Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak wholeheartedly in support of the member for Robertson who put forward this motion. I have spent the last two years actively campaigning to raise awareness for the NDIS, which is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime reform. I understand why a national disability insurance scheme is so important, because I have taken a lot of time to listen to local members of my community. I have worked closely with James O'Brien, who is a tireless advocate for people with disabilities. I have been listening to families right across the electorate and have hosted many discussions and morning and afternoon teas in my electorate, in places like Gisborne, Doreen, Sunbury and Seymour. I have attended DisabiliTEAs and met with countless individuals, families and local organisations and I know how anxious they are to see a scheme implemented.

To me, an NDIS means dignity, freedom and choice for people and their families—not just for those in my electorate but Australia-wide. Having a family member who has disabilities, I know just how hard it can be from day to day, whether it is arranging carers, getting access to respite or just wanting to give your child every opportunity to lead a fulfilling life. Can you imagine what it is like to sit around the family table and have to grapple with the daily decision about what help you can afford to provide for your child and having to repeatedly dip into your mortgage or savings to help provide basic care? Can you imagine having to travel weekly for many hours each way just to access speech therapy and physiotherapy? Catherine has to do this with her gorgeous six-year-old daughter, Kristen. Catherine had this to say:

For our family, NDIS will mean that Kristen can be supported to actively participate in as many spheres of community life as she chooses. I want my daughter to be able to be supported in the choices that she wants to make; whether it be living independently when she's an adult or having the ability to continue her education and have a career to make a contribution to society.

NDIS can work both ways because it means people can be part of the economy if the right investment is made to support them at crucial stages of their lives.

Those are very powerful words indeed. Can you imagine hoping to outlive your child because you do not know what help there will be for them once you are gone? As Janice told me regarding her 21-year-old son Jake:

Your involvement has been very welcomed and I can't thankyou … enough for taking seriously how important … funding will be for Jake. It will allow us to build a good life for him, full of opportunity, life experiences, and independent living skills and help him live a full and meaningful life. This will all take time, but I feel confident with the right supports in place he will grow and mature.

Those are the day-to-day struggles that families face trying to do what any parent would do: give their child every opportunity that they can.

I am extremely proud to be part of a government that gets what an NDIS means. With its needs based approach, it changes the concept from a charity approach to one centred on the individual, allowing people to choose the services that they need and want. You would hope that the NDIS would receive bipartisan support, but it comes with mixed messages from the coalition. The opposition leader, Tony Abbott, when he attended an NDIS rally in Perth, said:

When it comes to the NDIS, I am Dr Yes.

And, no, he did not actually write that down! We then had the shadow Treasurer telling the National Press Club that, while he supports an NDIS in principle, he will not promise to fund it. So those opposite are happy to pose for photos, they are happy to tell people what they want to hear, but they always add the traditional LNP out clause.

It is also time the Victorian Premier got off his hands and signed up to this. From leading the states in disability services, in only two years Victoria has gone to having a waiting list of 3,600 people seeking urgent support. It is not good enough. A lot of the work that went into building support for people with disabilities has now gone, and it is not fair for those who live with disability every day of their life. This situation, as with that of Catherine, who has to travel from one side of the city to the other to get access to speech therapy, is not fair. It is not right that she has to do this in her day-to-day life.

Without true bipartisan support from all levels of government, this once-in-a-lifetime reform will not get the support it deserves, which is to have all of us working together for the best outcomes for people with disabilities.

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