A BACKLASH is building in Wyndham against fee hikes for thousands of people living in supported disability care as protesters prepare to take to the streets.
Werribee resident Tina Polizzi, who has two sons with disabilities, Adam and John, says bumper stickers have been printed with a message to the state government: “Rent rip-off = disability poverty.”
Ms Polizzi’s son, Adam, who lives in Department of Human Services accommodation in Altona North, was among close to 2500 Victorians who received a letter in May saying board and lodging fees would increase by 50 per cent – consuming 75 per cent of the disability support pension and their entire rental assistance.
Left with less than $100 a week, Adam, 29, won’t be able to afford many of the activities he enjoys.
“People on disabilities don’t live extravagant lives,” Ms Polizzi said. ‘‘This increase will have a dramatic impact.”
The Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID has launched a petition calling for a reversal of the controversial increases.
Werribee’s Roslyn Fitton, who has a son living in supported accommodation at Deer Park, said the rises went against the values the government claimed to uphold.
“The government and all the bureaucrats say people with dis-abilities have the right to live a life as best they can and have equal rights to everybody else,” she said.
“This is really taking those rights away from them, isn’t it?’’
Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Andrew Elsbury said plunging disabled people into poverty was not the intention of the changes.
“Whenever there’s a change in any fee structure people can get a bit jittery, but what we’re trying to do is ensure someone who’s receiving care in Wyndham is receiving the same level as someone in Hawthorn or Craigieburn,” he said.
He said DHS staff would speak with families to ensure they received the care they needed “without inflicting undue hardship”.
Tarneit Labor MP Tim Pallas hit out at the ‘‘callous fee hikes’’ and urged residents to sign VALID’s petition at his Station Place office.
