Questions without notice and ministers statements
Disability support services
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:00): (781) My question is directed to the Minister for Disability Ms Blandthorn. The NDIS review identified the persistent challenges of attracting and retaining disability workers. A key reason is inadequate pay and conditions. Funding received by support services through the NDIS is insufficient to fund decent wages and conditions to attract workers. In Victoria around 7000 workers once employed by the Victorian public sector were transferred to non-government providers under the NDIS rollout. Their wages and conditions have been partly subsidised by the Victorian government, but the subsidy is due to expire in December. Workers face the prospect of poorer wages and conditions, leading many to quit the sector, exacerbating the workforce crisis. Will the government commit to extending the subsidy to maintain subsidies to employers of Victorian disability support workers?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:01): Can I thank Mr Ettershank for his question and for his continued advocacy in this area in particular, although across all of my portfolios, to be fair to Mr Ettershank. As the chamber would be aware and as I know Mr Ettershank understands well, as a part of Victoria’s transition to the national disability insurance scheme, the NDIS, the state government operated disability services were transferred to the NDIS, if you like, and that included five non-government providers, as I think you understand, Mr Ettershank. This transfer of services as well as our continued and significant contribution to the scheme recognises, as did the establishment of the NDIS in and of itself, that there needed to be an agreed and national approach to disability service provision in the best interests of people with disabilities and their carers and their families. As a state government our ongoing funding of disability services includes our $3 billion direct contribution to the NDIS – that is in the previous financial year – towards the operating costs of the NDIS scheme, and that includes that type of service provision.
I recognise the concerns that you have raised, Mr Ettershank, and I also acknowledge that this is a time of continued uncertainty in the disability sector. Certainly it remains a point of concern, as we have concluded the review but are in the process of discussing with the Commonwealth the implementation of the review’s findings and certainly what that also means in terms of what have been described, although not defined, as foundational supports. The state certainly feels this uncertainty as well, as I think I have explained to this chamber before and have certainly explained in the community. I do assure you, Mr Ettershank, that we will continue to raise these issues with the Commonwealth. We will continue to talk to the Commonwealth about how we can best provide disability services to people who need them and their families and their carers.
Specifically in relation to the transfer agreements, we are working closely with providers who deliver these services to ensure that there has been and continues to be a successful transfer of people who use those services, including residents in houses as well, their families and of course the workforce, as you identified; there were 7000Â workers who were transferred at the establishment of the NDIS. I am advised that DFFH continues to work with those providers as they prepare for the conclusion of those contracts, but fundamentally this is an issue about how the NDIS as a service funds those providers. We do our bit as a state government in contributing towards the NDIS, that $3Â billion contribution a year, and I will continue to encourage the Commonwealth to ensure that the provision of services is fair and adequate and meets the needs of those who use the services as well as those who work in them. I thank you for your interest in this matter.
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:04): I thank the minister for her response. The NDIS review recommended establishing a system of foundational supports for disability. These supports, including disability advocacy support, were originally funded by the state before the establishment of the NDIS. There has been disagreement over which level of government is responsible for funding these foundational supports.
The need for advocacy support to tackle abuse, discrimination and violence towards people with disability continues to grow, but like other parts of the disability sector, the funding awarded to disability advocacy groups is inadequate to attract and retain staff. I previously called on you to provide emergency funding to Victorian disability advocacy services until the NDIS’s recommended system of foundational support is in place. Can the minister update the house on what actions are being taken to support the sector to help them meet the increased demand for those advocacy services?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:05): I thank Mr Ettershank for his supplementary question. As I have previously advised this chamber, there is a continued lack of clarity from the Commonwealth not only about who funds foundational supports but about what foundational supports are. I would note that the state has not yet actually agreed with the Commonwealth on what foundational supports are, which is the important first part of that question. To your more precise point, there is also not an agreement about whether foundational supports, however they end up being defined, include advocacy services. We, I think, would hopefully all argue that they should, because advocacy is critical to those with disability, but that has not yet been resolved either.
As I know Mr Ettershank and hopefully others in this place are aware from a previous question that I answered on a similar topic, the government does deliver the Victorian disability advocacy program to ensure that there is a strong advocacy sector in Victoria. It is one of the many things that sets disability services in Victoria apart from those in other states. It is one of those areas in which we are better placed than other states and territories in this conversation, because we do have programs such as this, a program which helps people with disability advocate for their own rights and systemic change.