Outback Queensland town desperate for disability services as residents consider leaving

Outback Queensland town desperate for disability services as residents consider leaving

In the outback Queensland town of Longreach, an 11-year-old is beaming as he learns the ropes at his family's cafe.

Jacob, who lives with Down syndrome, is just practising for now.

But his parents bought this cafe with the hope that it would be his workplace when he gets older. 

"We wanted him to have a life of purpose and meaning, and we needed him to remain engaged in the community," mum Leanne Kohler said. 

"I can actually see Jacob waiting tables, running meals, helping with the stocktake."

But the harsh reality is that Jacob might not be able to stay in central west Queensland as an adult.

Ms Kohler has not yet applied for support for her son through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), but she was concerned he might have to leave his beloved home town because of the chronic lack of disability accommodation, respite care, and other services. 

"You've got people who have lived here all their life and they're leaving because they actually don't have anywhere for their adult children to reside," Ms Kohler said. 

"Others are living at home but are struggling to have independence, and you've got others with special needs in an aged care facility.

"Even for our families to get respite, it's a five-hour journey each way."

'The framework isn't there to succeed'

While some support workers are available in the region, Ms Kohler and other mums and dads are trying to attract accommodation infrastructure and a respite centre through a local advocacy group called Outback Independent Living.

The group — chaired by Ms Kohler — has spent the past three years in an uphill battle trying to attract private NDIS providers to the remote region but she said the scheme's individual funding model had been a deterrent.

"In the urban centres, there are a lot of service providers and a lot of people with special needs, and they can pick and choose. In the outback, you've got no-one to choose," Ms Kohler said.

"It's very hard for a service provider to come to a town because one client needs it, but we've not looked at what everybody's needs are."

Outback Independent Living has been trying to pool data to attract providers "the hard way" but said it was time for the federal government to step up in markets where the private market was failing to deliver services.

"Everything is looked at individually and not as a framework," Ms Kohler said. 

"If you go the co-op model, it's like better buying power. We need to pool that data so suddenly we become an attractive proposition to a service provider."

Federal NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has committed to visiting Longreach this month for community consultation, but that trip has been postponed until 2023.

"We have thousands of people on the NDIS in remote and very remote Australia, they're [eligible for] disability support, but they can't actually spend it," Mr Shorten said.

"I think we can work with the council to look at how we encourage innovative solutions.

"There might be an economy of scale where the person shops through the co-op to get their service."

Queensland's Minister for Disability Services Craig Crawford will still visit the region next week to hear from residents. 

The top priority for local advocates is a multipurpose facility for long-term and short-term disability accommodation.

The town is so desperate for the facility that its council will give the government as much free land as required.

"Yes, we're not a Toowoomba or Rockhampton or Brisbane, but we very much deserve to have the same level of services that our city cousins have," Longreach Mayor Tony Rayner said.

"There's no reason why we can't create such a housing facility out here in western Queensland."

Both council and Outback Independent Living believe a multipurpose facility would service the needs of the region well. 

"These are not pipe dreams," Ms Kohler said. 

"With the right support, the vision can happen. And if it can happen in Longreach, it can happen in any outback community."