Mr BARTLETT (5:35 PM) —Last week I had the pleasure of opening a disabilities expo at Springwood in the Blue Mountains, a two-day event organised and run by the Blue Mountains Disability Self Advocacy Group. The particularly pleasing thing about this expo was that it was about self-advocacy in that it was organised and run largely by people with disabilities, the many participants themselves. There were others involved. There were local advocacy groups, commercial suppliers of aids and services and voluntary providers of services, and many of the support groups were represented as well. But the main bulk of the work was done by the self-advocacy group members themselves.

It was a great inspiration and a great encouragement to see these people putting on this expo, to see them doing much of the work of organisation and doing such a great job. I would particularly like to pay credit to Julie Clancy, who did a tremendous job in organising the expo. Great credit also goes to Olwen Leask, who did a great job of chairing the opening and the launch, and to D.J., who organised a lot of the support work behind the scenes. This group is not dependent on government funding at all. It is standing on its own two feet. The group members are standing up for themselves: they are organising activities for themselves, supporting each other and speaking up for their own group.

We have many support groups doing great work in the Blue Mountains and in the Hawkesbury. They are very committed, very caring and very capable in their support of people with disabilities. These include the Mountains Community Resource Network, Sydwest Personnel, Active Employment, Nova Employment, Mountains Community Transport, Hawkesbury Community Transport, Pathways, Westworks, Santa Maria Centre, Bridges Disability Service, the Self Help Group and many others who are all lending very valuable support to these people with disabilities.

One of the encouraging things about this expo was the focus that these people put on their abilities rather than their disabilities. They showed a very positive outlook, which sends out a challenge to all of us to focus on our strengths, to focus on the positive and to focus on our abilities rather than our disabilities. The message from these people at this expo was that, ultimately, self-help is the best approach. No-one is denying that there is an ongoing and growing need for government support at local, state and federal levels, and this will increase as the population ages, but it was great to see these people standing up for themselves.

There are many areas of unmet need in my electorate, both in the Blue Mountains and in the Hawkesbury. We have 3,800 people currently on disability support pensions. That figure understates the significance and the level of need in the electorate, because of the geographical difficulties of isolation. The figure does nothing to estimate the level of need or the profoundness of disability. The electorate has educational needs, especially for post school-age young people, and there is a need for day-care options. There is a need for assistance with independent living courses, as well as for leisure activities. There are significant unmet accommodation needs, including short-term emergency accommodation, planned respite accommodation and long-term supported accommodation. There are transport and access problems for people with physical disabilities. There is a need for greater employment services to assist in the transition to independence. The future holds many challenges for an electorate with an ageing population, and therefore an ageing support base of carers of people with disabilities. There is going to be a greater need for respite care and for long-term accommodation.

I was pleased when late last year the government announced an extra $150 million over the next two years for respite services for aged carers of people with disabilities. There is still a long way to go, but we need to do what we can to support these people. We need to give a high priority to enabling people with disabilities to become independent where they can, to be involved in self-advocacy and to stand on their own two feet. We also need to increase the opportunities for these people to make a contribution to the community. Many of them have impressive abilities. They have a desire to be part of the community and a desire to contribute to the community. We can benefit as a community in many ways from their commitment and we need to encourage that in whatever way we can. (Time expired)