Shadow Minister for Disability Services Andrew Constance and Member for Lane Cove Anthony Roberts today called on the State Government to detail where all current residents of Weemala who cannot stay on the premises will be forced to move to.

“We are calling on the Minister for Disability Services Kristina Keneally to explain why she has allowed this crisis to develop for those 25 Weemala residents facing uncertainty over their future accommodation needs,” Mr Constance said.

“To have a disability in NSW is to relinquish all of your important life decisions to bureaucrats who will tell you what services you may have, where you will get them, who will provide them, and when you will get them.

“Weemala residents want an opportunity to create valued relationships and in many cases they have that with the people they are living with currently. There are also some residents who we understand are unsuited for cluster housing.

“No one opposes deinstitutionalisation, however the Labor Government has failed dismally in providing options for those residents who won’t be catered for in the new purpose built facility. This has been on the Labor Government’s radar for months.

“The NSW Coalition together with the Weemala Residents and Advocates Committee welcomed the intervention of the Prime Minister John Howard to make the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service available to assess residents,” Mr Roberts said.

“The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care should have done this many months ago.

“One option for the 25 remaining Weemala residents should include the option of having them remain onsite. It is unclear what form of accommodation and what level of supervision the residents would be given in different facilities.

“For Morris Iemma to simply talk about shipping those residents off to facilities in Morrisset or Orange without talking with the Residents Committee is simply outrageous,” Mr Roberts said.