NSW Disability Services employees will take strike action today to call on the NSW Government to stop the privatisation of public disability services.
The NSW Government has announced they will cease providing disability services by June 2018. It has committed to the largest change in disability policy in the history of this state without any consultation or public debate.
The complete dismantling of all public disability services includes the privatisation of the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC). ADHC is relied on heavily by some students in our public schools to access services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, in-home support and assistance with complex health care procedures. ADHC requires greater government investment to provide timely intervention and support, not privatisation.
The standard of care currently delivered via ADHC and other public disability services will be undermined by the departure of many highly qualified and skilled disability workers as wages and conditions are reduced by private providers. Such a reduction in quality robs people with disability of the very choice that the National Disability Insurance Scheme envisioned and is tasked with delivering.
Click here for further information on today’s strike action, rally and the Public Service Association’s (PSA) Disability Services. Keep it Public campaign.
Follow the campaign on Facebook here.