Numbers Rise As People Fall
26/08/2011
The sorry tale of disability service provision in South Australia has added another tragic chapter with today’s release of unmet needs data.
The unmet needs figures are released every six months by the SA Government. The numbers detail how many people with disabilities are waiting for essential services.
“These figures from June 2011 show that the Government is still neglecting the people who are most in need,” said Kelly Vincent, Dignity for Disability MLC.
“Once again we see that the numbers in the ‘Category one’ waiting list are climbing. These are people with a disability who are homeless, or at immediate and high risk of harm to themselves or others and they are being forced to wait for basics like housing.
“This is an outrageous situation.”
The Government report which accompanies the unmet needs data outlines various funding and projects which have been implemented.
“The Government needs to learn that spending money is not always the same as solving a problem,” said MS Vincent.
“The figures show that people with a disability are still going without. Until the programs run and funding spent equate to people having a better quality of life, there is nothing to boast about.”
Ms Vincent is urging the Government to inject emergency funding into the sector to protect the lives and health of the people who are represented by the unmet needs figures.
“There is hope on the horizon for people with disabilities after the Federal Government announced its support for a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
“However, the State Government needs to step up and clear the unmet needs list so we can be sure these people in desperate need can live just as well as other South Australians.”
