Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to commend to the parliament a very special observation today, that of the International Day of People with Disability. This year’s theme is ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: dignity and justice for all of us’. Today brings together communities and disability organisations with businesses and governments, uniting to promote an understanding and an awareness of disability issues. I also would like to acknowledge this year’s three ambassadors for the International Day of People with Disability: Melbourne businesswoman Millie Parker, farmer and pilot Sam Bailey and model Emmah Money.

When I wake up in the morning, like many others in this chamber I take for granted the fact that I can get out of bed, have a shower, make breakfast, read a newspaper, dress for work and have a conversation with loved ones. However, for many Australians living with a disability, completing some of these seemingly simple tasks without assistance is a challenge, a difficulty and, for some, an impossibility. These are challenges and difficulties faced daily. This reminder and reality is enough to evoke some feelings of guilt, particularly as we who live without a disability may become frustrated or complain over the smallest inconvenience or interruption to our daily routines. In contrast, I hear and am witness to many stories of courage and inspiration involving people with disabilities and their families.

This year, athletes with wide-ranging talents and disabilities thrilled us with their performances, heroics and bravery at the Paralympics in Beijing. Each year in my home state of South Australia, Arts Access SA presents an exhibition of art by people with a disability, which invariably boasts high-quality, richly coveted pieces and a generous dose of inspiration. However, these are just a couple of public examples of the way we celebrate the abilities of people who live with disabilities. There are many personal accounts of families touched and shaped by such challenges and circumstances. The courage of these people will not be celebrated on a grand, national scale. They will not become household names, yet they are truly great Australians. To the Rudd Labor government, they are valued Australians too.

Since coming to office just 12 months ago, the government has begun to address the needs of people with disabilities and their carers. There is much to be done, but we have made a start and we have begun to make a difference. We have committed $5.3 billion over a five-year period for a new national disability agreement with the states and territories. This funding will go towards expanding and improving services for people with disability, for their families and for their carers. Under the new agreement, the Commonwealth is providing the states and territories with an extra $1.3 billion in funding over five years, including $901 million from the disability assistance package and an additional $408 million to help with reform. The new agreement will come into effect on 1 January next year.

The reform of the disability service system is designed to create an effective, efficient and equitable system with a focus on timely, personal approaches and lifelong planning. The reform vision is for a system featuring single access points, assessment processes and quality assurance systems. The reforms will have a renewed focus on early intervention and are aimed at offering more consistent access to disability aids and equipment. Under the new scheme, accredited providers will be better able to develop, train and employ disability care workers, and governments will work together to better measure the level of actual demand for disability services.

This government also has consulted with stakeholders nationally on the development of a National Disability Strategy. This strategy will include a national policy statement which will set directions and priorities for the formulation of legislation, policy and financing of disability services. Importantly, this includes the development of consistent accessible parking schemes across Australia. A new council also has been set up to assist the development and monitoring of the National Disability Strategy. In line with the government’s policy of collaboration and consultation, the National People with Disabilities and Carers Council provides advice to government on issues affecting people with disabilities and their carers.

The government is helping pensioners and carers to make ends meet by increasing the telephone allowance from $88 to $132, and also extending the utilities allowance to recipients of the disability support pension and the carer payment. We have increased the allowance from $107 to $500 for singles and from $153 to $250 a year for each member of a couple. We have also taken further action to help pensioners, including disability support pensioners, with cost-of-living pressures, with the payment of $1,400 to single pensioners and $2,100 to couples in the lead-up to the comprehensive reform of the pension system.

Other advances include allowing people on the disability support pension to look for work without risking losing their pension. Already there has been a modest increase in disability pensioners seeking employment assistance through the Disability Employment Network. The government has also consulted widely to develop a national mental health and disability employment strategy aimed at encouraging people with disabilities to participate. Also in this area, there are 250 new places in Australian disability enterprises which provide supported employment for people who are unlikely to get a job in the open labour market at or above the relevant award wage equivalent and who need ongoing employment support. The release of 250 places for new services is designed to create employment opportunities for people with more severe disabilities. The government also has held regular meetings with employers to obtain a commitment to improve the employment of people with disabilities. Several corporations are committed to developing a disability action plan framework to help develop strategies, including recruitment and workplace accessibility, to change business practices that might result in discrimination against people with disabilities.

The government has also allocated $20 million over four years to assist families who need support to care for a young child diagnosed with a major disability or injury, and we have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, becoming one of the first Western nations to do so. Areas covered by the convention include non-discrimination, raising awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities, accessibility to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications technology, and services to enable independence and full participation of people with disabilities in society. Australian professor Ron McCallum was elected to the United Nations Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the first meeting of countries that have ratified the convention, and we have appointed a substantive Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Graeme Innes AM, to the Australian Human Rights Commission. The government will also provide $190 million over four years to help children with autism. This package will address the considerable need for support and services for children with autism spectrum disorders. These are all steps towards improving the lives of the people, carers and families of those living with disabilities. It is a considerable challenge but one that this government takes seriously.

Before concluding my remarks, I would like to briefly share the experience of some constituents in South Australia. The first is my goddaughter, Georgia, who was born on 2 June 1990. At eight months of age her parents were told that she had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She spends her days in a wheelchair but, being the determined young woman that she is, she has jumped so many hurdles. Just this year we celebrated her 18th birthday. But the years in between have been tough, with her having to endure five major operations. With the support of her talented and dedicated identical twin sister, Victoria, and her parents, Deborah and Paul, Georgia leads a very full life. She is a member of the Special Olympics swimming squad and is training for the national games to be held in Adelaide in 2010. She is on a traineeship where she works two days a week and attends TAFE where she is currently studying a Certificate II in Business. She writes songs and has performed with her sister in public venues including Carols by Candlelight and the Variety Club’s international convention. In 2005 she was awarded the Lions Clubs’ Children of Courage Award at Government House, and in 2006 she was awarded the Bill Bowden encouragement award for her involvement with Special Olympics swimming. She has even set up her own music MySpace and Facebook pages. Georgia has written songs and the lyrics to one of her songs are:

I won’t stop ‘til I reach the top

I’ll fight with all my heart

Got to give it my best shot

I’ll give it all I’ve got.

The next South Australian family that I want to tell you about is Sabine and Doug and their son Tom. Sabine has very kindly given her permission for me to quote a part of her submission to the inquiry into better support for carers earlier this year, and I ask those in the chamber to reflect on her words. She writes:

My husband and I are carers for our 16-year-old son who has severe multiple disabilities. He has spastic quadriplegia, is legally blind, has no speech, is incontinent and has epilepsy. He needs 24-hour care and we are unable to leave him alone. Unfortunately, we have no family support. My husband has given up trying to work and is a full-time carer, while I work four days a week in an administrative position that is not at a high level salary. After a day’s work, I come home to more work and after eating dinner and getting our son fed, showered and into bed, I have about another hour to catch up on domestic jobs before crashing out exhausted into bed. I am blessed with a husband who loves to cook. I am 53 and my husband is 61. I’m finding that our bodies are showing the physical toll of 16 years of intense manual handling. Shoulders, backs, necks and arms get strained hurt and damaged. We become exhausted, depressed and anxious. We cannot maintain the level of care we provide forever. We need help to plan for the future and this can be hard to initiate and get your head around when you are busy and exhausted every day. It is hard not to feel depressed when you do not see many options for a happy future for him and us as a family. All we see ahead is a lifetime caring job and I worry that our boy will not be looked after with love care and dignity when we are no longer around.

This is the reality Sabine and her husband deal with every day as they care for their son, who is now heading towards young adulthood. It is my certain belief that whatever we can do to assist, we must and will do. On this the International Day of People with Disability I applaud Georgia, her sister Victoria and her parents, Deborah and Paul. I applaud Sabine, her husband, Doug, and their son Tom, and I place on record my appreciation of the courage and the achievement of all those Australians living with disabilities and of their carers every single day of their lives. They may be assured, they may be confident, that investment in health, welfare services and social inclusion for this constituency is very much a part of Labor’s plan for the future.