Speeches

HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [9.54 pm]: I rise tonight following the Premier’s formal apology in the other place today to child sexual abuse victims. I am pleased that Western Australia has led the way in delivering an apology. It has certainly been a long time coming. I would like to add the Greens’ voice in recognition of the importance of this issue. We are truly sorry for the horrendous things that children in this state experienced while in the supposed care of trusted institutions.

HON ALISON XAMON (North Metropolitan) [7.11 pm]: I recently met with Mr Eddie Szczepanik, the chairperson of DeafBlind West Australians, and other representatives of the deafblind community. I rise to speak because I thought it was important to raise in this place the issues they brought to my attention. We discussed at length some of the challenges that the deafblind community specifically is having in seeking National Disability Insurance Scheme funding, and their involvement in the transition to the NDIS. I want to speak about some of the issues that were highlighted.