Dr LIM - 1999-08-19
The Commonwealth Minister for Family and Community Services recently announced that federal Cabinet has agreed to an offer of $150m in funds for unmet requirements in the area of disability services. What does this mean to the Northern Territory? Will disability services here benefit from this decision?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I bear good tidings to the House. Already I am on record, as were two of my predecessors in the health portfolio, talking about the problems associated with disability services in the community. It is a vexed issue right across Australia. Often people with disabilities have carers who are frail and ageing themselves.
Earlier this month I welcomed the offer of $150m by the federal government to fund unmet need across the county. I am pleased that Jocelyn Newman has been able to secure that money from federal Cabinet. We had expected at our social welfare ministers’ meeting in April that she would be able to put such an offer on the table, but she was unable to do so.
It is good to see money of that significant size being made available. The state ministers from around Australia with responsibility for social welfare plus disabilities unanimously supported a report that had been commissioned by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which found high levels of unmet need throughout Australia and totalled the cost of addressing the backlog to meet it at $293m forthwith. So the Commonwealth’s offer is about half of that.
We will wait with interest to see the basis of the offer, but it translates in the Territory to approximately $4m to address the demand. If it’s dollar-for-dollar funding, that’s obviously outside the budget process and would necessitate going back to Cabinet.
I am very pleased that the Commonwealth has addressed this enormous need in Australia. I am very pleased that the funding they have provided is significant. This does not take away from the requests I’ve received since becoming a minister. There are requests from very worthy organisations that provide services to disabled people all through the Territory. They’ve had cost pressures arising from CPI national wage adjustments, the superannuation guarantee supplement and workers’ compensation premiums over the last couple of years.
I am pleased, therefore, to inform the House this morning that I have approved funds totalling $462 000 for these organisations. That equates to an increase of 4.5% of last year’s grants and it reinforces this government’s commitments to disability services. It keeps these non-government organisations at the forefront in providing these essential services to Territorians.
While I am on my feet, I want to acknowledge in this parliament an accolade given to a Territorian. I note that Robyne Burridge has been appointed deputy chair of the national Disability Advisory Council by Jocelyn Newman. She is an activist in the disabled area who is well known to members of this House. It is a great accolade for her to be offered this position. I’m sure she will in true Territory fashion take the Territory’s position very strongly up to the feds.
Other good news, still talking about disability, concerns the taxi subsidy scheme. It is very, very important to people with disabilities to achieve mobility and to make sure they don’t become housebound. The Territory government in the last budget provided additional funding for people in nursing homes and hostels to access this scheme. It is a very worthy initiative to help people who have to leave what was their family home and move to nursing homes and hostels. I’m sure it will provide them with the ability to integrate better with the community and with their families. The taxi subsidy scheme, which has been going since the 1980s, was previously not available to people in nursing homes and hostels. Under SAT guidelines it was only available for people outside. In our budget that came down in this House in the last sittings, we provided the additional money.
The initiative will encourage people with disabilities to visit the Territory because it is coupled with a reciprocity agreement that we have with the other jurisdictions. People who come from other states and Territorians who visit other states can use their taxi vouchers to travel in disabled taxis. I think it is yet another good mark for this government that it takes this attitude to looking after those citizens who may be frail or disabled in our community. I’m very proud to be able to announce it today.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I bear good tidings to the House. Already I am on record, as were two of my predecessors in the health portfolio, talking about the problems associated with disability services in the community. It is a vexed issue right across Australia. Often people with disabilities have carers who are frail and ageing themselves.
Earlier this month I welcomed the offer of $150m by the federal government to fund unmet need across the county. I am pleased that Jocelyn Newman has been able to secure that money from federal Cabinet. We had expected at our social welfare ministers’ meeting in April that she would be able to put such an offer on the table, but she was unable to do so.
It is good to see money of that significant size being made available. The state ministers from around Australia with responsibility for social welfare plus disabilities unanimously supported a report that had been commissioned by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which found high levels of unmet need throughout Australia and totalled the cost of addressing the backlog to meet it at $293m forthwith. So the Commonwealth’s offer is about half of that.
We will wait with interest to see the basis of the offer, but it translates in the Territory to approximately $4m to address the demand. If it’s dollar-for-dollar funding, that’s obviously outside the budget process and would necessitate going back to Cabinet.
I am very pleased that the Commonwealth has addressed this enormous need in Australia. I am very pleased that the funding they have provided is significant. This does not take away from the requests I’ve received since becoming a minister. There are requests from very worthy organisations that provide services to disabled people all through the Territory. They’ve had cost pressures arising from CPI national wage adjustments, the superannuation guarantee supplement and workers’ compensation premiums over the last couple of years.
I am pleased, therefore, to inform the House this morning that I have approved funds totalling $462 000 for these organisations. That equates to an increase of 4.5% of last year’s grants and it reinforces this government’s commitments to disability services. It keeps these non-government organisations at the forefront in providing these essential services to Territorians.
While I am on my feet, I want to acknowledge in this parliament an accolade given to a Territorian. I note that Robyne Burridge has been appointed deputy chair of the national Disability Advisory Council by Jocelyn Newman. She is an activist in the disabled area who is well known to members of this House. It is a great accolade for her to be offered this position. I’m sure she will in true Territory fashion take the Territory’s position very strongly up to the feds.
Other good news, still talking about disability, concerns the taxi subsidy scheme. It is very, very important to people with disabilities to achieve mobility and to make sure they don’t become housebound. The Territory government in the last budget provided additional funding for people in nursing homes and hostels to access this scheme. It is a very worthy initiative to help people who have to leave what was their family home and move to nursing homes and hostels. I’m sure it will provide them with the ability to integrate better with the community and with their families. The taxi subsidy scheme, which has been going since the 1980s, was previously not available to people in nursing homes and hostels. Under SAT guidelines it was only available for people outside. In our budget that came down in this House in the last sittings, we provided the additional money.
The initiative will encourage people with disabilities to visit the Territory because it is coupled with a reciprocity agreement that we have with the other jurisdictions. People who come from other states and Territorians who visit other states can use their taxi vouchers to travel in disabled taxis. I think it is yet another good mark for this government that it takes this attitude to looking after those citizens who may be frail or disabled in our community. I’m very proud to be able to announce it today.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016