Citizen Advocacy South Australia Inc

Rosey Olbrycht

manager.citizenadvocacy@gmail.com

Citizen Advocacy South Australia Inc

Advocacy agency

Dear Sir/Madam,

Citizen Advocacy South Australia Incorporated has initiated over three hundred relationships of support for people with intellectual disability in South Australia since inception in 1986, using the Citizen Advocacy principles and practices as per the Citizen Advocacy model. About a third of the current relationships supported by the program are over ten years in duration with a few being more than twenty years in existence.

Over that time we have been grateful for the support of the Department in its various incarnations through the Demonstration Projects funding and later through the National Disability Advocacy Program.

We are deeply concerned for the ongoing support of advocacy which is independent and free of conflict of interest, for people with disability. Citizen Advocacy South Australia Incorporated supports the views expressed in the 2001 Productivity Commission Enquiry into Disability Care and Support which recommended that advocacy be provided and funded outside the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The submission attached is provided in good faith that decisions made about the future of advocacy for people with disability will give greatest consideration to the peoples themselves who are most vulnerable in our society.

Yours sincerely

Heather Buck
Chairperson
Citizen Advocacy South Australia Incorporated