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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 214 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

The Commonwealth/State/Territory Disability Agreement was put in place by the previous Labor Government in 1991. While it has led to some noticeable improvements in funding and service delivery, it has also brought with it some major problems, particularly in relation to growth funding and support for employment for people with disabilities. The future of the agreement in its current form is uncertain and I note that it is due to expire later this year, I believe on 30 June.

I know that the Chief Minister has some strong reservations about plans by the Commonwealth to transfer responsibilities for this area to the Territories and States, because of uncertainty about growth funding and the Commonwealth's failure to recognise that it has not met its responsibilities in employment-related issues. I am sure that all committee members share these reservations. It would be unfair of anyone in this parliament to think that these issues and other issues related to the CSDA can be resolved by simply recommending that the ACT must somehow extract more funding from the Commonwealth. If anyone does think that, then perhaps they need to pay more attention to the next Premiers Conference and see just how difficult it is to get even one extra dollar out of the Federal government, whether it be Liberal or Labor.

Mr Speaker, there have been enormous advances in the care of the disabled in the ACT since this Government appointed Michael Szwarcbord as the chief executive officer of ACT Community Care. Under his new approach there has been a great deal of consultation with carers and clients alike, and this has led to significant changes and improvements in the availability of service for people with disabilities. Nowhere has this been more obvious than in greatly improved management of group houses. There will always be problems, Mr Speaker, because no two clients are ever the same; but I am confident that things are on the right track and that the ACT can be confident that its services for people with disabilities are as good as any other in Australia. That is not just my opinion.

This report contains criticism of the shortcomings in employment assistance for people with disabilities, but I think it is worth pointing out how the ACT compares with other jurisdictions. The latest national government service provision report, published earlier this month, found that the ACT had the second highest labour force participation by people with disabilities. It also revealed that only 8 per cent of people with a disability in Canberra who were in the labour force were unemployed, compared with a national average of about 18 per cent. On this indicator alone, the ACT was miles ahead of any other State or Territory.

I come back to one of the key findings of this report because I want to make a comment about the way that I hope the parliament will interpret this suggestion. The Social Policy Committee has recommended that the ACT Government obtain a commitment from the Commonwealth to adequately fund and support employment opportunities for people with disabilities, in line with the spirit of the Disability Services Act of 1986. As the report correctly points out, the resource strains on services for people with disabilities must be acknowledged by the Commonwealth. The Federal Government should not expect this Territory to continue to expand disability services without additional funding. (Quorum formed)

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