Carers Week: Disability Community Unites to Demand Action as 68 Group Homes Close Across Victoria

his National Carers Week, HACSU members, families, employers and people with disability gathered in Melbourne to celebrate care — and to call out a crisis.

As the community shared tea and stories at a special Carers Week Morning Tea at The Windsor Hotel, the mood was one of both pride and urgency. Behind every cup of tea and every shared smile was a deep concern: 68 disability group homes across Victoria have now closed, and the Victorian Government remains silent.

At 12:15PM, the gathering moved to the steps of Parliament, where carers, support workers, and families joined together for a powerful press conference demanding that the State Government extend the Supported Independent Living (SIL) subsidy — the critical funding lifeline that keeps group homes open and ensures people with disability receive the support they need.

Speakers included Martin Laverty (CEO, Aruma), Cheryl Soafkin (family member), Zelda Riddell (disability support worker), and Rebecca Sprekos (Assistant Secretary, Health and Community Services Union). Each delivered a heartfelt message about the devastating human impact of the government’s inaction.

“This is not just a funding shortfall — it’s a moral and political failure,” said HACSU Secretary Paul Healey. “People with disability are being left behind, while the State Government pretends it’s not their problem. We are done waiting. We are done asking politely. We are demanding the government extend the subsidy indefinitely — and we will not back down.”

The crisis stems from the State Government’s decision to privatise disability group homes in 2018, after which it introduced a $2.1 billion subsidy to ensure services remained viable and care standards were upheld. The government promised families, participants and HACSU that nothing would change.

Now, with the subsidy set to expire on 31 December 2025, that promise is in jeopardy.

Without urgent intervention:

• Over 7,500 disability support workers could lose up to a third of their income.

• Thousands of NDIS participants risk losing access to safe, skilled and consistent care.

• More than 580 group homes are at risk of closure, with employers warning they have only one month of liquidity once the subsidy ends.

  
  

For many participants, the closures have already meant displacement from the only homes they’ve ever known — and separation from trusted support workers who understand their needs.

At the morning tea, those realities were impossible to ignore. Families spoke through tears, workers shared their fears for the future, and union members rallied around the shared belief that care is not a commodity — it’s a human right.

This Carers Week, HACSU is standing shoulder to shoulder with the entire disability community to say: Stop the closures. Extend the subsidy. Protect Victoria’s disability workforce and the people they support.