Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight, I would like to talk about an area that has been neglected for decades but where there is now hope, a ‘light on the hill’, thanks to the federal Labor government. I speak of the way in which we support people in our community with disabilities. Bruce Bonyhady AM, Chairman of Yooralla and member of the Disability Interest Group, which produced the report Shut out: the experience of people with disabilities and their families in Australia, said:

Support for people with disabilities is delivered through a welfare and charity model that is frequently in crisis. This is after decades in which Policy Reforms have largely bypassed the Disability Sector.

Recently I visited the St Giles Society, a Tasmanian not-for-profit organisation based in Launceston, which supports 5,000 Tasmanian families with children with disabilities—and a great institution it is, with wonderful people and staff who work within it. Ian Wright, CEO of St Giles, reported that the awareness of benefits of early intervention for young children with difficulties such as delays in developmental milestones, speech and writing problems, attention deficit behaviour and the sensory processing of noise and touch are much more broadly understood than in the past. Referrals to St Giles have doubled in the past 10 years. Programs such as Launching in Learning have changed this awareness. Children who are referred to St Giles can wait six months before they can receive their initial assessment.

Maggie McKenzie, formerly a senior physiotherapist at St Giles, whose daughter is nearly 20 years of age but, unfortunately, was born with Down syndrome, talked about going from being regarded as an expert in the treatment of children one day to being seen as a ‘dumb’ mother the next. Maggie, who now runs her own private physiotherapy practice on the West Tamar in northern Tasmania, talked about how time-consuming accessing the fragmented and limited services can be. She said that, during the summer school holidays, she had to either employ someone to work in her practice or employ someone to look after her daughter. Maggie went on to talk about the difficulties for people with disabilities once they turn 18. There is no St Giles for these people. There is, now, nowhere. She said:

If someone with a disability as a result of a car accident is referred to me, the Motor Accident Insurance Board will pay for their care, but for disabled people, say, like my daughter, who are referred as part of the Enhanced Primary Care program, they would be out of pocket by $100 for the same level of care for each treatment session.

Why are disabled people being referred to Maggie and not to a publicly funded therapy service? Firstly, it is because this is an area of her expertise, but, mainly, it is because services for disabled adults were run down during the Howard era.

Peter Lloyd, a former state representative of the Australian Quadriplegic Association, Victoria, agrees about the difficulties that adults with disabilities experience. He said:

For most disabled people life is a struggle—there are times when it is really hard to come to terms with.

My scooter needs new tyres and battery, these are not covered by the insurance scheme—I have no idea where I can find the $600-$800.

Peter continued:

My dog eats better than I do. What complicates things even further is when disabled people have multiple problems e.g. Type 2 Diabetes—just food costs alone—to get the type of food you should eat is more expensive than budget products. It all just adds up.

These are additional challenges for people with disabilities. Now, I know that the federal Labor government have taken steps to improve the lives of people with disability, promote participation and create a more inclusive society, particularly for children and their families.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been ratified. The Better Start for Children with Disability initiative will ensure children with disabilities that affect their development have access to intensive early intervention therapies and treatments from expert health professionals. In the first year, around 7,880 young children diagnosed with sight and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome will be eligible for services under the program. Children under six with a diagnosis of one of these disabilities will be eligible to receive up to $12,000 for early intervention services. From 1 July next year, children will be able to access critical early intervention services like speech pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology advice. A maximum of $6,000 can be spent in any financial year, and families will have up to their child’s seventh birthday to use the funding. In addition, about 20,000 children will also be able to access new Medicare services for diagnosis and treatment under this program. A Medicare rebate for the development of a treatment and management plan will be available for children under the age of 13. Medicare rebates will also be available for up to four allied health diagnostic services and for up to 20 allied health treatment services per child, in total, with relevant allied health professionals. Treatment items could be used by children up to the age of 15, provided they receive a treatment and management plan before the age of 13 years.

The Better Start for Children with Disability initiative builds on a similar program for children with autism that has been successfully implemented by the federal Labor government. That program has provided more than 8,500 children with autism spectrum disorder with early intervention funding since 2008. This total package will cost $122 million over four years.

There was $100 million in capital funds in May 2008 for the states and territories to build more than 300 supported accommodation places for people with severe disabilities being looked after by ageing carers. However, the light on the hill that I mentioned earlier is that disability organisations and people with disabilities are looking towards part of a landmark study being undertaken by the Productivity Commission. The National Disability Insurance Scheme will be a major transformation of how we support people with disabilities. People with disabilities deserve the same opportunity as other Australians to participate in our community, have a job where possible and live meaningful lives. As Bruce Bonyhady says, we need a scheme that is available to all people with disabilities—people born with disabilities; accident and injury victims; and people with medical conditions or mental illness. Beneficiaries would be eligible for lifelong assistance, and people will be treated equally, with no fault consideration. All of these items will be covered: care and support; therapy; aids; equipment; home modifications; timely intervention; person- and family-centred care based on needs, with case management, brokerage and advocacy as needed; lifetime planning; and family and carers receiving tailored support. At least 700,000 Australians are looking for this radical change in our approach to their support.

I commend the action that was taken by the former Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children’s Services, the Hon. Bill Shorten. I want to commend him for the work that he did and also for the amount of time that he spent travelling around the country and ensuring that people with disabilities were given a strong voice and had strong advocacy. This government has proven already that it has the capacity and the commitment to be able to deliver these changes. Senator McLucas has always been an outstanding advocate in this chamber for people with disabilities. I know that in my home state of Tasmania Senator Carol Brown is another strong advocate who has worked with me, along with Senator Bilyk and others, to ensure that Tasmanian families with children or young adults with disabilities have a strong voice and are being listened to and heard by this government. I want to commend the government for what it has done and what it will continue to do.

Again, I would like to place on record my thanks for the outstanding work that is being carried out within the community of Tasmania by the St Giles organisation. It has been a longstanding organisation. I have had a family connection, with some family members working there in different capacities in the past. It is an organisation that, as I said, has in the last 10 years had an increase in referrals. That is something that, as a government, we need to be aware of at both a federal and a state level to ensure that we provide facilities, services and support for these families. In particular, we have to ensure that we have respite services for these families. Again, I would like to commend to the Senate the work that has been done thus far. We are awaiting the Productivity Commission’s report, which hopefully will ensure that we provide even better services going into the future.