COMMUNITY TRANSPORT FUNDING
The Hon. JANELLE SAFFIN [4.34 p.m.]: Community transport is an essential service in regional and rural New South Wales but it has long been underfunded by governments of all political persuasions. The bulk of the funding for community transport comes from home and community care, commonly known as HACC. The people who can receive HACC services are the elderly, the frail and the disabled. A number of years ago when I administered the northern rivers community transport project I came to fully appreciate the difference the service made to the quality of people’s lives - the difference between people being totally housebound or having access to medical care and ancillary services.
I recall an occasion when an elderly woman who lived in a nursing home in a small town near Lismore was unable to visit her husband when he was hospitalised because she had no means of transport. Through the project I was administering she was able to visit Lismore Base Hospital three times a week to see her husband. Community transport relies on an enormous number of volunteers. In New South Wales community transport has been the poor cousin of the HACC program since its inception, receiving 3.8 per cent of total funding. Yet it has the highest number of individual service users. I do not like to use the word "clients"; I find it offensive when talking about the provision of public services. However, that is the terminology used. Up to May 1996, 38,370 people had received community transport. Many needed to use it regularly, a few times a week, not as a one-off.
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I find it odd that the information that is used in all home and community care planning processes is not used in the HACC community transport planning process. Community transport provides data on the number of people assisted on a monthly basis but not on the number of services. The north coast community transport project has five subprojects. It operates from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads. In 1996-97 it provided service to more than 5,650 people - a lot of people. In 1996-97 the five community transport projects utilised more than 48,000 volunteer hours. I do not know why but under no government has community transport been able to attract more funding. Maybe it has something to do with the volunteer labour force not having an organised voice. It is up to us to provide that voice.
The New South Wales community, through government, provides approximately $1 billion in transport subsidies. I do not want to set up a them-and-us situation between rural and regional areas and the cities but I have to say that having access to Sydney-based transport can make life a lot easier. Subsidies are available for public and private operators. Country areas just do not have public transport. More concessions are available in the city areas, and they provide many advantages.
A woman from my area who was receiving community transport services a few times a week became terribly worried when she was unable to access the service. She thought she would not be able to pay her electricity, telephone and other bills. The worry resulted in her being admitted to hospital. That is a distressing example of what can happen to elderly people over 80. They become panicky if they cannot pay a phone bill on time. They think their telephone will be cut off if the payment is a day late. Half the time I am lucky to see my telephone bill before the due date, so I do not worry about it. It is part and parcel of the lifestyle I lead, travelling all the time. But for a housebound 80-year-old it is very distressing not to be able to pay a bill by the due date. Funding of community transport is a real problem.