Inquiry into the provision and regulation of supported accommodation in Queensland
Submission No: 187
Submitted by: | (submitted by Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion)
Publication:
Attachments:
Submitter Comments:
al Queensland Submission Interview — - iz 1/02/2024 Advocacy
7 | pOrs for Inclusion
Transcript
00:00:01 EY (QA!) So you mentioned you were in a place, um—
00:00:03 aay Can | read this while we chat? <<points to SAI
brochure>>
00:00:05 EN (QA!) Yeah, of course. Yeah. So you mentioned you’re in
| | and you moved here because your your stroke,
yeah.
00:00:12 aa That’s true.
00:00:12 MY (QA!) Yeah, your daughter wanted to be somewhere safe. Yeah. Yeah, but but it it’s been a bit hard, just claustrophobic.
00:00:17 aay The first day was very hard from big place. From a big
place, to a tiny little box, and that was really helpful. So |
had to go out quite often because | just couldn't stand...
causing me mental anguish.
00:00:29 MY (QA!) Yeah, yeah.
00:00:32 a And you know what he’s like. Come from an open space
to aconfined box... but that was their idea of safety... So |
don’t fall down.
00:00:40 aaa (QAl} OK. Did you have a say in in—
00:00:43 aaa No-
GE 00:00:44 No, no, they just they made you come here.
00:00:45 aaa Yeah, they they ah. While | was still in the hospital, they
decided already if we say that Dad we’re moving you into a small place. And that was it. We willfind you a place.
Since we get out of hospital, from the hospital to here. |
had no say in the matter.
00:01:00 aa (QAIl} And dothey have guardianship? Is that why they were
able to make that decision?
00:01:03 aa Yeah, yeah. 00:01:06 MY (QA!) OK.
advocacy for people with disability BN 97 527 905 201
PRR ¢ cai@qai.org.au waqai.org.au | South Central Commercial, L2 43 Peel St (PO Box 3384), South Brisbane (Meanjin) QLD 4101
00:01:07 So so here I am, but I’ve I’ve been looking around to find another place.
00:01:11 (QAI) Oh you looking to leave?
00:01:13 Yeah. My son is looking, but it’s very hard to find a place right now.
00:01:17 (QAI) Yeah. What kind of place would you like to--?
00:01:18 Oh just simple, normal 2 bedroom. You know with garage and bathroom. Totally just simple.
00:01:25 (QAI) OK.
00:01:26 Better than here. Here. So like just one big room. Your bedroom, kitchen, toilet, bathroom. It’s very, very…. I’m embarrassed to take take people inside it is cram– I’ve got other stuff– I work from here as well. I try to work from here, so I’ve got stuff here is from my work as well.
00:01:44 (QAI) Oh, OK. You're still working, are you?
00:01:48 Yeah, I tried to keep my mental– my own mental health… mental issue. If you don’t, you go crazy. Seriously, you really go crazy. So you have to keep physical. I go to the gym and I do physical as well as mental stimulation, so it’s-
00:02:07 (QAI) Ohh sorry this is my colleague,
00:02:10 (QAI) How you doing bud?
00:02:10 (QAI) This is . Yeah, we're just having a chat. Yeah.
00:02:15 (QAI) We're just wrapping up over there, but I'm just
gonna go get some water bottles. Do you want yours?
00:02:17 (QAI) Yeah, that'd be great.
00:02:20 That’s a good idea, man.
00:02:22 (QAI) Yeah. OK. What kind of work do you do?
00:02:25 Mostly buying and selling. I’m used to selling. I used to travel quite a lot. I’ve travelled NE, SW. I’ve been around
Australia, Darwin and Alice Spring, down to Adelaide in crisscrossing selling stuff.
00:02:38 (QAI) OK. What kind of what kind of things you sell?
00:02:39 Oh buy and sell from China, mostly Chinese stuff. I had two shops in Townsville. And so from there I travel
around the Outback.
00:02:47 (QAI) OK. Like household items and stuff like that?
00:02:50 Yeah, I go shopping centre and I do promotion in shopping centres. You see three by three size. Yeah. And I do a special and I do a lot of talking.
00:02:57 (QAI) Do you make good money?
00:02:59 $10,000 a week.
00:03:00 (QAI) Yeah, that's pretty good, isn't it?
00:03:01 Profit, $5000. Sustained myself. Good money. So, from earning this, yeah, to $0 earning. So it’s really hard not…
00:03:08 (QAI) And you were doing that right up until you had your
stroke. And how are you doing it from here? Are you doing it online? 00:03:13 No, I’m. I’m trying to start again now. I’m slowly recovered. It took me 3 years to recover from the stroke. That was hard. Just trying to get– because you can’t use your left arm. Now I can. I can go to the gym now. Here, I got my strength back before I I’m more upside. So it’s very risky.
00:03:25 (QAI) Wow. Yeah, it looks like you had a good recovery.
00:03:33 Yeah, I do five days, five days a week in the gym, and my speech was not good, not clear, blurred. And now I’m slowly recovery. So from from that I I want to go back into what I was doing. So to do that I need space. So with the help of my son in Canberra. So yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what it’s like. You gotta work from the garage. Even if you don’t, you know, have enough space
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inside, you know you’ve got the garage where you can move from your store, your stuff. You got stuff from from China. I’ve got, what, 13 cartoons? Full cartoons in there.
| sleeping beside my bed from China and now | gotta
start selling soon. Yeah. So those are kind of thing. It’s it’s good for my mental.
| agree. Look, | yeah, I'm not sure I'd ever be in a hurry to
retire because | feel like once you stop working. What?
What do you do? Yeah, yeah.
You’re dead. You’re dead. You’re dead. Seriously, you… To me, retirement equals death. You might as well die. What’s the point of living? What are you going to live for?
You’ve gotta do something.
You’ve gotta do something. Yeah, keep on doing it until you drop dead. I’d rather be doing that than waiting for death to come.
Yeah. What kind of places are you looking for a house? Are you looking to move back up to Townsville or…?
No, no, no, definitely not Townsville man. That place is a criminal… Ohh, I’ve been broke into three or four times. Bit going on there at the moment.
It’s just bad, it’s really bad.
So you looking around the Gold Coast? Do you have family here or?
Yeah, yeah. Gold Coast Preferably. No, they are all over the place. One in New Zealand, one in Canberra, one in Sydney, one in Fiji, so they all over the place mate. <
Yeah, you guys have get back together for Christmas or anything or?
Yeah mate I’ve just come back from Christmas.
00:05:22 (QAI) OK, because my family is the same. We’re all we all
spread out but we make sure we get together every now and then. 00:05:26 Yeah it’s pretty lonely isn’t it. You live in the Gold Coast and they live all over the place.
00:05:30 (QAI) Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. And when you get back together, it
feels important. 00:05:35 Yeah, exactly. You know the feeling mate, you know the feeling. So that’s that’s my life story, mate.
00:05:45 (QAI) And so… your daughter found this place for you, and you
moved straight in? 00:05:47 Yeah.
00:05:46 (QAI) Other than the—the-- obviously a big issue for you is the
size of the room… 00:05:49 Yeah size of the room.
00:05:51 (QAI) Are there any other like, how's the food, do you get, do
you pay for food or do you do your own all your own food? Yeah. 00:05:57 No, no, I do my own food. Yeah. Previously it’s inclusive. Yeah, but they gave me a special diet and I have to follow that diet and they don’t– they can’t provide the special diet. For for my own personal diet. Yeah, the hospital gave me the diet. Yeah, the diet programme. Yeah, but of course. Here. You gotta eat what they they cook for you.
So, there’s not much– you gotta cut out the salt and calories or, you know, all these things. And. And yeah. No, no.
00:06:23 (QAI) Yeah. So the food they're serving here is not healthy like
that. Yeah. OK. 00:06:28 So otherwise with the food… need to take all your pension. Yeah, yeah, 400 and 420 dollars. I think your pension is 500. So that leaves you nothing.
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Yeah. And how much do you mind if | ask how much you
pay without the food then?
Does that include everything or is there other things? No that’s just the rent, and on top of that, you get electricity. You have pay the electricity.
OK. Is it expensive or?
About under $250 or 200. $200 per quarter.
OK.
So | don't use your condition, just a fan.
Ohh, because it’s your. Otherwise it costs.
Huge. Yeah, huge. So, you know where cost of living, they just wipe away your…
And does it get hot in there?
Yeah, it does get hot. So | got the fan going all the time
and all the windows open. Normally I'm out till-- | come
back 2:00 or 3:00 o’clock, yeah. But today | just had no
energy to go out.
Yeah, because of the heat?
Yeah, the heat kind of zap your energy out. Because of the stroke. And normally I’m out. Walking or doing some activities. Yeah. And don’t get back till three or 4:00, have dinner, watch TV. Then I’m in bed.
What kind of stuff do you do when you go out?
I’ll go for a walk and I’m on the Internet, I’ve got 3 phones. I’m on the Internet communicating with China
and wherever | need to communicate to get a few things
rolling.
OK. That’s for your business? Like trying to get you look at the cheap deals and stuff?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Getting made. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I’ll just show you one of my…
00:08:52 This is the Knife– Knife sharpener. Sharpen your knife in 2 seconds here.
00:08:53 (QAI) Ohh yeah OK.
00:08:57 (QAI) This is the sort of thing you sell. When you go do your--
00:08:58 Yeah, I get this specially made for me with my photos on
the back there.
00:09:03 (QAI) How much does that cost per unit, $20?
00:09:05 $20, cheap selling for $20.
00:09:05 (QAI) OK. And how much do you sell it for? Umm, how much?
But I mean, how much does it cost you when you when? 00:09:13 You ohh. When you go out all up but about. $7.00.
00:09:18 (QAI) OK.
00:09:18 And then you gotta pay freight. You gotta pay. Tax glad the tax then. Before you add on, so yeah that, that’s your sharpening that sees the sharpener there as well. Sees
the sharpener. Uh-huh. So it’s called four in one sharpener. Yeah. So this is the kind of thing I do. I definitely did different things in the past. Yeah, mostly making my own products I don’t want to follow everybody. So that’s why I missed a garage.
00:09:44 (QAI) Yeah. And do you have to buy in large quantities?
00:09:47 Yeah, you have to buy, otherwise you wouldn’t get a good price, yeah.
00:09:50 (QAI) Yeah, OK. How how large? Like how many of those you
have to buy to get it for 7 bucks? OK, yeah. 00:09:53 Oh few thousands. Few thousand pieces.
00:09:56 (QAI) Yeah. And so you gotta few of them in there there at the
moment? 00:09:58 Ohh carton pile—I’m sitting mate and I’m trying to sleeping in between mate.
00:10:03 (QAI) You can build all your furniture out of them.
00:10:05 Yeah, well, that’s that’s why, you know, that’s that’s why I miss my place. My place at had a big house. And. Yeah, double story. Yeah, big garage. I can park three cars and I work from the garage and I got 3 bedrooms, 4 bedrooms, 3 toilets, 2 shower.
00:10:21 (QAI) Yeah, it sounds like you've had to make a big adjustment
after your health issues, yeah? 00:10:26 With your mental from a stroke, you’ve got a mental problem. Yeah, they put you in a small place. Couldn’t be worse than anything.
00:10:34 (QAI) Yeah, had a had a really detrimental effect, I think.
00:10:35 OK. Yeah, yeah. Claustrophobic was my biggest issue 1st 12 months. Claustrophobic had that I had to struggle with that for the rest of 12 months. I didn’t wanna complain to my children. I just leave it. So slowly I get
adjusted to it and now I just go to sleep. Don’t think about it. Just go to bed. So, it would be great to find another two bedroom in the garage so I can start working.
00:11:03 (QAI) OK. And… and in that respect, do you have any help from
anyone other than you’re relying on your son to try and help you find a place? 00:11:11 No… is there such– a there’s such thing. Is there any help?
00:11:14 (QAI) I'm not sure… there might be. Yeah. So, it's just at the
moment you just it’s just you and your son looking. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Because that you can get help around if people are have guardianship over you and they’re making decisions you don’t agree with, there is help for that. And if if that is ever an issue, you can call us on on our number here, I’ll give you another one. 00:11:36 Thanks. Can I keep these?
00:11:38 (QAI) Yeah, you can keep both. So this is this is the place I
come from. QAI. And we we we can generally help people if there’s issues around guardianship. Yeah. So I’m not sure how. If it’s changed since with your daughter, but.
00:11:52 Ohh no, my daughter. No negotiation.
00:11:54 (QAI) OK.
00:11:55 Just take it dad – don’t complain. My son is more flexible.
00:11:55 (QAI) Yeah. So I mean, if that's, if you, if you wanna hear it, get
some advice around that and and making decisions that you exercise your own choice. You could call us and we could, we could help with that. 00:11:55 Yeah, yeah. Ok, that’d be great. That’s good news.
00:12:11 (QAI) There was another service before I leave, I'll, I'll drop it
down to you, called pathways. They might be able to
help you finding housing. 00:12:19 That sounds good.
00:12:19 (QAI) Maybe. I mean they're they're the. So what they do is
they get some more information about you and then they’ll do some research for you to figure out what other services could help with what you need. Yeah. 00:12:28 That sounds good. I mean, it’s giving me more options, yeah. 00:12:31 Put it out there.
00:12:32 (QAI) Yeah, yeah. So I'll, I'll grab a brochure and bring it back to
you before I leave, but cool and again, like about so like I understand it’s not big enough and all that sort of stuff, but how about everything else? The cost sounds quite expensive, it’s too small… How’s it like living here though? Like, are people? Are the staff nice or do you do you?
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Oh, | got nothing... | just live on my own and keep to
myself.
Is that by choice?
Very much very much by my choice, because everybody got problem and all you do is being a psychologist. You listen to people. Other issues. Yeah, you’ve got your own issues. And the last thing you want to hear is everybody piling up on you. So it’s.
Yeah, OK. Yeah. OK.
Better just to you anymore. You have you have to be person, like a psychologist, to listen to.
OK. Yeah. OK. Interesting. Yeah. Was there anything else? No, no, that’s it. But thanks for the visitation, mate. So that that gives me some ideas here.
Yeah. Yep. I'll see if | can get a brochure. Otherwise | can
also just call you and and give. I’ll do some research. Do you have an email?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.