Page 33 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 25 February 2014
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I have witnessed her in very public forums being continually prompted and coached by officials from her directorate who are sitting in the front row to ensure that she is saying the right thing and, on occasion, there have been instances where directorate staff have stepped in to answer questions on the minister’s behalf simply because she is not across her brief. Over the past 15 months I have watched and listened to this minister dance around the hard stuff. Madam Speaker, when it comes to governance and policy in the disability sector there is a lot of hard stuff to deal with.
Last year I asked the minister a pretty straightforward question around the transition to the NDIS and how it would affect respite services within the territory. The answer was as follows:
The question is about how we continue to measure respite bed nights. It would be something that would be factored into the service provision depending on who is delivering those respite beds. That is, there is still an interest in the community about making sure that there are the number of beds available. The reduction in bed nights, though, reflects that there is often a growing and strong interest in respite in the home and outside, going to a traditional centre-based respite centre, Mr Wall. I know: I lost it halfway through that, Mr Wall; I am sure I will come back.
Madam Speaker, this answer is consistent with the tenor of all correspondence that has come from this minister and her directorate. It consists of predominantly fluff and absolutely no substance. I have said it before in this place and I will say it again today: expectations are high in the disability sphere. Expectations are very high that the NDIS will be the magic bullet that will solve financial and service delivery issues for those with a disability. Those expectations have been built by both the previous federal Labor government and also this current ACT Labor government. However, the minister has done very little to manage those expectations and I fear that disappointment is going to follow.
It does, however, get much more serious than this. In October last year a number of Disability ACT employees resorted to the drastic measure of contacting the media about what they see as the lack of oversight of this agency. Their concerns came from the badly-handled closure of three respite houses here in the ACT. Families and carers who relied upon the respite centres did not know about the closure until the day after the government made an announcement to the media. In their opinion and firsthand experience, there is a concerted effort to keep everything under the radar and protect their lacklustre minister. I would like now to quote from a letter that begins by stating:
Everything you have heard about Disability ACT is true. It is a toxic sinking ship with only the rats aboard.
The bullying and waste that has gone on in this government unit is beyond anything you could imagine.
The letter goes on to say:
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