What the Tasmanian Liberals will do:

We will provide an additional $1.5 million per year into the Community Equipment Scheme which provides equipment, aids and technology to Tasmanians with a disability. This amount will be indexed annually.

In late 2008, the Joint House Committee on Community Development tabled a substantial and damning report highlighting the inadequate funding of the Community Equipment Scheme (CES).

A major report by Anglicare in 2007 also recommended an increase in the CES.

The Parliamentary Committee found that the provision of equipment and technologies that enable people with disabilities to live as full a life as possible can no longer be seen as an ideal to be pursued when government budgets allow, but a right that is now enshrined in international law with Australia’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

While the State Labor Government is bound by the provisions of this treaty, it does not adhere to it.  It has not even officially responded to the Committee’s report.

The Committee found –

• That a significant number of people with disabilities who require use of aids and equipment have given up on receiving help from the Community Equipment Scheme, resigning themselves to a lower quality of life;
• That funding is unevenly distributed around the State; and
• Funding to the Scheme is less than adequate and suffers a chronic deficiency in budget allocations year after year.

This is best illustrated by evidence provided to the Committee which showed the monthly allocation for the north of the State totalled $6000 while monthly applications for assistance were typically in the region of $100,000.

The Committee was also told –

• Delays in providing children with wheelchairs often meant they would outgrow them by the time they arrived, and the whole process of applying for assistance would have to start again; and
• There were instances where clients were bedridden for weeks while parts were sought for their wheelchairs because no replacement items are available for loan while servicing is done.

This is not a kind, connected and clever Tasmania.

After 11 years in office, the State Labor Government has failed to ensure Tasmanians with a disability have access to the equipment and technologies that will assist them achieve their potential.

The Tasmanian Liberals believe it is not acceptable for Tasmanians with disabilities to resign themselves to a lower quality of life because this Government has become tired and out of touch.

The Liberals see the timely provision of equipment and aids to people with disabilities as a right and will inject new funding into the Scheme while ensuring efficiency, transparency and that the Scheme keeps pace with increasing costs and up-to-date trends in the provision of equipment and aids.

Centralised databasing of all regions’ equipment will be undertaken to ensure better monitoring of equipment, and eligibility criteria will be reviewed to ensure the allocation of equipment better reflects need. 

Equipment needs should be part of life-long planning for people with disabilities and under reforms to disability services the Liberals will ensure it is.

The use of thresholds and co-payments will also be reviewed to reflect the increasing costs of equipment, repairs and maintenance and the inability of people on disability support pensions to meet these costs.   For example, a wheelchair can cost more than $20,000 and people on low incomes are asked to contribute $14,000 towards the cost.  This is totally unrealistic.

In providing additional funding to the Scheme, a Liberal Government will ensure funding is equitably distributed around the State, indexed annually and equipment is maintained before it needs costly repairs. 

Equal importance will be placed on equipment for people with physical disabilities as those who may require communication devices.

Where practical, the Liberals will allow equipment purchased by the Education Department (or purchased for use in child care centres) for the individual use of children to be used in out of school settings to assist families and reduce costs of duplication.

The Liberals will also lobby the Federal Labor Government to ensure people with disabilities who are employed can receive tax breaks for the purchase of equipment or aids for themselves or their children.