Media Release: State Must Provide Emergency Bridging Funding for Disability Support Sector

State Must Provide Emergency Bridging Funding for Disability Support Sector

28 June 2024

Independent Member for Nelson Meg Webb today called on the State Government to immediately intervene and provide emergency bridging funding to Tasmania’s representative Disability and Autism bodies while seeking urgent meetings with the Commonwealth to resolve the situation.

“Inclusion means keeping the doors open and professional services provided reliably,” Ms Webb said.

“I am calling on the Rockliff Government to immediately seek discussions with their Federal counterparts as a matter of urgency and in the interim to provide immediate emergency bridging funding to keep Autism Tasmania, Disability Voices Tasmania, the Brain Injury Association and other essential representative and advocacy organisations secure, open and functional.

“This is what the State Treasurer’s Reserve could be used for. A caring, compassionate and genuinely inclusive community would do no less.

“We don’t need hand-wringing from government now pointing to either a meeting next week, or some new system expected in July 2025.  It will be too late by then.”

Ms Webb said Autism Tasmania, Disability Voices Tasmania, Brain Injuries Associated Tasmania are all well-respected and relied upon by countless Tasmanians with disabilities and their families.

“Tasmanians with disabilities, their families and carers are already doing it tough.

“This is a shocking indictment on both State and Federal authorities that they have allowed this situation to develop without a mechanism to immediately place these entities onto a long-term sustainable footing.

“Urgent intervention and emergency bridging funding by the Rockliff government now could provide peace of mind to many Tasmanians with disability who rely on these services, while investing in their dignity and self-autonomy.”