Jacquie Petrusma

Mr Speaker, I move -

That the House take note of the following matter: support for people living with a disability.

Last week we learned that funding for individual support had dried up as there had only been just two individual support packages, or ISPs, allocated since December last year and that the waiting list for ISPs had blown out to 285 people statewide. By failing to provide Gateway services with allocation funding for ISPs for months now, the minister has forced another 61 people onto waiting lists.

Mr Speaker, it is simply appalling that the Greens-Labor Government has allocated ISP funding for just two individuals living with a disability this year and therefore has made the wait longer still for some of those who have been languishing on that list for up to 12 years.

In December last year, 70 ISP packages had been allocated for this financial year, well down on the minister's target of 104, but then funding simply dried up and there was nothing. There have been no more allocations and this has proven extremely difficult for Gateway services across the State who are forced to place people whom they know to be in desperate circumstances into a holding pattern. Concerns have also been raised by stakeholders that there might not be any more ISPs allocated for another six months again.

ISP funding is critical for people with a disability to live independently in the community with in-home support for daily care needs or to receive support in a residential care facility. I am informed that the majority of those requesting ISPs are parents of adult children with disabilities. These parents, who are ageing and perhaps frail, have delivered unpaid care over a lifetime but can no longer do so. Others are families with children with disabilities who have had little or no help and have now reached crisis point.

The budget mess created by this Government should not be impacting on the most vulnerable in our communities. This Government has a duty of care, a moral obligation to provide support for people with disabilities. Funding for critical services like this should not be an optional extra.

Mr Speaker, as the manager of Speak Out Association of Tasmania, Mary Mallett, said publicly last week on this matter and I quote:

'The Government has failed to support the Gateway introduction by ensuring that funds are made available through these services for the most vulnerable people in our community.'

Last year in Estimates, the minister said:

'The new disability Gateway will make life easier for clients, for carers and their families and the focus will be very much on the needs of individuals and service delivery.'

However, isn't it true, Minister, that the Gateway can only make life easier for clients, carers and their families if they are given the resources - in other words, the funding - to allocate to those clients, carers and families? As Speak Out states and I quote:

'ISP funding is such an essential and valuable resource in assisting people with disabilities to attend to their basic physical and personal care needs and maintain independence and personal dignity in the community. People with disabilities who require assistance through ISPs are often those people who do not have supports, that their families are alone and further isolated by the Government's inaction.'

In just five months an extra 61 people have been added to the ISP waiting list. At this rate, there will be more than 120 people a year added to the wait list of already 285 people. If the Government believes for a minute that it can get away with allocating just 70 ISP packages a year, Disability Services will be in absolute crisis in this State and we might see the heartbreaking scenario of children with disabilities relinquished into State care or adults living in hospital beds or becoming permanent residents at respite centres. The minister needs to speak up loud and clear in Cabinet and address this severe funding shortfall.

People with a disability in this State are pinning their hopes on the proposed national disability insurance scheme for a fairer way of funding future supports. But for the next several years, at least, they are stuck with a crisis-driven disability support service that, astoundingly, does not meet its own targets, does not quarantine the dollars needed for disability support and whose funds run dry at Christmas each year. This is just not good enough, or as Speak Out and Advocacy Tasmania have said, this Government is failing miserably. I would ask the minister in a response today to explain why funds have run out, and when they will be restored, whether she will meet her target for this year, and whether funds will be increased for ISPs next year and, if not, why not. I would also ask the minister what she intends to do to meet increasing demand for ISPs, because it is quite clear that if 120 are added each year to the 285-long wait list, and we are only allocating 70 packages a year, there will be no end in sight for the desperate wait by people with a disability, their families and their carers.

Every week I am hearing stories from people living with a disability, their families or carers, about the frustrations and impacts on their lives without support. Justin Palmer, who told his story today in the Mercury, is no different. Justin has been spending three or four days at the St Giles respite centre so that he can go to school at Claremont College. Justin loves school, and the school loves him, and all concerned want him to be able to finish year 12, but when Justin turns 18 in July he can no longer stay at St Giles because they are only funded to provide for clients up to the age of 18. This leaves Justin with no accommodation options.