Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

According to the Department of Social Services, the NDIS aims to work with individuals to identify the supports they need to achieve goals in many aspects of their life. It aims to provide greater choice and control over how and when individuals receive support and ensures that they receive the support that they need over their lifetime. It also purports to focus on early intervention where getting early support can reduce the impact of disability on the individual. Unfortunately, this has not been the case or the experience of Sam Hensman or his family. Sam is a constituent within my community of Mayo. His family are requesting an urgent review of his approved NDIS plan. The current 2018 plan includes, devastatingly, less support than he received under the previous state government's scheme. Sam's progress will be severely hampered if a review is not urgently conducted.

In 2016, 23-year-old Sam was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation, a condition comprising of a tangled network of abnormal blood cells connecting arteries to the brain. This led to Sam suffering multiple intracranial haemorrhages and resulted in Sam developing an acquired brain injury. Unfortunately, Sam was no longer able to speak or walk and required supervision 24 hours a day. Initially facing a grim outlook, Sam has been able to make exceptional progress and has defied all expectations with the love and support of his committed family and his fiancee, Tess. Numerous reports have been compiled by a variety of allied health professionals detailing his progress and the importance of continuing a range of therapies.

Formerly receiving support from Disability SA, Sam was receiving daily therapies including physiotherapy, speech, hydrotherapy and occupational therapy, as well as being provided with specialised equipment. Transitioning from Disability SA to the NDIS, Sam has suffered a dramatic loss of support—I am talking less than half. His current package gives him only a fraction of the services and resources he had before. He is now receiving the very basic care—survival mode, if you like—instead of receiving the sort of care that is supposed to help people like Sam thrive and achieve their goals of independence and community engagement. This is causing significant distress to him and his family.

This is not what the NDIS is supposed to be. The NDIA has been provided with all sorts of information from Sam's therapist and his doctors about what he needs. Further funding has not been included for the purchase of essential assistive technology as recommended by his therapists. Sam is trialling an assistive communication device, which the family fear will be retracted as funding is not available in his plan to purchase it. This would be devastating for his family.

Sam's NDIS review also requests reasonable funding to enable the purchase of multiple pieces of equipment, also all recommended by therapists who have been working closely with Sam for a couple of years now. The plan's current equipment requirements are considered greatly insufficient by Sam's therapists to provide the support he requires. With the support of therapists, Sam has managed to make huge improvements in verbal sounds, and his assisted walking is improving every day. Reasonable and adequate therapies are critical for Sam's wellbeing and safety. The amount specified in his plan does meet these requirements, and they should.

In NDIS terms, Sam's approved NDIS plan will not even sufficiently support his goals. Listen to this: 18 months is the time frame given for his review—18 months for a 12-month plan is nonsensical. Sam and his family cannot wait 18 months to receive the reasonable and necessary support he needs. The member for Indi talked in her speech about the ombudsman's report that was delivered exactly five months ago today. It had KPIs in there about how long a review should take. It certainly should not take 18 months for a 12-month plan.

Sam's NDIS goals are clear. Sam will not give up, and I will not give up fighting for Sam and his NDIS package. I call upon the minister to urgently review Sam's case. I also call upon the minister to effect systematic change in the NDIS system. It has been five months since the ombudsman gave his report. Australians on the NDIS have immediate and pressing needs, and something must be done to fix the onerous NDIS review waiting times so that people like Sam are not left behind and waiting to suffer.

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