Kennett cuts disability services

By Bronwen Beechey

MELBOURNE -- State-funded disability advocacy and information groups have been told that funding will be withdrawn from August 29. Most are to be completely de-funded, forcing many to close.

The director of the Department of Human Services Disability Services Division stated in a letter that the cuts are the “result of the [government's] requirement to identify more efficient use of resources”.

Liz Harvey of the Victorian Community Advocacy Coalition's Community Awareness and Public Education Campaign (CEPAC) told Green Left Weekly that the department had not consulted with groups representing people with disabilities and their families.

Even official bodies -- including the Office of the Public Advocate, the Commonwealth Government Disability Advocacy Program, the Intellectual Disabilities Review Board and the department's own regional offices -- were not consulted.

The cuts have targeted advocacy groups in regional areas. “The existing funding in the country areas is already inadequate, and now even that is being withdrawn”, Harvey said.

Activists believe the move is part of the Kennett government's agenda of silencing any opposition to its policies, as well as the logical extension of its privatisation agenda.

Independent advocacy promotes and defends the rights of people with disabilities and is often the last resort for people in crisis when the disability services system fails. Users of advocacy programs include people suffering physical or sexual abuse in institutions and people battling bureaucratic denial of essential services.

CEPAC is coordinating a campaign to oppose the cuts. For more information, call CEPAC on (03) 9417 1999.

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