Appendix A - The consultation process
Introduction
On 28 June 2007, the former Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard, announced the Disability Assistance Package, delivering $1.8 billion in new funding over five years. The package had several measures to provide reassurance for older parent carers about the future care and accommodation arrangements for their son or daughter with severe or profound disability. This included $562.6 million for the Disability Supported Accommodation Program.
Consultation process
On 29 August 2007, the former Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Mal Brough, announced that consultations on supported accommodation options would commence from 10 September 2007. The aim of the consultations was to obtain input into the design and development of the Disability Supported Accommodation Program.
Release of the discussion paper
The first part of the consultation process was the release of a discussion paper on 3 September 2007. The discussion paper provided more information on the proposed program and invited people to have their say by either providing a written submission or attending a face-to-face consultation.
The discussion paper was promoted through advertising in metropolitan and regional newspapers, on the FaCSIA website and articles in disAbility e-news. The Minister and Department also wrote to a number of stakeholders informing them about the consultations. We know that information about the consultation process was spread further, particularly by interested peaks and other agencies, through articles in e-newsletters.
The information was provided in accessible formats to encourage people with disability to participate in the consultations.
The discussion paper provided information on a dedicated hotline and mailing centre which were established to enable people to:
- request and receive the discussion paper
- register interest for the public meetings
- submit responses to the discussion paper (by mail or electronically).
Face-to-face consultations
The discussion paper encouraged people with disability, their carers, potential service providers, relevant community groups and other interested people to engage in the consultation process. One of the ways they could do this was to attend a face-to-face consultation.
Nationally, more than 1,000 people attended the face-to-face consultations conducted in 27 locations around Australia as follows:
New South Wales
- Albury-Wodonga
- Gosford
- Newcastle
- Orange
- Parramatta
- Sydney
Victoria
- Bendigo
- Glen Waverley
- Melbourne
- Morwell
Queensland
- Brisbane
- Cairns
- Caloundra
- Gold Coast
- Rockhampton
- Toowoomba
- Townsville
South Australia
- Adelaide
- Mount Gambier
- Port Pirie
Western Australia
- Bunbury
- Perth
Tasmania
- Hobart
- Launceston
Northern Territory
- Alice Springs
- Darwin
Australian Capital Territory
- Canberra
Written submissions
Another way people could participate in the process was by providing written submissions by 26 October 2007.
We received approximately 320 submissions from a wide range of people including individuals with disability, advocates, carers, and people representing community groups, organisations, service providers and public sector agencies. Submissions were acknowledged by letter or email.
Keeping people informed
Following the face-to-face consultations, reports covering the key issues raised were posted to the FaCSIA website and letters with the same information have been sent to participants.
Feedback provided to us through the public meetings and submissions is included in this interim report. It is proposed that the report be sent to all participants, whether they provided their input at face-to-face meetings or in submissions and posted to the department’s website.