Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very proud to speak here today on the Medicare Levy Amendment (National Disability Insurance Scheme Funding) Bill 2017. In contrast to a number of my colleagues, my electorate of Dunkley does not yet have access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but it is hotly anticipated. My perspective on the funding for the NDIS is therefore somewhat different to some as, rather than looking so much at the needs of existing services in Dunkley, our entire community is looking at the potential that the NDIS has to aid Dunkley constituents. April 2018 is an eagerly awaited time in the Mornington Peninsula. As part of the lead-up, a number of local disability support organisations and providers have hosted NDIS transition forums which have been absolutely packed out due to the extent of interest. I recently had the privilege of speaking at one.

We also have on the peninsula a large number of carers, a number of whom have come to me previously with their concerns, wanting to know who will care for their children, siblings or friends once they are gone. These people are the face of what we are trying to do here and they are the reason it is so important for the NDIS to be a success. This is not a warm and fuzzy social justice crusade. These people need the NDIS and the support that it will provide to their loved ones.

Last week, as many of my colleagues will know, we marked National Carers Week, acknowledging the incredible work that the 2.7 million unpaid carers do in their cumulative 36 million hours of care work a week. There is absolutely no doubt that the NDIS is an absolutely critical program, and I appeal to my colleagues on both sides of the House to back its funding so that all Australians can be confident that, should they suffer a debilitating injury, whether physical or otherwise, they will have access to the support and funds they need and their families won't be made to take on a burden that is inconceivable to many of us.

An example is a recent group I have met with and helped to support. It is a kinship carers group around Frankston who look after a number of children in a kinship relationship. In late September I also attended and spoke at an information forum in Frankston hosted by Mentis Assist, which is based in Mornington. Mentis Assist strives to provide opportunity for people living with mental illness or complex needs to enjoy a meaningful life by strengthening self-identity, personal responsibility and hope. The room in which the forum was hosted was full, attended by Mentis Assist clients as well as families, carers, service providers and interested community members. Mentis Assist representatives as well as those from Victorian NDIS authorities and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, as our local area coordinator, spoke to those gathered, and the information was received with optimism. I was very pleased to be able to be part of the conversation, a conversation that I'm thrilled to continue here today. I bring with me the hopes and anticipation of my constituents as I speak to you all to stress the importance of this Medicare levy amendment to ensure that the funding sustainability and certainty of the NDIS is there when it arrives in Dunkley in just under six months.

Mentis Assist, as a registered service provider, plays a crucial road in supporting people with severe mental illness in my electorate as well as those with psychiatric conditions that inhibit social and economic participation. The services they provide all focus on increasing inclusion, independence, self-responsibility and participation. They are all about providing people with the support they need to address participants' needs and to work towards current and future goals. Forum attendees were reassured their current services with Mentis Assist would be continued until they were approved for a National Disability Insurance Scheme package, of which the access requirements are being assessed as early as now to work towards a seamless and efficient rollout.

I have no doubt that I am not the only MP whose constituents are awaiting the NDIS with bated breath. The NDIS not only began as an ambitious project but it has continued to enjoy bipartisan support and I know all members of this House will be very keen to see that it is a success and that it provides a comprehensive plan to look after some of our society's most vulnerable. This bill is about putting Australians with a disability and their families first. It is an insurance scheme where all benefit so all can contribute.

I met earlier today with the Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services and she made a good point that the NDIS is like going into a restaurant—it caters for individual needs. You get a menu when you go into a restaurant. You say, 'I want this entree, this main, this side.' The NDIS really caters for the individual needs of the participants involved. And the NDIS will indeed transform the lives of around 460,000 Australians who are living with disability, not to mention their families, who invest so much in the care and in the pursuit of success and happiness for their loved ones.

The government is asking Australians to contribute to help fund the scheme to ensure that our fellow Australians—our friends, our families, our neighbours, our colleagues—are taken care of to the extent they need. The Medicare levy increase of half a percentage point asks Australians to contribute according to their capacity to guarantee the NDIS's success and longevity. The current Medicare levy exemptions and relief measures would remain in place, as has been made clear by my colleagues before me; however, we need to be realistic about the costs of the NDIS, hence why I make this appeal to my fellow members of parliament.

The Commonwealth expenditure on the NDIS for 2017-18 will be $5.3 billion and it is projected to reach $10.8 billion once the rollout has been completed in 2019-20.The coalition government inherited a $55.6 billion funding shortfall when Labor left office. Now is the time to rectify this gaping hole and not put the services that the NDIS provides into jeopardy. I call on those opposite to meet the government on this in a bipartisan nature and join with us to support our constituents and all those living with a disability across Australia.

Earlier this month, Biala Peninsula hosted a launch of services in anticipation of the NDIS rollout within my electorate and beyond. Biala is a service provider with over 35 years experience, which has a focus on children under the age of 12 who have a range of intellectual disabilities. It provides core services of group programs, individual therapy sessions, parent programs and support coordination with wraparound services for music therapy, counselling, stay-and-play holiday programs, riding for the disabled and sibling groups. Biala, as a registered NDIS provider, is a critical part of the communication regarding the NDIS—what the NDIS will cover, who will be able to access NDIS funded services and so forth.

Contrasting with the forum hosted by Mentis Assist, there was a degree of concern and nervousness in the room as well as some confusion regarding how the rollout of the NDIS will impact the families who attend Biala. This is why certainty, particularly around funding, is so important. The service providers in Dunkley need to be able to accurately inform our local stakeholders, whether they be counsellors who attended the Biala event, GPs or family or carers, what will or won't be available, which will ultimately come down to the funding available for their programs. Biala in my electorate is fulfilling its responsibilities to our community. Now we as a government need to do our part to demonstrate to Biala that it will be able to operate to the extent that it has told its clients by ensuring the NDIS has sustainable, secure funding that will meet the needs of as many people as possible.

I am here as a representative of Dunkley constituents to ensure the success of one of the largest social and economic reforms in Australia's history. We have secured agreements with the states and territories to ensure a full and thorough rollout of the NDIS to support a better life for around 460,000 Australians under the age of 65, as I mentioned before, including 105,000 people in Victoria. Of course, the NDIS will not be the answer to facilities and services for everyone living with a disability. However, the NDIS is one part of a broader story of governments and communities continuing to have a role to play in the provision of services, including making mainstream services more accessible to those living with a disability.

This is a significant shift in the delivery of services for people with permanent and significant disability. It is a model based on empowerment and participation. The NDIS supports include daily personal activities; transport to enable participation in community, social, economic and daily-life activities; workplace help to allow a participant to successfully get or keep employment in the open or supported labour market; therapeutic supports including behaviour support; help with household tasks to allow the participant to maintain the home environment; help by skilled personnel in aid or equipment assessment, set-up and training; home modification, design and installation; mobility equipment; and much, much more.

If any member of this House has any doubts about the importance of this funding, I ask them to go back to their electorate and speak to the people who are either benefiting from their services or who will benefit from their services. Then return and look me in the eye and tell me if you think this funding is important or not. Without various aspects of the NDIS, Australians with permanent or long-term disabilities risk their condition inhibiting them from living their day-to-day lives. It is important that we do all we can to ensure that people living with a disability can participate socially and economically to the greatest extent possible. We owe it to our fellow Australians to make this possible.

As an example, today I had the privilege of joining with the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia in running the second meeting of the Parliamentary Friends of Tourette Syndrome. This is the friendship group that I set up last year to draw attention to Tourette syndrome, to raise aware about what it is and to be an example for others with Tourette's, as a person with Tourette syndrome myself, as well as to ensure that those with Tourette's gain the support from government and community organisations that they need. We had a very successful meeting with Minister Hunt. Some of the issues revolved not only around health and education but also around the NDIS and ensuring access to the NDIS for those with Tourette syndrome who need that access.

Tourette syndrome is something that impacts one in 100 children and one in 200 adults, so it is quite a common thing which affects many people, so it is very important to have that NDIS access. Tourette syndrome varies in severity. For people like me, it's quite mild, but it can be very severe for others. In the media in particular, Tourette's is sometimes framed in a particular way. The tic around swearing is often portrayed as being Tourette's. That is one tic that can be part of Tourette's, but only about 10 per cent of people have that tic.

The fact is that Tourette's is a broad spectrum. It can vary from mild to severe, and it can wax and wane. That's why it's important to raise awareness of Tourette syndrome, as was done today with the Minister for Health and other MPs and senators. I was very pleased to have cross-party support from the co-chair, Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore, as well as attendance from members from the Nick Xenophon Team, the Labor Party and the Liberal Party in support of Tourette syndrome. As I've noted, that is why access to NDIS is so important, whether a person has Tourette syndrome or any other disability and they are in need of support.

I spoke earlier as well, when the Medicare levy amendment was announced in the 2017 federal budget, about the contact that I had had from many Dunkley constituents, and this has not ceased. The NDIS will make a huge difference to people's everyday lives, and the time has come to ensure that that is now. The coalition has devised this measure to help fill the NDIS savings fund special account to futureproof the NDIS and lock in specified funding for years to come. Sustainability is the critical element to this funding model. We are making up not only the shortfall; we are providing a substantial basis for the financial backing of the NDIS, with one-fifth of the revenue being raised by the Medicare levy and any underspends within the NDIS being directed to the NDIS Savings Fund.

The NDIS will change lives. It will change the lives of many of the children who attended the Parliamentary Friends of Tourette Syndrome meeting this morning. But, beyond that, it will change the lives of many children, adults and others in my electorate and across Australia. Now is the time to secure long-term and sustainable funding. In introducing such a prominent reform, we owe it to the nation to ensure it will be here to stay and to get it right from the outset. We know that Australia supports what we are trying to do. We know that those opposite once professed that they supported it also. I urge all members of the House to see that support through and, in support of our mates, to help build this National Disability Insurance Scheme in the spirit of good faith and unanimity, because that's Australians do—we look after one another, and we will continue to do so for generations to come through the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

See this speech in context