NDIS funding joy – but enshrine money for rights, not red tape
18/04/2013
Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent – media release
Kelly Vincent has today congratulated the state government on reaching an historic agreement with the federal government on fully funding an NDIS scheme by 2018, but is cautious about dollars being seen as the only fix-it for the crises-driven disability sector.
“There is no denying that more money for the disability sector is needed, and welcome. Here, in one of the world’s wealthiest nations, people with disabilities can wait years for something like a wheelchair, or decades for housing. A lack of support means many people get by with just three showers per week,” says Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent.
“So, I am really pleased the Premier sees this as enough of a priority to commit forward funding, however, it could all be as worth as much as the paper it’s written on unless two things occur.
“Firstly, the alternate Premier, Steven Marshall, needs to provide an iron clad guarantee today that he will sign on to this scheme at exactly the same level, since he could well be the Premier come March 16, 2014.
“Additionally, it’s important that this funding injection doesn’t wind up lost in bureaucratic processes and sequestered within certain Departments or Departmental units, as seems to have happened thus far. The additional money is needed on the front line of disability services, and a cultural change by the government and community is also urgently needed.
“As recently as today, we’ve seen people with disabilities suffering because various state government departments can’t get their act together and communicate and collaborate to provide solutions to get people back home.
“Aussies are a pretty smart bunch. Don’t pump new money into an old system and try to tell us that’s a revolution. The constant cost-shifting and blame-shifting occurring amongst departments is ruining people’s lives, wasting Australian taxpayer dollars – dollars we are constantly being told we don’t have in the first place – and it must end.
“As the UK’s expert adviser on NDIS, Simon Duffy, has elucidated to both state and federal governments, unless there is an attitudinal change, the paradigm shift required to make the NDIS a workable reality for South Australians will not happen,” said Ms Vincent.
