Page 3148 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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The ACT government has committed an additional $40.57 million through this budget, not only to fully fund our share of the NDIS but also to maintain existing disability services that are not eligible to be considered as in-kind contributions to the NDIS. These services include the children and young people’s equipment loan service, which provides specialist paediatric equipment and assistive technology to young people with disability, their carers and health professionals; the child development service, which offers assessment, referral, information and linkages for children zero to six years where there are concerns relating to their development; the ACT taxi subsidy scheme, which supports NDIS participants and other eligible Canberrans with their transport needs by subsidising regular taxi trips; and the rehabilitation, aged and community care services that are no longer eligible to be claimed as in-kind NDIS supports, ensuring that we continue to deliver integrated and effective services for rehabilitation, aged care and community care throughout the ACT, including healthcare and support for people with acute, post-acute and long-term illness.
As the NDIS has been rolled out in the ACT, people with disability, their families, carers and the organisations that represent them have told us how important these services are, and the ACT will continue to fund these mainstream and universal services.
We also continue to support the key outcomes of the national disability strategy and our essential work towards creating a more accessible and inclusive community where all people with disability can fully participate and enjoy their rights as citizens. This is demonstrated through the ongoing delivery of the disability inclusion grants, International Day of People with Disability activities and grants, the ACT companion card scheme and the Chief Minister’s inclusion awards. It is also seen through the development and implementation of the ACT disability justice strategy and aligned projects such as supported decision-making, enhanced advocacy and the introduction of an intermediary scheme.
I was very pleased, with my colleagues, to be able to launch the disability justice strategy recently. The strategy is a 10-year plan which aims to ensure that people with disability in the ACT have equal access to justice and support for their right to equality before the law. The strategy recognises that people with disability experience a greater need for legal support than many other people in society and face a range of disadvantages that make them more likely to come into contact with the justice system as victims, as witnesses and as potential offenders.
Significantly, the strategy was developed with and by people with lived experience and with stakeholders from across the entire justice system. The process of developing the strategy was, in itself, a significant piece of work which has already brought about cultural change in the system. My deepest thanks go to all those involved in developing the strategy and delivering the actions under it. I thank particularly the staff who have worked to deliver this critical piece of work and call out Amanda Charles from the Office for Disability and Robyn Bicket from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate who led this work.
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