians in need.