NEWS DESK
Homes a mobile move for young disabled Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au NEW housing built in Frankston will offer some independence to younger people with disabilities who have previously lived in aged care nursing homes. The housing in Lardner Rd was officially opened last Friday (16 October) thanks to an innovative collaboration between Monash University, Mission Australia Housing, the Summer Foundation and disability service provider Yooralla. Six purpose-built units have been designed for people with disability to allow ease of mobility and smart home technology enables residents to use smart phones or tablets to control heating, cooling and lighting. Support staff can be contacted remotely if there is an emergency. Monash University provided the site for the units and will offer ongoing access to health profession students for help and support. Monash University Occupational Therapy Department researcher Libby Callaway said the units will improve the quality of life for its residents. “Excellent location and design of the housing, coupled with access to targeted support from Monash health professional students, has the capacity to enhance the tenants’ participation in home and community life,” she said. Mission Housing Australia built the homes and will manage tenancies. “This development represents a real opportunity for six people to live with greater independence compared to
Putting down new roots: Resident Matt Inkstee, left, Yooralla manager Debbie Baker, resident Colleen Clancy and resident Chris Le Cerf plant a tree to celebrate the opening of a new unit for younger people with disabilities. Picture: Yanni
more traditional shared housing models offered in the disability sector,’ CEO Tom Worsnop said. Yooralla offered advice on technology and design needs to provide 24 hour support to the units’ inhabitants. The Summer Foundation will analyse the project’s collaborative model for future housing for people with disability. “The residents can choose how they spend their time, access high quality care and, importantly, be with people of their own age,” Yooralla CEO Dr Sherene Devanesen said. The federal government funded the project in 2012 as part of the Supported Accommodation Innovation Fund
(SAIF) introduced by Labor. Funding for onsite disability support will be provided by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. In June this year a Senate inquiry report on young people in nursing homes found “young Australians under the age of 65 currently occupy 5 per cent of residential aged care facility beds. This is primarily because the current disability system cannot provide appropriate supports and services for these young people.” The Senate inquiry, initiated by West Australian Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds, recommended the federal government should compile a database, reviewed annually, of
all younger people under the age of 65 living in residential aged care facilities and state governments should work with the federal government to move younger people from such “inappropriate care” within three years. The Senate committee wanted nursing homes to quickly introduce new standards for younger residents in aged care homes for the next three years. More than 7,100 younger Australians with intellectual and physical disabilities live in aged care homes across the country, according to the Senate inquiry report. Nearly 90 per cent are aged between 50-64.
Monkey bike crash teen gets bail CARRUM Downs teenager Caleb Jakobsson has been granted bail after fatally injuring a mother-of-two in a monkey-bike accident last month. Justice Phillip Priest told the 18-year-old, who is due back in court in January: “It was a very close run thing that you got bail.” Andrea Lehane, 34, of Carrum Downs, was knocked down outside the Carrum Downs shopping centre, Wednesday 23 September. Her life support system was later switched off as she suffered “unsurvivable brain damage”. Police allege Jakobsson was driving a mini-motorbike in the car park when he struck Andrea Lehane. Justice Priest imposed 14 bail conditions: Jakobsson will be subject to a 10pm-9am curfew, he has to report to police three times a week, and he cannot leave the state or the country. The teenager has also been banned from contacting the others charged in the case, including by social media, and has been ordered to live with an unnamed relative.
Optic makes its presence felt POLICE spoke to more than 160 people, checked 28 vehicles, made three arrests over outstanding warrants and issued two infringement notices for traffic offences during Operation Optic in the Frankston CBD Thursday last week. Station commander Steve Burt said the day was a success in providing a level of reassurance to the traders. “Frankston is a fantastic place to visit and we are dedicated to ensuring it is safe for all.”
Faster internet rolls out next year
Need for speed: Dunkley MP Bruce Billson, front, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull inspect the rollout of the NBN in Frankston last year. Picture: Yanni
MORE than 43,000 homes across several suburbs including Frankston, Baxter, Langwarrin and Karingal will have access to the National Broadband Network by the end of 2017 as part of an “accelerated plan” announced by the federal government. Dunkley Liberal MP Bruce Billson hailed the planned connection of “superfast internet” for many suburbs in the electorate, including some who have struggled with slow internet speeds, as “critical for our community”. “I most recently met directly with representatives from NBN Co to discuss solutions for some of the internet ‘black spots’ in Baxter, Frankston South and Seaford,” Mr Billson said. “I was dismayed that some members of the community had limited access at best.” The former small business
minister said the Coalition government will deliver the national broadband network “a decade earlier and far cheaper than expected under the previous Labor government”. “The Coalition government is able to deliver the NBN far quicker and cheaper than the previous Labor government by making use of a range of technologies. This includes using the existing copper and cable infrastructure already provided into homes and businesses. “We also recognise that there was little point overbuilding in some areas which already had high-speed broadband options available, or in dismantling and disposing of existing pay TV infrastructure that with the help of world-leading software can be easily and cost effectively adapted to be made available for high-speed broadband.”
Just over 15,000 premises in the Dunkley electorate can now choose to connect to the national broadband network. Critics of the Coalition’s NBN policy say the quicker rollout of the network has come at the expense of top internet speeds needed to align Australia with internet speeds in many first world countries. The Coalition opted for a less expensive fibre-to-the-node model for the NBN compared to Labor’s fibre-tothe-premises plan when it was in government. The FTTN model relies on outdated copper cables to connect the network to premises at the final point of connection while the FTTP model offers faster internet speeds since homes and businesses are connected directly to fibre optic cabling.
Labor’s NBN plan was budgeted at $44.9 billion before the party lost government at the 2013 federal election. The Coalition budgeted its plan at $28.5 billion before the election but the cost has since blown out to an estimated $46 billion. A NBN Co review of the Labor plan after the election found Labor’s network would have cost $73 billion if it had proceeded. Mr Billson said the rollout in Dunkley will mean 43,820 premises in Frankston, Frankston South, Frankston North, Baxter, Langwarrin, Langwarrin South, Karingal, Mount Eliza, part of Carrum Downs, part of Skye, Seaford and Mornington will be connected to the national broadband network by the end of 2017. Neil Walker
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BLAIRGOWRIE • DROMANA • MORNINGTON • ROSEBUD • SEAFORD • TOORAK Frankston Times 26 October 2015
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