GOVERNMENT has provided a $250,000 boost to help prepare Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in south-east Queensland for the National Disability Insurance Scheme rollout.
Disability Services Minister Coralee O’Rourke launched the project at the Yulu-Burri-Ba Clinic at Capalaba on Tuesday.
Ms O’Rourke said it was important that every effort was made to ensure all Queenslanders benefited from the opportunities the NDIS presented.
“Around 38 per cent of the state’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reside in south-east Queensland, from Somerset in the north to the Scenic Rim and Gold Coast in the south, and west into the Lockyer Valley,” Ms O’Rourke said.
“Our experience with the rollout so far is that a higher level of engagement is required to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability register to receive the support they need under the NDIS.”
Capalaba MP Don Brown said the funding, given to the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health would help enlist the support of a local service provider specialising in Indigenous health issues to connect with this target group and engage them in the NDIS transition process.
IUIH chief executive Adrian Carson said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability were more likely to come on board the scheme if approached by a person or organisation they trust and with whom they have an existing relationship.
“It’s also important they can get the information and help they need easily and quickly from an organisation that is based in their community and which understands and values their cultural identity,” Mr Carson said.
“NDIS readiness is an urgent priority for Indigenous communities in the south-east because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 1.7 times more likely to have a disability than non-Indigenous people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 2.5 times more likely to have a disability.
“This funding will help us reach out to them through Aboriginal community controlled health services in the south-east to ensure everybody who needs disability support receives it from day one.”
Mr Carson said the project would employ four full-time and one part-time staff members.
The NDIS rollout is due to begin on July 1 for Logan and Redlands, Brisbane suburbs north of Brisbane River, Brisbane suburbs south of Brisbane River, Fraser Coast, North Burnett, South Burnett and Cherbourg, Gold Coast and hinterland, as well as in Cairns, Cassowary Coast, Tablelands, Croydon, Etheridge, Cape York and Torres Strait.
