Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can be life-changing for Australians with disability;

(2) recognises the NDIS is not working as effectively as it should due to a decade of neglect and mismanagement by the previous Government, creating an urgent need to:

(a) improve outcomes for participants;

(b) restore trust in the scheme and certainty for participants and their families; and

(c) improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the NDIS and broader social and economic benefits, without imposing the types of blunt force cuts favoured by the previous Government;

(3) notes the measures the Government has already taken to get the NDIS back on track, including:

(a) installing new leadership at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and putting people with a disability at the centre of the scheme;

(b) reducing the inherited 4,500 case backlog of expensive, time-consuming appeals before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by 2000 cases to date;

(c) reducing the number of people with disability trapped in hospitals despite being medically fit for discharge; and

(d) funding 380 new positions in the NDIA for better and faster planning decisions for people with disability and their families, carers, disability service providers and workers;

(4) calls on Members of the House to support the work ahead to make the NDIS the world-leading scheme it was designed to be, through:

(a) the root and branch review of the NDIS to improve its effectiveness, so that future generations receive the benefits of the scheme;

(b) planning for a workforce that can support the projected increase in NDIS participants;

(c) establishing a senior executive role within the NDIA to bolster its stewardship of the sector; and

(d) reducing waste and fraud so money intended for participants is not syphoned off or squandered; and

(5) further notes the benefits to the Australian community and our economy when we invest in people with disability and break down barriers to their participation in social and economic life.

Firstly I would like to congratulate Karen Burdett and the team at the Cram Foundation, who celebrated 90 years last Friday night. The deputy chair of Cram, William Dowson OAM, was a wonderful MC, and we were delighted to hear from Pam Milone, who spoke about her daughter Kate's wonderful home at Cram, and also from Wollongong local Michael Theo from Love on the Spectrum, who gave us some wonderful words of advice on the night. There were so many contributors across the Illawarra community who helped in making the Cram Foundation what it is today from very humble beginnings, in particular Ladies Auxiliary volunteer Martha Cram, who bequeathed her home to the organisation when she passed in 1965. I would also like to mention two other people very special to Cram: Cram's only life member and former chair, Patrick Roberts OAM, and also the current chair, Linda Wright, who gave us a snapshot of the times locally when Cram was established 90 years ago. Most of all, I would like to thank Cram's amazing team of staff, who carry the same passion and commitment to providing around-the-clock support to help participants live their very best lives.

I know the power of the NDIS to help people living with a disability. I also know from firsthand experience the damage caused by nine years of neglect and mismanagement by the previous government. A scheme that was designed to build trust and give choice to people with a disability in their care has gradually been eroded. Throughout my career, I have advocated on behalf of so many people dealing with heartbreaking challenges and unfairness within the NDIS. These are just the cases who have contacted me, and I can't help but wonder how many people missed out on the support that they need because there was no one to advocate on their behalf. It isn't right. People living with disabilities should not have to fight a crippled system that is supposed to help them. But, finally, Australians living with a disability and their loved ones have a government that is getting the NDIS back on track. It was a Labor government that developed and introduced the NDIS, and it will be a Labor government that fixes it.

There is a lot to fix. We are restoring the NDIS to put people with a disability at its centre. We have appointed Australian Paralympic champion and disability advocate Kurt Fearnley AO as the chairman of the board of the NDIA. There are now also five people on the NDIA board who have a disability—the highest number in its history. Our independent review into the NDIS will give a voice to people with a disability, their carers and families, disability care providers, and workers—voices that have been shut out for far too long, voices that we need to listen to.

We are helping people with a disability who are trapped in hospitals despite being well enough to be discharged. Investing in people with a disability and removing barriers to employment is good for our economy and good for participants. We are providing $20 million through the Building Employer Confidence and Inclusion in Disability grants, which will help employers to hire and train people with a disability. We have reduced the backlog of appeals to the AAT—which were up 400 per cent under the previous government—from 4,500 to approximately 2,500 so far. We are funding 380 new positions in the NDIA to improve the rate at which people with disability and their families and carers are provided planning decisions. We are planning to increase the workforce needed to fill these vital care sector jobs. This began with the NDIS Jobs and Skills Forum in August. The forum brought together NDIS participants, their families, employers and unions to discuss the needs and concerns in the sector.

It is no secret that the former government left the NDIA in a terrible state and that the NDIS was not delivering for Australians. My own office has been inundated with local cases of people waiting for months to get their programs fixed due to funding cuts that they've had over the past couple of years. We need to fix it, and we need to do it urgently. That is why, with this motion, I am calling on all members of the House to support the work that we have ahead of us. We can make the NDIS the world-leading scheme it was designed to be, and we can restore hope and dignity to people living with a disability in our communities and help them to live their best lives.

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