Page 3489 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The number of children with hearing loss is projected to increase from 10,268 in 2005 to 11,031 by mid-century, an increase of only 7.4% over the period.
The report is saying that that is a function of population growth. It is not saying that there is a reason or an expectation that we will see a significant increase other than just as a percentage of population. It is interesting that, with all the modern technology we have, less than 10 per cent of people who are likely to benefit from technology have accessed it. There is an enormous amount of work we could do there.
I am not sure if this is an advertisement for the cochlear ear implant industry. Based on the work done by Access Economics, quite clearly there is a lot that we as a country can do for those that have hearing problems. It is particularly in education that a lot can be done. I will quote some of the data that is provided in the report:
People with hearing loss have poorer educational and employment outcomes than the rest of the population … The number of people with more severe degrees of hearing loss reporting completing a trade course or higher is less than half that of the general population … people with hearing loss were 2.42 times less likely to have completed high school.
Not only have they the disability of hearing loss but it is also compounded by the fact that their ability to complete education is also much more difficult for them. When you look at intervention services, $20 million was spent for early intervention in 2005. When you compare that to the $23 billion impact that deafness has on the community, $20 million for early intervention does not seem to be a great amount of money that is spent across the country.
The report says that school retention rates for deaf and hearing-impaired children are poor. The British Association of Teachers of the Deaf reports that 86 per cent of deaf and hearing-impaired students leave school by the age of 16. If you extrapolate those figures to Australia, the population of deaf and hearing-impaired students is estimated to be 20,918.
The cost of a teacher for a child with deafness is about $90,000 per annum. Support costs per teacher for a teachers aide are estimated to be about $35,000, given the reports. The total extra cost for educating children with hearing loss was estimated to be $117 million across the country. It is not a great deal of money. Appreciating always that there are competing demands for funding, it is really not a great deal of money when you compare what the impact is on the economy and what the impact is on them as individuals, when you think that it is the equivalent of living with pneumonia every day of your life.
This is an important motion, and the opposition will be supporting it. We thank Mr Gentleman for bringing it on. To all those who work in the field and do a fabulous job with assisting those born with hearing problems, I certainly congratulate you on the work you do.
It is incredibly important and vital that we intervene early. To all those who provide the care for children, in particular, with a hearing problem, again as a community I
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .