PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION’S PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO 
A LONG-TERM DISABILITY CARE AND SUPPORT SCHEME

SUBMISSION FROM:

•	CAMPBELLTOWN CITY COUNCIL
•	CAMPBELLTOWN ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The City of Campbelltown Accessibility Advisory Committee is pleased to be able to provide a response to the Productivity Commission on this very important issue.

The Accessibility Committee includes representatives of the community with a disability, representatives from peak bodies in South Australia that represent the interests of persons with a disability and Council Elected Members.  The Accessibility Committee is very committed to social inclusion principles and ensuring programs and services are accessible for people with disabilities and that people with disabilities are valued within the community.

In 2007, Council established an Accessibility Advisory Committee.

Its Terms of Reference include:

•	To investigate and make recommendations to Council regarding the accessibility of Playgrounds, Community Centres, Halls, Libraries, Reserves and Ovals, with particular emphasis on equipment and paths with a view to these recommendations being taken into consideration at the time of formulating the annual budget.

•	To make recommendations to Council in relation to the periodic review of the Development Plan.

Since its inception the Committee has completed a Disability Discrimination Act compliant Disability Action Plan.

Campbelltown City Council has also conducted a major Audit of its facilities and upgraded, where possible, the following facilities:

•	Work at Charlesworth Park – new disabled car park allocation with a new access ramp and other associated works
•	Tactiling to Main Office
•	Tactiling to Campbelltown Function Centre
•	Tactiling to Hectorville Community Centre
•	Fencing around a playground.

The Committee devised the following principles that should be taken into consideration when preparing the Productivity Commission’s report.

1st principle
People who are under pension age, no matter how a person has acquired an injury, would be eligible to receive assistance under the National Insurance Scheme.
Rationale – In some instances the way that the person has acquired the injury prevents them from receiving any insurance assistance.

2nd principle
The responsibilities of various parties are defined, e.g.
•	person with a disability
•	their carer
•	government agencies (federal, state and local)
•	non-government sector agencies
Rationale – It is not clearly defined as to what roles the above parties do in relation to a person with a disability.  Therefore, it should be clearly defined as to what roles these parties do.

3rd principle
There should be a strong education and information awareness program that is based on the model of inclusion support used in childcare centres.
Rationale – It was decided that there should be an education program developed for school children and the community that focuses on education in relation to people with a disability.  There is a model which is used in child care centres which promotes inclusion support and that people with a disability are just like everyone else, but with different needs.

4th principle 
When a need is established, the consumer should be able to go to an organisation of their choice, to receive assistance (i.e. managing risks, renewal and replacement of equipment).
Rationale – This is for when a person requires anything, whether it be equipment or a service that they should be allowed to attend any organisation of their choice to purchase goods.  In most cases consumers are told to go to a certain place to purchase goods when they know of another organisation that could do so.  This gives people with a disability the opportunity and support to identify their own services to ensure they are providing for themselves.  In addition, there should be as little intrusion into the consumer and / or family’s life as possible.

5th principle
There should be a good planning system for community care to provide succession planning for ageing carers.
Rationale – This is to ensure that in the unfortunate circumstance of an elderly carer passing away, there are systems in place to ensure that the person with a disability is well looked after.

6th principle
Carers should be able to receive regular non-caring (eg respite) time which is equivalent to a weekend.  
Rationale – this is to ensure that carers should be allowed to receive at any point in time non-caring (respite) time which could be up to two days at a time.

7th principle 
The Building Code of Australia needs to be modified to allow the flexibility of accessibility in domestic and commercial buildings.  E.g. bathrooms, doorways etc.
Rationale – This is to ensure that there is flexibility in the Building Code of Australia that any new houses being built should take into consideration accessibility issues.  For example – wheelchair and frame access to bathrooms as well as access through doorways.

8th principle 
The Commission should investigate incentives for employers to employ persons with a disability within the organisation.
Rationale – this is to ensure that anybody with a disability can be engaged for employment within any organisation.  Incentives could include:
•	upgrading of facilities (ramps, handrails)
•	lump sum payments which could cover costs of upgrading facilities or services.

9th principle 
There should be an optional swipe card which contains all information about a consumer in order to access services without completing paperwork.
Rationale – As with most organisations there is quite a lot of paperwork to fill out in relation to a person with a disability, and most of the time it is the same information for each different agency.  A suggestion to cut down on time for consumers could be a swipe card which includes all of the relevant basic information needed when ‘signing up’ at an organisation.