NSW disability funding waste

on Nov17 2009.. by Press | Print the article    SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend     
AUDITOR GENERAL HIGHLIGHTS WASTE IN DISABILITIES DEPT

The Auditor General has uncovered vast waste in the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care which has resulted in millions of taxpayers dollars going down the drain, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Disability Service Minister Andrew Constance said today.

The Auditor General has found:

  • Grant payments totalling $48m were made to NGOs without a contract in place to provide the service for the funding;
  • Salary over-payments increased around 50% to $1.6 million in 2008/09;
  • Significant vacancies in frontline staff including:
    • Nurses 20.9%
    • Residential support workers 16.6%;
  • Spending on agency staff rise to $19.8 million in 2008/09;
  • Some 180 employees earn 30% or more of their base salary in overtime.

The Government’s incompetent management of the ageing and disabilities sector has seen millions of dollars wasted that could have gone on improving services,” Mr Constance said.

The Government has taken its eye off the disability ball and it’s simply not good enough while young people with disabilities are housed in inappropriate care in nursing homes and families are begging for respite accommodation.

Despite promises to do better, the Government always pulls up short, leaving the thousands of families and aged people without the care they desperately need.

Only the NSW Liberals & Nationals have the real plans for the real change the ageing and disabilities sector needs,” Mr Constance said.

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