Better late than never
01/12/2010
Kelly Vincent MLC congratulates the Rann Government on finally announcing a review of the Disability Services Act.
In 1993 the South Australian Disability Services Act was passed, and one year later it was reviewed. That review recommended that the Act be reviewed every five years. Now, 15 years later, under fierce pressure from both the disability community, and Kelly Vincent MLC, the Minister for Disability, Jennifer Rankine has belatedly announced a review.
“The disability community has long awaited and desperately needs this review, and while it is welcomed, it is absurdly overdue. The community is simply sick of waiting and cannot afford to wait any longer” said Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent.
“The Minister has now indirectly answered one of the three questions regarding the Act that I asked of her in Parliament in October, but I still await answers as to why has it taken so long to initiate this review, and whether the Minister will commit to implementing any more of the recommendations made in 1995?
“I am hoping that the Minister’s answer to these questions will be followed by further answers to the more than 50 questions I have posed in Question Time since I was elected in April this year. To date, I have been given the courtesy of answers to only three of these questions. “I hope the government doesn’t take another 15 years to complete this review, and it DOES NOT use it as a shield which prevents them from fixing the Disability Unmet Needs crisis that our most vulnerable people face every minute of every day. “Better late than never” said Ms Vincent.
