Luke is a young man who lives his daily life with the highs and lows of severe Autism.  

Lukes family have worked long and hard to provide him with a home that is safe and comfortable. They have worked hard to build a new team to provide him with support. 

DHHS has refused to provide a level of funding that would enable Luke to stay in his own home and receive the supports he needs. 

The family cannot afford to maintain the gap between what DHHS has offered and what Luke needs.  

DHHS told the family that it had to continue on the current level of funding or give four weeks notice. That is, stating a date from which it would no longer be able to organise and provide supports for Luke.  Based on current cash flow and an expectation that there would be one more payment at the start of October, the family nominated October 1, 2015.

DHHS then told the family that it was not going to make any more payments – not even to support the cost of a transition – let alone the cost of wages up until October 1, 2015.  This left the family with no choice but to tell the support workers that there was not enough money to pay their wages from September 21,2015.

This petition was started by some friends of Luke to ask DHHS to do two things: 

1.    Expedite the approvals for an increase in the ongoing allocation for disability supports for Luke (to what DHHS own people had estimated to be more than $700K) and

2.    Make the October payment into Lukes ISP account (about $44K) or provide short term funds (about $28K) to ensure that Lukes current support arrangements can continue until at least the 1st of October, 2015 – when DHHS had said it was going to be ready to take Luke to a new place to live.

Friends of Luke started as a small group of people who are or have in the past provided direct support to Luke and his family.  The circle of friends is growing. Please sign this petition and give some thought towards becoming a long term member of the friends of Luke.

THANKS for your massive and gutsy response so far it has helped get some action from DHHS Loddon Office Bendigo. As a result of those who have already signed the petition and other excellent media exposure there has at last been a response from the DHHS Northern region Loddon Office on (Thursday 22/9/2015) to reconsider Luke’s situation, provide stop gap support, and discuss a way forward.

For the sake of Luke and disabled people generally we must not stop expressing our concerns and push for the implementation of better provision for those in need. This fight is far from over.

KEEP SHARING THIS PETITION!!!

Below are some links (Copy and paste into your browser!)

Direct link to this page: https://goo.gl/aHr9p6
To Donate: https://www.gofundme.com/rf4n5kz4
Luke’s Facebook: https://goo.gl/eOA1TK
Just for Luke Website: http://justforluke.com/