Public Meeting for People in the Disability Services Sector

Failure of governments to fund the SACS supplementation
Parliament House, Sydney

Thanks on behalf of THE GREENS and congratulations to Sue Becker and others who worked so hard to get this meeting together.

Your presence here today sends a loud and unambiguous message to the Howard government - stop playing politics with disability services.

The Greens are a party of social justice as much as we are a party of the environment. For us your battle for wage justice is our battle.

My colleague Senator Kerry Nettle addressed a similar meeting in Canberra last month. Senator Bob Brown and my Greens colleague in the NSW upper house Ian Cohen stand united behind the call for the Howard Govt to honour its responsibilities to pay its share of the funding of the award increases.

This campaign started three years ago with the fight for decent wages for people working with people with disabilities.

For three years, SACS workers, their union, the ASU, and the community sector battled with the state government to create nothing more than the same conditions that equivalent workers in other states enjoyed. That's not much to ask - we are not talking MP salaries here.

The Greens were proud to play a role in that campaign for a decent award for community services workers, a campaign that was ultimately successful before the industrial relations commission.

Like others, we presumed that it went without saying that certified award increases would attract funding from the responsible levels of government, particularly when those increases were so clearly and obviously justified.

We only talking about $68 million annually. They should have paid up once the umpire had ruled.

The Carr government, to its credit, payed up its fair share of the funding increases.

To date, the fed government have steadfastly refused to pay their share, leaving many organisations on the brink of collapse. It is not as though services for people with disabilities have excess which can be cutback. These services run tight operations, but to survive many have had to reduce their services. For the workers involved that is a horrible situation to be in.

No clear argument has yet emerged for this appalling behaviour. They have tried to argue that the award increase was a state matter. They have tried to argue that the Commonwealth-state agreements do not cover these matters.

But they cannot hide from the direct and tragic consequences of their actions. And today's meeting will make doubly sure that they cannot.

It is typical of the politics of the Howard government that they would see disability service provision as a low priority matter.

It is typical that they would expect SACS workers to work for lower pay and with worse conditions than employees in the so-called productive economy.

It is typical that they would expect carers, families and people with disabilities to pick up the slack.

It is typical that the Howard government would blind itself to the human consequences of their decisions.

And those consequences, not only for disability service providers but also for youth and women's refuges, for Home And Community care services and Supported Accommodation Services, are very grave indeed.

We have already seen reduced provision, staff cuts and fewer outings, fewer providers and more stress for workers. Ultimately a number of service providers will be forced to go to the wall.

In the world of federal government budgets, we are not talking large sums. In total, their annual obligation would be only an additional $68 million.

To put this amount in context, the Howard government cut the corporate tax rate and returned $3 billion annually to the wealthiest corporations, where it was apparently spent on green BMW's and alike.

We are asking that the Federal coalition government find only 2% of their gift to corporate Australia to fund their obligation to the community sector in NSW - not a very big ask.

The Greens join with the Union, the providers and with all of you in calling on the Howard government to live up to its obligations and to fully fund the award.

We also call on the Carr government to use the full might of its spin machine to embarrass the Howard government. We know that they can do this - we have seen Carr weigh in over population and transport funding. It is time he did the same on disability services.

This is not just a campaign about the provision of disability services or SAP or HAC services. It is not just a campaign against the mean spiritedness of the Howard government.

In the end it is about the sort of society we want to live in. With meetings like this one here today and with the help of the Carr government, we can win this.

Thanks on behalf of THE GREENS and congratulations to Sue Becker and others who worked so hard to get this meeting together.

Your presence here today sends a loud and unambiguous message to the Howard government - stop playing politics with disability services.

The Greens are a party of social justice as much as we are a party of the environment. For us your battle for wage justice is our battle.

My colleague Senator Kerry Nettle addressed a similar meeting in Canberra last month. Senator Bob Brown and my Greens colleague in the NSW upper house Ian Cohen stand united behind the call for the Howard Govt to honour its responsibilities to pay its share of the funding of the award increases.

This campaign started three years ago with the fight for decent wages for people working with people with disabilities.

For three years, SACS workers, their union, the ASU, and the community sector battled with the state government to create nothing more than the same conditions that equivalent workers in other states enjoyed. That's not much to ask - we are not talking MP salaries here.

The Greens were proud to play a role in that campaign for a decent award for community services workers, a campaign that was ultimately successful before the industrial relations commission.

Like others, we presumed that it went without saying that certified award increases would attract funding from the responsible levels of government, particularly when those increases were so clearly and obviously justified.

We only talking about $68 million annually. They should have paid up once the umpire had ruled.

The Carr government, to its credit, payed up its fair share of the funding increases.

To date, the fed government have steadfastly refused to pay their share, leaving many organisations on the brink of collapse. It is not as though services for people with disabilities have excess which can be cutback. These services run tight operations, but to survive many have had to reduce their services. For the workers involved that is a horrible situation to be in.

No clear argument has yet emerged for this appalling behaviour. They have tried to argue that the award increase was a state matter. They have tried to argue that the Commonwealth-state agreements do not cover these matters.

But they cannot hide from the direct and tragic consequences of their actions. And today's meeting will make doubly sure that they cannot.

It is typical of the politics of the Howard government that they would see disability service provision as a low priority matter.

It is typical that they would expect SACS workers to work for lower pay and with worse conditions than employees in the so-called productive economy.

It is typical that they would expect carers, families and people with disabilities to pick up the slack.

It is typical that the Howard government would blind itself to the human consequences of their decisions.

And those consequences, not only for disability service providers but also for youth and women's refuges, for Home And Community care services and Supported Accommodation Services, are very grave indeed.

We have already seen reduced provision, staff cuts and fewer outings, fewer providers and more stress for workers. Ultimately a number of service providers will be forced to go to the wall.

In the world of federal government budgets, we are not talking large sums. In total, their annual obligation would be only an additional $68 million.

To put this amount in context, the Howard government cut the corporate tax rate and returned $3 billion annually to the wealthiest corporations, where it was apparently spent on green BMW's and alike.

We are asking that the Federal coalition government find only 2% of their gift to corporate Australia to fund their obligation to the community sector in NSW - not a very big ask.

The Greens join with the Union, the providers and with all of you in calling on the Howard government to live up to its obligations and to fully fund the award.

We also call on the Carr government to use the full might of its spin machine to embarrass the Howard government. We know that they can do this - we have seen Carr weigh in over population and transport funding. It is time he did the same on disability services.

This is not just a campaign about the provision of disability services or SAP or HAC services. It is not just a campaign against the mean spiritedness of the Howard government.

In the end it is about the sort of society we want to live in. With meetings like this one here today and with the help of the Carr government, we can win this.