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Ms GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN (Willoughby) [5.47 p.m.]: I raise the plight of a number of families in the Willoughby electorate who care for loved ones with a disability and who, due to the State Government's cutbacks to disability services, find themselves in a very difficult situation. In July last year the State Government made major cutbacks to the Adult Training, Learning and Support Program, known as the ATLAS Program, which was originally designed to assist families who wished to care for disabled loved ones in the home. It allowed for transport costs to be met so that disabled people were able to participate in appropriate day programs, providing structured activities and routine for the disabled persons but also valuable respite for their carers. This meant that many families were able to care for their disabled loved ones at home as opposed to having to consider full-time supported accommodation or alternative forms of care.
Following the State Government's decision in July 2004 to cut the funding allocation to the ATLAS Program funding per year dropped from about $19,500 per consumer to only $13,500. The program also underwent a name change from the ATLAS Program to the Community Participation Program. The impact of these funding cuts has reverberated throughout the community since July last year and was brought home to me when I recently met in my electorate office local residents directly impacted by these funding cuts. A local Willoughby family explained to me that they received a letter dated 22 August this year from the General Manager of the Community Services Division of Sunnyfield advising them that their 29-year-old brother and son, who is severely intellectually disabled, would no longer benefit from the transport service provided by Sunnyfield to and from the day program. The letter stated:
In light of the recent changes to funding for the Community Participation program and the increase in cost of providing this service, unfortunately we are no longer able to offer you transport to and from the service. We are however able to maintain our transport costs to and from activities whilst you are at the program.
The letter continued:
The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC), our funding body, does not fund us to provide this service and in all of our new Day Programs in the Nepean, Parramatta, St Peters and Lisarow areas this service is not provided by Sunnyfield.
The family explained that they had made the choice to keep their loved one in the family home and that the day program at Sunnyfield gives them much-needed respite given that their son and brother is not able to do anything on his own. They said that taking away transport to the day program would have severe consequences. They explained that due to their family member's severe disabilities they were unable to leave him unsupervised in a taxi or any other mode of transport. For them, this defeated the whole purpose of respite as it would take a number of hours to travel with their family member to and from the day program, offered in this case by Sunnyfield.
This cut in funding has added to the stress of many families in the Willoughby electorate and throughout New South Wales who are already doing it tough. Families who make the decision to care for their severely disabled loved ones within the family home should not have to face such severe funding cuts. It is a major blight on the State Government's record that the most vulnerable in our community are not given more support. Local families have told me that cuts to such services may force them to consider supported accommodation or alternative housing arrangements for their loved ones. It is unfortunate that, in addition to being given this news about the cut to the transport service at Sunnyfield, the Willoughby family I spoke to last week said that they were given very little notice to make alternative arrangements and the contact persons identified in the letter were on leave and, therefore, they had no-one to speak to.
When funding cuts to critical social areas such as disability services are made in a swift and uncaring manner it brings into question the credentials of the relevant Minister and the State Government as a whole. I strongly believe the families of the most vulnerable in our community, who through no fault of their own require much care and support, should not have to endure the additional stress of a reduction in existing services. I thank the constituents I have already met concerning this issue as they have opened my eyes to the plight of so many in our community for whom every day is a struggle. The Minister for Disability Services should do the right thing by these local families and families throughout New South Wales by reinstating funding to the ATLAS Program and reinstating services to the disabled in our community and to their families.