NSW — THE New
South Wales Opposition has promised to increase funding
for disability aids by $13 million if it wins the state
election.
NSW Opposition leader Peter Debnam
today said a Liberal government would provide more than
$35 million to help disabled people purchase aids
including wheelchairs, walking frames, and incontinence
equipment.
He said the government had ignored
pleas from charities to increase funding of its $22
million Program of Appliances for Disabled People (PADP),
with many disabled people facing years on waiting lists
for essential equipment.
"One of the problems we have in NSW
is that too much money is spent on things that really
don't matter to the community such as political
advertising and waste within the bureaucracy," Mr Debnam
said.
"We want less bureaucrats, less
waste, and more wheelchairs."
Opposition Disability Services
spokesman John Ryan said a lack of funding had forced
people to "beg" for equipment from charities.
"People should not be forced to beg
to charitable groups in order to receive important
equipment which allows them to live independently," he
said.
Liberal candidate for Penrith,
Trish Hitchen, who has an eight-year-old son with
cerebral palsy, said the money would go a long way to
help families such as hers.
Ms Hitchen said last year she was
told she faced a three-year-wait to get a wheelchair for
her son, and therefore turned to the Spastic Centre to
help purchase her son's $6000 wheelchair.
"I have 40 or 50 families that I
know of that have children in wheelchairs, they're all on
waiting lists for wheelchairs, for toilet aids ...," Ms
Hitchen said.
