Page 2517 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 1991
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MR KAINE: I wish to ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. The Chief Minister referred to the principal residence. Does that mean that an officer of the Defence Force or a public servant who happens to be out of Canberra on business and whose principal residence is here will not have this tax applied to the home?
MS FOLLETT: Again, Mr Speaker, that is a question of detail in the application of this tax, but it is one on which I have a great deal of sympathy. I believe that people who are involuntarily moved out of Canberra, whether by way of transfer or because of their jobs, and who maintain a principal residence here are entitled to sympathetic consideration.
Intellectual Disability Services
MS MAHER: My question is directed to the Minister for Housing and Community Services, Mr Connolly. As of Friday, 2 August, four people with severe disabilities were excluded from the Sharing Places program, due to cuts in funding. I believe that at least another eight people would have been eligible to participate in the program by the end of the year and had indicated their interest in doing so; however, given the cuts in funding, they will not have the opportunity to join the program. Can the Minister indicate what will happen to these four people and the other people who are eligible to participate in this type of program, taking into consideration that some of those people are now residents of IDS houses?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Ms Maher for her question. I was at Sharing Places last week and had the opportunity to speak with the parents of the four children concerned. What has happened is one of the problems that inevitably occur with the complex Federal funding arrangements in relation to disability services. At the Special Premiers Conference last week the Chief Minister, Ms Follett, signed, on behalf of the ACT, the disability agreement between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories, which will rationalise funding between the Commonwealth and the Territories. We will basically say that the Commonwealth is responsible for employment programs and training programs; the Territory is responsible for funding other services.
Sharing Places, which is a centre for daytime activities for persons with often quite profound disabilities and ranging downwards, is currently funded by the Federal Government which took a decision that its maximum level of services would be for 24 people, even though there had been 28 there at the time. As of 1 January next year, Sharing Places will be a responsibility of the ACT Government, and as of that date I suppose I, as Minister, and the Government collectively will be responsible for decisions to raise or lower the funding.
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