The ACT Government is planning a new 10-year whole-of-government plan for people with disability to make Canberra fairer and more inclusive. This will be launched under the framework of the National Disability Strategy 2021–31 released today, and will apply across all directorates and the whole community.
In the meantime, the ACT Government will double disability advocacy services’ funding, Emma Davidson, ACT Minister for Disability, announced. Advocacy for Inclusion and ADACAS (the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service) will share in $1.65 million over four years.
“The NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) has become progressively more difficult for people to get access to and to work their way through. It’s becoming an increasingly bureaucratic and complicated system for people to navigate without support, and Advocacy for Inclusion and ADACAS do some fantastic work in helping people to be able to do that. We wanted to recognise that, and resource them appropriately to do that work.”
Nicolas Lawler, CEO of Advocacy for Inclusion, said: “Securing extra funding ensures that all people with a disability in the ACT have a strong voice to defend their rights and interests by addressing instances of discrimination and unfair treatment.
“AFI is committed to making important and significant contributions to advance to its local community to benefit all Canberrans with disability. This funding will assist in ensuring that these aspirations become a reality.”
ADACAS CEO Wendy Prowse said: “The demand for advocacy remains high. Independent advocacy is an important support available to people with disability, people with mental ill-health and older people in situations where their voices need to be amplified or where assistance is needed to navigate the many barriers that people with disability can experience to having their rights upheld.”
The Integrated Service Response Program (ISRP) will receive $4.4 million over the same period. The program is run through the ACT Office for Disability, and provides short-term case co-ordination and emergency funding. Many of its clients have co-occurring mental and physical health conditions, and often drug or alcohol problems, or are involved with the justice system. Referrals to the program increased 100 per cent during the pandemic.
“While it is a program of last resort,” Ms Davidson said, “for people with disability with highly complex needs, it provides essential support that often cannot be received through the NDIS.
“It makes a huge difference in terms of people being able to live safely in the community with the appropriate supports and not ending up as hospital inpatients or in the justice system or experiencing homelessness, simply because they weren’t able to get access to the right services at the right time.”
This week, Ms Davidson tabled the second report for the ACT’s 10-year Disability Justice Strategy, designed to protect people with disability from violence and neglect, and to make the justice system more responsive to their needs. The annual progress report marked the halfway point for the First Action Plan 2019–23. An active community of practice had been established, improving access to justice, and disability liaison officers were employed across eight justice agencies.
Next year’s priorities include finishing and implementing the evaluation framework for the Strategy (delayed by COVID-19); rolling out disability training for the justice sector; trialling identification and screening tools in justice agencies; and developing Disability Action and Inclusion Plans across justice and government organisations.
ACT Corrective Services last year launched its Disability Action and Inclusion Plan 2021–23, to ensure equitable access to justice for people with disability.
Canberra Health Services are working on their own Plan, based on a disability needs assessment conducted last year. It revealed that CHS needed to get better at communicating with people with disability, to support staff to be more disability confident, to provide consistent physical access to services, and to engage more in planning with people with disability, Ms Davidson said.
The draft will soon be released to the ACT community for feedback via their YourSay platform, with a view to finalising and releasing the plan in the first quarter of 2022.
The ACT Government is developing an overarching Disability Health Strategy, in accordance with the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement for the Tenth Legislative Assembly. Ms Davidson said it would provide “a responsive and confident health system supporting people with disability to have better health outcomes and person-centred support”. Work has begun, and the Strategy will be launched in 2023.
“The community has had a really exhausting year, so I hope everyone can take a break over summer, and rest and recharge,” Ms Davidson said. “So that in 2022, we can take pride in diversity, make our city the most inclusive in Australia on every level, and not constantly be battling to save our NDIS. But if that’s what it takes, I will keep doing it.”
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