Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Robertson for putting forward this motion about the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I agree with her that it is enabling legislation. It will provide great opportunities for those families with somebody who has a disability.

I do not like the tone arising out of the fact that the government is trying to politicise the National Disability Insurance Scheme by always making out as if the coalition does not care and does not support this particular piece of legislation. We do not like, on this side of the House, this particular piece of legislation being politicised. It is something which has bipartisan support. The time for a National Disability Insurance Scheme has well and truly arrived, as the member for Robertson quite correctly pointed out.

People living with a disability, their families and carers have struggled to receive the support services they desperately require. An NDIS will give them the fair, efficient and equitable system they deserve. I was the first federal parliamentarian to sign up to the Every Australian Counts campaign in New South Wales, a campaign which highlights the need for an NDIS, something of which I needed no convincing. If ever something required bipartisan support, this is it. The coalition believes that full implementation of the NDIS will be nothing short of a new deal for people with disabilities and for their carers—those absolutely selfless, important people who do so much to improve the lives and wellbeing of close family members with a disability. The coalition is committed to working with the government and has called for the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee, to be chaired by both sides of politics, to oversee the establishment and implementation of the NDIS—a call reiterated by the Leader of the Opposition in his speech to the National Press Club on 31 January 2013.

The number of people with a disability will increase significantly over the next 20 years. As this number rises, the number of people willing and able to care for these disabled people will, sadly, decline. The NDIS will help to ensure that there will be support for those who desperately require it, even if they do not have family to assist them. It is important that the NDIS focuses on early intervention and identifying support services which are most effective and efficient and will maximise the potential in those with a disability and help to facilitate their independence. Providing disabled people with what they need, when they need it, will help to reduce pressure on families and allow easier participation for the disabled in work, life, and the community. It will offer their families much needed respite.

The NDIS will also provide for a person no matter how their disability was acquired and it will ensure assistance for those who may require it in the future, as well as those who already do. The creation of the NDIS is a complete reform of current disability provisions. It will ensure the new system is fairer than what is currently in place. Principal beneficiaries will be those whose disability has an impact on their daily life. This is our opportunity to get things right and bring in a safety net for those with a disability in the same way Medicare and compulsory superannuation have reformed society in the past and are now something we all take for granted.

The NDIS is an investment in Australia's future and, particularly for those whose lives will depend on the scheme, it is important that a long-term funding commitment is made to the scheme to ensure it is established properly and can go the distance. If funded correctly and adequately, the NDIS will ensure that Australia can meet the current and future needs of those with disability, no matter what the current economic climate may be.

I know the importance of an NDIS to so many people throughout Australia, but especially the people in the Riverina who have come to me to outline their situation, such as Carol and Chris Harmer of Wagga Wagga, who know all too well the need for an NDIS. Two of their three children, Emily who is 20 and Tom who is 16, have Phelan McDermid syndrome, a rare condition with approximately only 600 people affected worldwide. The Harmers have high hopes for the support and services the NDIS would offer them and their children, as well as others in similar circumstances. Mrs Pat Thomas of Temora cares for her son Richard who has a disability. She established the Special Persons and Carers Group of Temora to provide support for those with a disability and their carers. To see her lifelong work supported by an initiative such as the NDIS means so much to her, knowing there will be the necessary support for those with disabilities once their elderly parents can no longer look after them.

Every Australian has the right to know there will be support for them or their loved ones if a disability is acquired. We have the opportunity to work together as the parliament to get this system right for those who have waited so patiently for it. We owe it to them to give them a system which is fair, equitable and efficient. I commend the bill.

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