A WA disability employment support service is closing its doors after 40 years saying new contracts offered by the federal government makes the program unviable. Forrest Personnel has a head office in Bunbury, with thousands of clients across the state but the Commonwealth insists there will be no reduction of services in regional areas.
00:00For Tom Chidze, collecting trolleys at the Bunbury Farmers Market isn't just a job.
00:08It's helped build his confidence over the last decade and it was made possible with the help of disability support provider, Forest Personnel.
00:17Well the support's been amazing. At the beginning it was like really good.
00:21It was like one-on-one kind of showing me the ropes and stuff and just the backing of them just to say oh come on I boost my confidence.
00:31Mr Chidze lives with a mild intellectual disability and needed assistance to enter the workforce.
00:38And they were like oh would you like to come and join the team and I said yeah I was a bit hesitant but then I was like okay yeah give it a go.
00:47But Forest Personnel is closing its doors. The not-for-profit says its new government contract includes market share limits, part of reforms to the federal government's disability employment program, Inclusive Employment Australia, set to start in November.
01:04The tender has caps and percentage caps on it so technically it means we would be providing less services than what we currently provide and actually over a broader area.
01:13The Bunbury based organisation services thousands of clients across regional WA but its local led approach no longer adds up.
01:22Unfortunately the funding just doesn't lean towards being able to do that anymore. There's just some harsh economic realities.
01:29The future remains uncertain for the thousands of clients supported by Forest Personnel. The Federal Government insists services won't be cut but those supported by the not-for-profit must transition to a new provider by October.
01:44The Department of Social Services says 17 disability employment providers are still operating in regional WA and impacted clients will be supported in choosing a provider to suit their needs.
01:57But for Forest Personnel the cost of maintaining the service was too much to bear.
02:02The Department of Social Services says 16 disability employment providers are still operating in order to be compared with husband
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