Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Ageing and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on an issue that affects the disabled community across Australia and which, up until now, has been largely unaddressed. The issue of aged care for people with disabilities concerns many communities in my electorate of Parkes and, I suspect, most communities across the country. Westhaven Association in Dubbo has developed a proposal to allow people with disabilities to age in place.

Westhaven Association was formed in 1957. It provides supported accommodation facilities and supported employment to 96 clients from Dubbo and surrounding areas. Its workforce is very conscientious and hardworking and provides services in the fields of landscaping, confidential document shredding, recycling, and manufacture of products made from sheepskin—including its world-famous ugg boots. Westhaven clients work and live in relative harmony with each other and, to a large extent, are part of the Westhaven family.

Generally, people with disabilities age at a quicker rate than the mainstream community. It is well accepted that people with disabilities are subject to disorders such as diabetes, epilepsy, blood pressure, stroke, heart conditions, visual impairment and mobility issues at a much younger age than the regular community. Therefore, it is very distressing for these people when they can no longer live in their present accommodation and have to move to hospital or a nursing home. Mostly, by this time in their lives, their parents are elderly or no longer alive, and fellow clients at Westhaven are the only family they have. The Westhaven Association has developed a proposal to address this issue. It proposes to construct a facility where ageing people with disabilities can be cared for in familiar surroundings while remaining part of the Westhaven family.

This proposal has encountered problems because of the grey area between state and federal government responsibility. Traditionally, the state government has primary responsibility for people with disabilities and the federal government has responsibility for aged care. An ageing-in-place facility such as this will ultimately save the federal government money. There will be less demand on mainstream nursing homes and hospitals, as this facility will be able to care for clients until they become very frail. Prior to the federal election last year, the previous government promised to commit funds to the Westhaven project, but the change of government at the election has meant that that promise is no longer able to be kept. I would like to encourage the new government to give consideration to funding the Westhaven ageing-in-place proposal as a pilot project. I firmly believe that this model is transferable and has the potential to fill a large gap that this country presently has in the way we care for people with disabilities. I ask the House to consider this matter.