A retiring NSW public servant, head of the Department of Disability, Ageing and Home Care, has voiced a "personal" opinion calling for a scheme to support the provision of equipment and services to people who are disabled through no fault of their own. This obviously includes children like those that the Samuel Morris Foundation is assisting, who are left disabled as a result of accidents at home. It is a shame that he waits until he is retiring to voice such a concern, and as Director General of one of the agencies who is responsible for providing services to disabled people, you would imagine that he was well placed to have been having this dialogue within government and be advocating for the clients his department served.
As he rightly points out in
this article from the Sydney Morning Herald that in NSW there are schemes to support people disabled by car accidents and work related accidents, but people born with a disability or injured at home or due to other circumstances beyond their control etc ,
"have to fight for every service, and if they can eventually navigate the service system, there is still no guarantee their needs will be met".
And isn't it interesting how a public servant would advocate fraud to ensure his needs were met
, whilst admitting that the needs of his clients are not being met.