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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 207 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Obviously, behaviour management strategies, level of training for carers, compatibility of people living together, daytime activities and levels of resourcing are all relevant. It is not acceptable that this level of injury occur in any service and I hope to see urgent action to address these issues.

The report's 13 recommendations have the support of all three members of the Social Policy Committee. The recommendations include: The critical issues of effective linkages between accommodation and employment services and adequate daytime support for people with a disability; support for inclusion of services to children in future Commonwealth/Territory arrangements; satisfactory resolution with the Commonwealth of a funding gap in child care and out of school hours services, including for children over 12 years; a call on the ACT Government to strongly support the role of advocacy services and to ensure Commonwealth and/or Territory funding for those services; a requirement for funded services to develop effective complaints mechanisms; support for a broadening of the powers of the Commissioner for Health Complaints in relation to people with a disability, and commensurate resourcing; developing mechanisms for ensuring consumer input at all levels of policy development and implementation and quality assurance procedures; development of systematic and independent standards monitoring process; development of a model for quality improvement and assurance; and, finally, actions to ensure equitable wages and working conditions for people with disabilities.

As is clear from the committee's recommendations, there are a number of areas which require attention. I would like to point out though, Mr Speaker, that solutions do not lie just in increasing resources, although this certainly is an issue. The solutions lie also in addressing the fundamental lack of clear and consistent systems. They lie in development of effective and accountable complaints processes and quality assurance mechanisms. With an increase in outsourcing of service provision, it is becoming even more critical that these systems are dramatically improved.

Lack of accountability and clear systems have led to inconsistent responses and operation of services, which in turn have led to poor outcomes for some clients and carers. If the goals of the legislation are to be realised and effective quality assurance mechanisms are to be developed, another very important need is that consumer input at all levels is clearly structured. I note that, in a statement Mrs Carnell made to the Assembly last year on continuing reform within the ACT community care disability program, she insisted that "changes can only happen with the cooperation of everyone involved". The problem is that this statement is no more than empty rhetoric unless consumer input is clearly built into all levels of policy and quality assurance processes. This, Mr Speaker, is one of the important recommendations of this report, and the evidence was overwhelming that there does need to be urgent attention given to this.

During the course of this inquiry the government service provider, ACT Community Care, has come up with a strategic directions plan and this has taken into account many of the issues raised. I also acknowledge that several policies have been put in place during the course of this inquiry. It is disturbing to the committee, however, that these policies and systems were not in place before. It is also disturbing that the department has expressed the view that any detailed analysis of present unmet need and projected future need is beyond its capacity. This would seem to be basic information for good government

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