Page 1753 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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(b) Minister to report to the Assembly on details of non-government service providers intending to replace existing early intervention and therapy services in the ACT by the end of August 2014.
Today I stand here in this place once again in support of an overwhelming number of families affected by a decision made by the current ACT Labor government. Only a month ago, I stood here in this exact place voicing the concerns of anxious and frustrated parents, carers, teachers and therapists and brought a motion into this Assembly on this same issue. At that time the groundswell of discontent had only just begun, yet now it is at a full-blown roar.
Last week, in the wake of an increasing amount of correspondence being made to my office about this issue, I held a forum here in the Assembly. The intent of the forum was not to politicise, scaremonger or grandstand in any way; it was simply a mechanism to bring a group of like-minded individuals together to give them an opportunity to share their concerns and their personal stories. An invitation was also extended in good faith to Minister Joy Burch, to give her the opportunity to explain the situation and provide her solution, but she did not attend. Not only did she not attend; she failed to give me or any of the attendees an apology or an explanation for her non-attendance.
That meeting, which consisted of about 30 representatives of families receiving assistance through early intervention services, therapists, service providers and advocates, including organisations such as Autism Asperger ACT, shared their frustration at the lack of information being provided to them.
The idea of a forum or a community meeting must have been a contagious idea, because just this week another meeting was held—this time convened by the government—to discuss these changes. This meeting may well have been one of the 80 information sessions that the minister proudly points out so often when she talks about communication around the NDIS. However, I do fear that it may just have been a hastily convened, token attempt to communicate with many disappointed and anxious families about a decision that has already been made. This meeting was sold to the community with the words “an opportunity to provide accurate information regarding early intervention programs and Therapy ACT”. Unfortunately, I am not sure that those in attendance at the meeting agree that the outcome reflected this intent.
Many questions were left unanswered. What was glaringly obvious was that the minister and ACT government officials seemed somewhat ill-prepared for the onslaught of questions from the crowd. They simply did not have the answers that were required. Some of those questions have since been raised with me again by families. I wish to quote from some correspondence that has come in from parents. The first email reads:
How many children were on the waiting lists for the early intervention units? These numbers should have been the basis for an open market with the inclusion of the current Department of Education services who were unable to meet these children’s needs. The decision to blow away 300 positions from children who may have benefitted from this type of operation without anything in place was a poor business strategy. If the needs for the government services started declining, then a strategy could have been put in place to withdraw.
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