ARARAT, Stawell and Grampians region disability carers held a stop-work action and protest march on Thursday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The workers rallied at Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre on Lambert Street in Ararat at 1.30pm.
They then marched to the Department of Human Services office on High Street via Barkly Street, partially blocking traffic.
About 50 workers chanted ‘disability: not for sale’ and ‘no ifs, no buts, no outsourcing, no cuts’.
Health and Community Services Union state secretary Lloyd Williams said the workers protested to demand better wages, conditions and job security as part of an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement campaign.
"The job security for staff is being put at risk by the Andrews Government threat to privatise the sector while the National Disability Insurance Scheme is rolling out” Mr Williams said.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) aims to provide federal coverage for care and rehabilitation services, similar to Medicare, to help people with a disability.
Mr Williams claimed that a trial run for privatisation of disability services would risk quality jobs and 300 positions in the Grampians region would face up to a 30 per cent pay cut and major cuts to conditions.
Mr Williams said a move to privatisation would affect hundreds of disability workers and the residents that use their services.
“The workers will leave the system as they’ll see cuts to pay and job security. It will be a disaster for service delivery in Stawell, Horsham and Ararat,” he said.
“In Ararat we have 19 group homes which look after 90 of our 95 residents. In Horsham there are three group homes which look after 15 residents. In Stawell we have 13 group homes that look after 65 residents.
“That’s about 165 residents and in terms of staff affected, we have 150 in Ararat, 30 in Horsham and 110 in Stawell. That is a significant number. These workers fear for their jobs, they fear for the residents.”
In April, the government sought expressions of interest from private providers for the delivery of three areas of disability services.
Victorian Disability Minister Martin Foley said at the time that the process was to test whether private providers could meet strict government conditions.
“The NDIS is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the lives of Victorians with disabilities, and the lives of their families and carers, and we need to get it right for them,” Mr Foley said in April.
“To deliver the NDIS as promised, we need to expand our disability services whilst ensuring we maintain quality safeguards and clear rights for all participants.”