Wanguri house Darwin opens for people with disabilities

A house in Wanguri is the first of its kind to be specifically designed and constructed to accommodate challenging behaviours in people with disability.

A new $1.2m facility that allows people with profound and severe disability to live with dignity has opened in Darwin.

National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister Bill Shorten said the three-bedroom home in Wanguri would provide safe, quality housing for Territorians and deliver reassurance for their families they would have access to 24-hour care.

The Wanguri house, built by Carpentaria Disability Services, is the first of its kind in the NT and was constructed to accommodate individuals with behavioural challenges.

The 3-bedroom home will house three residents and at least one carer under its 24-hour care provision.

The house features a sensory room, curved walls, round-edged furniture and a fenced pool. Every room has two entry and exit possibilities.

The house was intentionally designed to be a “calming space” to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its residents.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten and NT’s Disabilities Minister Ngaree Ah Kit at the official opening of the Carpentaria Disability special disability accommodation home in Wanguri, Darwin. Picture: Zayda Dollie

Mr Shorten said the home’s “clever” design and demonstrated the country’s ability ensure every person living with a disability could live a fulfilling life.

“This house is proof of what the nation can do, of what the community can do, if we choose to treat everyone as important and not just some people.”

A second property is currently under construction, which will be similar in size and design to the house in Wanguri.

The development comes under a further move by the Federal Government to ensure that people with disabilities in the Northern Territory have “decent, dignified accommodation”.

“A disability shouldn’t define you, and people with disability have got a right to be part of the Australian dream,” Mr Shorten said.

“We’ve got Territorians with disabilities whose parents might be in their 80s, whose siblings might have moved away.

The official opening of the Carpentaria Disability special disability accommodation home in Wanguri, Darwin. Picture: Zayda Dollie

The official opening of the Carpentaria Disability special disability accommodation home in Wanguri, Darwin. Picture: Zayda Dollie

“We want to give them that peace of mind at midnight when they worry about what’s going to happen to their family members, that you can have an okay house, that you can get care, you can be safe, but you can participate in the community.

“You can build friendships. You can build connection.”

NT Disabilities Minister Ngaree Ah Kit said three Territorians would call the house home and be “supported through their packages and by the on-care supports in their homes”.

She said Carpentaria had two builds in Darwin, and a home in Alice Springs was in the design phase.

The company has also secured more land grants from the Territory government.

“We know that there are many Territorians, not just in Darwin and Alice Springs, but right across the Northern Territory who need and deserve the quality home that we are standing at today,” she said.

Mr Shorten will be holding national talks in Darwin about NDIS funding as the federal government continues to crack down on mismanagement in the system.

“We’re going to make sure that the shonks and the people who are price gouging and ripping off disabled people don’t have a future, that they can just move their unethical business models away from the NDIS,” he said,

“We want to make sure that little kids who have developmental delay get the best possible start in life.”

“I just want to give a special warning to service providers who are doing the wrong thing. If you see someone with an NDIS package, you do not have the right to rip them off.”