Page 3715 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Conductive education is far more than just training in movement and physical independence. Conductive education is funded in most other States of Australia. It is not a new therapy. It is not experimental. Yet ACT Health has continued to ignore its potential. Certainly, conductive education is not appropriate for everyone, but there does seem to be a case to investigate whether it should be a recognised option within ACT EIS services.
This inquiry is not about just conductive education. It is about ensuring that the ACT has the best and most progressive services for our young disabled children - services which will enable realisation of individual capacities for physical, social, emotional and intellectual development; services which will support attainment of a reasonable quality of life, and allow those involved to make and actively participate in the decisions which affect their lives. Madam Speaker, I commend the motion to the house.
MS SZUTY (11.28): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to support the motion proposed by Mrs Carnell to refer to the Social Policy Committee an inquiry into early intervention services. I thank Mrs Carnell for her comments about my involvement in drafting the motion; I was very pleased to assist. Like Mrs Carnell, ever since I took up my position as a member in this Assembly, I have received representations from a number of organisations and individuals in the ACT who are concerned about the provision of early intervention services.
It seems to me that an inquiry by a committee of the Assembly is an appropriate mechanism by which we can review many aspects of the operation of early intervention services. The timeframe for consideration by the Social Policy Committee, I believe, is reasonable and will not overly burden the committee, which currently has a reference regarding the community use of schools. I note that it also has two exposure draft Bills to consider - Mental Welfare Bill and Crimes (Amendment) Bill.
The committee will have a wide brief, as set out in the motion, to inquire into and report on the provision of early intervention services to children of zero to five years in the ACT who have been identified as experiencing developmental delays and/or disabilities of any kind. It will also consider a number of other significant issues relevant to the inquiry, all of which have been the subject of some comment to me over a considerable period. This will be an important inquiry for the Social Policy Committee to undertake, and I look forward to hearing of their work both during the inquiry and at its completion in June of next year.
MS ELLIS (11.30): Madam Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity as chair of the Social Policy Committee to put on the public record both the Government's and my individual support for this motion. There has not been any dissent at all from it, and I do not want anybody reading the Hansard transcript to get the impression that it is being supported only from the other side of the house. For the sake of the record, I also have had some ongoing long consultations with groups who are concerned with this motion, particularly the conductive education people. I fully understand the frustrations that some parents in this area suffer through being unlucky enough to have the added burden of bringing up a child with a disability.
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