SOUTH East families have welcomed the announcement disability support service Minda will establish a regional office in Mount Gambier, which is expected to create 100 direct jobs.
Vickie and Kristy Weber sat down with Employment Minister Kyam Maher on Friday when he visited Mount Gambier to discuss the benefits of Minda having a physical presence in the South East.
He announced a $250,000 State Government grant to help the service provider expand its services in the region.
Kristy lives independently in Mount Gambier with carer support, while her mother Vickie has long been an advocate for increased support services for people living with disability in the Limestone Coast.
“Kristy has some lovely support workers who help her with cooking, help her to go to the beach and take her for a walk every day,” Vickie said.
“She lives here in her own unit and she is pretty happy here, she has a bit of help sometimes, but the rest of the time she takes care of herself.”
Kristy said she commutes to Millicent for work, but is hoping to secure a new job closer to home.
“Hopefully that’s one of the things that will flow from the establishment of Minda’s regional office,” Mr Maher said.
“Support workers will be able to help their clients find meaningful work with more job opportunities available for clients.”
The $250,000 grant to help Minda expand its support services and establish a regional office is the first of the State Government’s Future Jobs Fund grants and is expected to create around 100 direct jobs.
“The $200m Future Jobs package will see the State Government partner with a number of companies and organisations and the very first grant has been awarded to Minda to set up an office and a presence in Mount Gambier,” Mr Maher said.
“The funding is a huge coup for the Limestone Coast.”
Vickie said her previous experience with Minda had been positive and agreed the establishment of a regional office was a triumph for the city.
“I’ve been very happy with Minda – they are easy to contact and easy to talk to and they actually listen,” she said.
“You need to be able to communicate effectively to make sure clients are happy with their support options and in my experience Minda is very good at creating that open dialogue.”
Minda will contribute $330,000 to the project, which the organisation said is expected to inject around $7m into the local economy.
The $200m Future Jobs Fund was announced as part of the 2017/18 state budget to drive employment in key growth industries.
