Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our Paralympic athletes are inspirational heroes. They demonstrate the abilities and potential of those living with disability. There are many inspirational heroes in the Blair electorate. Unsung heroes who live with disability care for those with disability and provide services—heroes such as Peter and Linda Tully, regional facilitators for Queenslanders with Disability Network; disability advocates; people who are desperate for a National Disability Insurance Scheme; and heroes from outstanding service providers such as IRASI, CODI, ALARA, FOCAL Extended, just to name a few.

Recently I hosted an NDIS forum at the Ipswich Special School with the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Senator Jan McLucas. We were joined by QDN CEO, Fran Vicary, along with Peter and Linda Tully, and hosted by Ipswich Special School Principal, Bruce Grigg. Evidence at the forum was obvious. People are angry and they want to know why the Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is treating disability reform with disdain. As most states and territories have signed up to a trial site, the Queensland Premier did not even bother to make a submission to the federal government for a launch site. His dismissal of this vital issue has demonstrated to the people of Queensland his callous, heartless and brutal decision making. It is a breach of faith and a breach of an election commitment. Before the state election he committed his government, if elected, to participation and involvement in the NDIS. But not a dollar—not a cent—was offered by the Queensland LNP government for a launch site. Participants at the NDIS forum asked me what they could do. I urged them to contact the state LNP members for Lockyer, Ipswich and Ipswich West. Blair would be an ideal site. The Minister for Families and Disability Reform said at a local forum I held in May 2012 when she met with carers and people with disability, 'It would be an ideal launch site'.

Ipswich was not even on the radar for Campbell Newman and the LNP state members. Peter Tully said he was ready to scream at the decision of Campbell Newman. He knows the NDIS is not a luxury item. It is an overdue necessity. These LNP state members are gone to dust, gone to silence and gone to hiding. It is an outrageous response from them. The fact is that the Queensland LNP government has misled the people of Queensland. They know that this is a matter of priority and they have chosen not to prioritise it. Twenty million dollars over four years—they are prepared to spend it on horses and they are prepared to spend it on executive buildings in the middle of Brisbane, but they are not prepared to spend it on 80,000 Queenslanders suffering from disability. A launch site would help people in my electorate. Campbell Newman has misled the people of Queensland with doomsday predictions that are inaccurate, and with an alleged debt crisis and an alleged insurmountable deficit. He has simply misled the people of Queensland and given them inaccuracies. They say one thing overseas and say another to the people of Queensland. It is a national disgrace that they have chosen to do that.