Page 851 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017
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called the NDIS. It is something that I have been raising for some years as well in annual report hearings and estimates hearings about support for these types of organisations, about the need to support organisations that are not in the service delivery space but in the systemic advocacy space. They are in the referral and information space. It was obvious from day one that there was a need to look at this area very closely.
While I am no longer as closely involved in this area, my understanding is that the information, linkages and capacity tier in the NDIS was not intended for groups like SHOUT. It was intended more for capacity building. So it was perhaps understandable that the board of SHOUT were concerned about whether they would gain funding under that particular model. I would refer you, Madam Assistant Speaker, to the health annual report hearing on 12 November 2013, when I asked the then minister, Minister Burch, about what were then called, I think, tier two services. One of the public servants said:
… being in a launch site we are essentially in the process of resolving these complex issues as we face them.
She also said:
… we are very much in the front seat of influencing the design of a full scheme—
because we were one of the pilot sites. I used the example of the Deafness Resource Centre as I was familiar with their model of working. They may provide some services, but generally they are an information and referral centre for people who may be experiencing deafness or hearing loss in their life.
In the health annual report hearing on 6 November 2014, a year later, I asked the minister at the time, Ms Burch:
… what is happening with peak bodies and systemic advocacy groups rather than service provider organisations?
I had another answer about what would be happening and how the government was looking very closely at this area to make sure that these important services would be funded into the future.
Again, in estimates on 26 June 2015, I asked about peak organisations or what is now called information, linkages and capacity building. So it was not something that should have come as a surprise. During the hearings the minister referred to the $20,000 grant that SHOUT and other organisations received. It is something that quite clearly, years ago, was at risk of falling through the cracks. It is obvious that SHOUT, an umbrella body covering up to 45 different organisations, are assisting small, grassroots organisations to meet the needs of those families.
The closure of SHOUT, if it happens, is likely to have a profound impact on those 30 or more volunteer self-help groups in the ACT. I will name just four or five of these groups. Ms Lee mentioned all of them earlier. The ones that I feel extremely strongly about—and there are many of them—are children with Down syndrome,
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