Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012. This bill establishes the framework for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency. This will enable the scheme to be launched, and the agency to operate the launch, in five sites across Australia from July 2013.

The coalition have enthusiastically supported each milestone on the road to the NDIS. We supported the initial work by the Productivity Commission. We supported the $1 billion in the last budget. We supported the five launch sites. We supported the agreement between the Commonwealth and New South Wales for a full state-wide rollout after the Hunter launch. At 10,000 potential participants, the largest launch site of the NDIS is the Hunter, which in part encompasses my electorate of Paterson. As the shadow minister for tourism and regional development I can also see important linkages between the NDIS and the tourism industry, with mutual benefits across this nation.

The stated intent of the bill is to support the independence and social and economic participation of people with a disability. This is a worthy intent, and I would suggest that these concepts are interrelated. The importance of independence and social and economic participation both to people with a disability and to the wider society cannot be understated. Paralympian and world champion wheelchair sportsman Kurt Fearnley lives in the Hunter. In his Australia Day address last month, he asked:

Should we as Australians be grateful to be able to exist or should we ask to be given the chance to contribute and prosper?

Kurt believes the latter, and so do I—and hopefully this bill will provide an avenue for that if the scheme is adequately funded and managed. In that same address, Kurt called the current system 'broken'. Again, I agree with him. We all agree with him. The current system is broken.

This is not news. Two years ago, the Productivity Commission report Disability care and support noted that current disability support arrangements are 'inequitable, underfunded, fragmented and inefficient'. This bill is the great hope for repairing the system, by replacing it with something that offers greater flexibility and better funding.

We emphatically supported the government's commitment of $1 billion to the NDIS in the federal budget. However, we had some difficulty reconciling this figure with the $3.9 billion the Productivity Commission said would be necessary over the forward estimates for the first stage of the NDIS. This is a key point: if the scheme is not funded properly, it will fall into the same level of disrepair as the current model. And, at this point, the question of long-term funding is unclear. I can only assume that the government will account for future funding of the NDIS in the coming budget, because it would be nothing short of cruel for the government to offer hope to people with a disability through this bill only to snatch it away if they cannot sort out the funding.

The NDIS is a once-in-a-generation reform that will unfold over the life of several parliaments, and it should be the property of the parliament as a whole, on behalf of the Australian people, rather than that of any particular political party. As Tony Abbott said in his Press Club speech last week:

The Coalition is so committed to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, for instance, that we've offered to co-chair a bi-partisan parliamentary committee so that support for it doesn't flag across the three terms of parliament and among the nine different governments needed to make it work.

Sadly, the government rejected this offer of bipartisan management of the process. The lofty promise of this bill, offering as it does an alternative to the broken system, is all well and good, but it needs to be backed up by a solid, practical policy and sound implementation to ensure it functions effectively in the real world.

We could stand here all day and talk about the benefits of this bill for people with disability, but I want to make the point that, unless the benefits are realised in concrete, practical ways, it is all pointless. The coalition will of course work with the government to support this important bill, but I remain unconvinced that the government will get the funding and implementation right.

The central themes of this bill are choice and control: choice for people with a disability on the type of support they need and control over their own lives to the fullest extent possible. As concepts, these have largely been missing from the current system, a system in which demand often outstrips supply. I am hopeful that the NDIS, properly funded and implemented, will suffer from fewer problems than this current system. It can often be difficult for people with a disability to find the right contact point for inquiries or when seeking assistance, and I am pleased that this bill contains a 'no wrong door' approach, theoretically avoiding the endless referral loop that I know has been the experience of many people with a disability under the current system. Again, though, this needs to be implemented and managed properly for it to work. It is all too easy for agencies to operate in silos with little liaison or coordination. The NDIS Launch Transition Agency, although slated to be independent of government, will need to work effectively with other players in this space, including government departments where necessary, in order to best service and support people with a disability.

The Mai-Wel Group in Maitland is one of the biggest disability service providers in the lower Hunter. Its CEO, Pennie Kearney, welcomes this bill and the choice of the Hunter as a launch site for the scheme, noting, 'For a long time, people with a disability have required more of an opportunity to drive their own lives.' For Ms Kearney, the greatest benefit of the NDIS will be the chance it gives people with a disability, as well as disability service providers, to consider the circumstances of each individual holistically. Under the current model, the holistic needs of the individual are often not considered, simply because the system is not set up that way. This goes back to my earlier comments on the 'no wrong door' approach. I share Ms Kearney's enthusiasm for this more holistic approach but again caution that the scheme cannot be implemented in a silo; it will need a high level of consultation.

Indeed, Hunter disability service providers and other local businesses in the disability sector currently operate in a very cooperative and collaborative environment. Within the sector, this is seen as a major reason for the choice of the Hunter as a launch site, and it is something that will hopefully lead to a very successful trial there.

It is important to these Hunter organisations that quality service providers remain in place after the NDIS launch. The launch will impact the existing providers, simply because the administration of the scheme will be a relative unknown at first. Here I am talking about things like potential cash flow issues as organisations adapt to a different funding model.

The government is yet to release the draft set of NDIS rules, which will establish the mechanics of the scheme. The absence of these rules in any concrete form is clearly causing uncertainty in the disability sector. These uncertainties are real concerns for providers in the Hunter. On a larger scale, the funding and implementation of the NDIS in its entirety is a real concern for me and for those afflicted with a disability.

I am very aware of the issues facing those with disabilities, not just the individuals but also the carers, and of the effect on families. I have personal experience of the challenges facing people with a disability. My brother Bill is a diabetic, a double amputee and on dialysis, so I am very aware of the benefits to be had from a scheme that gives people control over decisions regarding their own support needs.

One of the most impassioned pleas I hear from my constituents is to have some peace of mind that there will be a system in place that will help care for their intellectually disabled children after they pass. My former next-door neighbours have never asked for a handout or respite in essentially caring for their 40-year-old daughter for her whole adult life. Fortunately, they have been able not only to save for their own retirement but to ensure that there is a nest egg for their daughter. They have bought her a duplex and are trying as best they can to ensure her independence after they pass. That being said, there is not a day that goes by where they do not worry about their daughter's future beyond their passing, even though other family members assure them all the time that they will take good care of her. I cannot imagine what it is like for a family that do not have the financial capacity to provide for their child's future as they face their own mortality. Providing peace of mind to these unsung heroes in our community should be front and centre of this scheme.

It was my close observation and understanding of autism that drove me to get members of my community, under the leadership of Hilton Grugeon, to build the Aspect autism school in Thornton. Again, reflecting on the words of Kurt Fearnley:

Should we as Australians be grateful to be able to exist or should we ask to be given the chance to contribute and prosper?

One of my fundamental beliefs is that we need to give every Australian the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential, and that includes those with disabilities. They should not, must not and cannot be hidden, and never let them be forgotten.

As I mentioned earlier, there are also linkages between the NDIS and my shadow portfolio of tourism and regional development. These linkages, of which the most significant is the promotion of barrier-free or accessible tourism, have been identified as a result of the whole-of-government approach the coalition takes to legislation and policy development. My federal colleagues Greg Hunt and Mitch Fifield take an active interest in this area, and I am also in regular contact with NSW Minister Andrew Constance with respect to accessible tourism.

In October last year, the Sunday Mail ran an article on the foundation of an online accommodation guide by so-called grey nomads, aimed at identifying venues that provide excellent services to less mobile Australians. Guides like this one prove that accessible tourism is a significant issue for travellers.

I have been working with the tourism industry over the last year or so to promote accessible tourism, including with the National Tourism Alliance. The alliance is considering the best way for the national Tourism Awards to drive interest in providing outstanding tourism services to people with a disability. There is currently a points system within the awards for barrier-free travel, but the alliance is considering what more it can do to promote accessible tourism, with my full support.

In addition, the NDIS will allow people with a disability and their families to access funding for things like in-hotel respite care, for example. This would advantage both the individuals involved and the wider tourism sector. It would essentially tap an untapped market of domestic tourists. An alliance between the tourism industry and the NDIS is a win-win situation. People with a disability and their families will be able to travel to what will hopefully eventually be a network of venues catering to family members who act as full-time carers.

The needs of family carers should not be omitted from discussions on this bill. The NDIS gives more control to people with a disability in deciding the level and type of support that they require. This is a great step in the right direction for the sector. But the needs of family carers, and how they can be indirectly assisted through the support the NDIS provides to the person they care for, should also be considered. Accessing funding through the NDIS for in-hotel respite care, or otherwise to enable people with a disability to take a family holiday, also benefits family carers and assists them to continue in that role by avoiding burnout. The Accommodation Association of Australia fully supports this concept and feels it has great merit for the accommodation sector as well as for people with a disability and their families.

The launch site of the Hunter offers a variety of great tourist attractions. I have raised the linkages between the NDIS and domestic tourism with venues in this region, which are very supportive of the concept and interested in further exploring the mutual benefits that it presents.

Many venues are in fact already promoting accessible tourism in the area, with wheelchair access. A working model of this concept, taking advantage of the mutual benefits for people with a disability and the domestic tourism sector, to be based at a venue in the Hunter, could light a path for venues nationally.

Ultimately, this bill is a good thing. In fact, it promises great things for people with a disability. I welcome the choice of the Hunter as a launch site, and I feel sure that the existing disability service providers in the area will work closely with the launch agency to make the trial a resounding success. In the long term, however, I have concerns, as I have said before, over the funding of the scheme and the current government's ability to implement the launch. I do not want to see people with a disability, and disability service providers, attracted by the shining star of the NDIS only to be delivered a black hole of empty promises. Without proper funding and careful implementation, this scheme will be useless.

I support the legislation before the House, as do my colleagues, and we look forward to the review of the legislation in two years to make sure that it is meeting the needs it was designed to serve. I support this legislation.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to support the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012. This bill establishes the framework for the launch of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency, which will administer the scheme.

More than 20,000 Australians with a disability, their families, their carers and service providers will benefit from the first stage of the NDIS at the five launch sites, in South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, the Hunter region in New South Wales, as we have just heard, and Barwon in Victoria. By the full rollout of the scheme in 2018, approximately 140,000 people with disabilities in New South Wales alone will benefit from the NDIS.

This bill is a direct and very positive response to the 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry report entitled Disability care and support, which found the current disability care and support in Australia to be 'underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient'. The report found our current system to be simply reactive to crisis, offering support to families only when they are unable to continue in a caring role themselves and have no other choice. The NDIS will allow for care and support to be administered at a much earlier stage, allowing for the possibility of improvement of people's functioning or the slowing down of the progression of the specific disability over their lifetime.

One thing I regularly do is meet with our disability support providers in various areas. I meet many of the clients and, importantly, many of their parents. One of the questions I am often asked is: 'What happens to my child when we pass on?' Unfortunately, the people talking to me as parents are often in their 80s, and their children are in their 60s, and for them this is still a very live and compelling issue to be addressed on behalf of their loved ones. This bill represents, therefore, a monumental step for Australians with disability, their families and carers to receive the support they need, when they need it, in order to live productive and successful lives.

Living with a disability comes at a high cost for the individual, the family and the community. It is time we shared the burden. Disability, like intelligence, follows the distribution of a normal bell curve. Having a disability is not just an issue for parents or loved ones; it should be an issue for a caring community, which I would like to think that we are. In Australia, someone is diagnosed with a significant disability every 30 minutes. Efforts can be made to avoid disabilities, but the truth is that most disabilities cannot be avoided. But we can do something positive to negate a lot of the stress and isolation that is associated with disabilities and ameliorate some of the effects or impacts upon people with disabilities that threaten their ability to be involved in our normal way of life.

We all know people with disabilities. Every member of this parliament would undoubtedly have attended the DisabiliTEAs and would be involved with various disability communities, as I am. I have also got a grandson with a disability. My grandson Nathaniel was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. I know the effect that that can have on the family. I know the impact it has on his immediate community, the school community. I know the effect it has financially and emotionally on all those who love and care for Nathaniel. We probably do not have to strive too hard to find within our families or extended families other examples like my grandson.

Therefore, the whole issue of national disability insurance becomes quite personal—at least it does for me. I want my grandson to be able to grow up in a community that cares, is welcoming and that will seek his involvement in the future. We would all want that for people with any form of disability. As I said, for me it is a very personal thing.

The NDIS is a national insurance approach to providing and caring for people with disabilities that shares the cost of disability and its associated support across the whole community. That is something that is appropriate for a caring community and caring society, which I say we are. Under the NDIS, for the first time in our nation's history people who need assistance, those who are the most vulnerable in our society, will receive individualised care and support packages and get access to comprehensive local support schemes. The fact is, for the first time we will have a large measure of support.

I am glad that the member for Barton is in the chamber. He will know, as his father was the President of the Senate at the time, that this fulfils the 1970s ambition of the Whitlam government, who sought to introduce a national compensation scheme. That is now more than 40 years ago. Compassion and inclusivity are not recent inventions. However, it has taken much time to actually bring this to fruition. The NDIS will allow people with disabilities to have more control over their lives and their level of care. They will receive a greater opportunity to live an active and fulfilled life in their workplaces, their education and their involvement in the community generally.

The bill, in addition to establishing the framework for the NDIS, also establishes the NDIS Launch Transition Agency. This agency will play the key role in administering the scheme by providing support for people with disabilities, their families and their carers and by building community awareness about the undertaking. Critically, it will also undertake research in various areas of disability. Importantly, people with disabilities and their carers will also have an active choice now in how to manage care and about their level of support. They will be able to develop a personalised plan for a regime of assistance, including goals, through this agency that best looks after them as they try to become involved in education, the workplace or the community.

This piece of legislation is critical if we believe in inclusion. While we as a society have done much to provide for our citizens in respect of a high quality of life—and that is readily apparent if you look anywhere overseas to compare—there are still people who fall through the cracks. The National Disability Insurance Scheme addresses to a fair extent this gap. It looks after people with disabilities and sets the platform of care and support necessary for inclusion in our community.

For many years, I have had very much a personal interest in this issue, as I have indicated. As a matter of fact, when I first became the member for Fowler I was asked by the media what my five key priorities were—at that stage, not many people knew me—to get a bit of a sense of what I stood for. Four of the things that I indicated then as my priorities were policing, youth unemployment, domestic violence and disadvantage. But the key thing that I identified at that point was disabilities. I am happy to now be part of a government that has taken as one of its central planks of policy providing for people with disabilities. Regrettably, some people are dealt a very, very hard hand in life. But this government is doing much now to care for them and for their children, not only now but into the future. That is something that all in this place should take heart from. There would be very few members who would come to this place without the ambition to do something good and decent and leaving that as our legacy. If we can leave a legacy such as a National Disability Insurance Scheme I think that we will have achieved much.

I am personally committed to this, as I have indicated. Tomorrow, I will be hosting another disability forum in my electorate. I do this on a periodic basis to make sure that not only I but those in my office stay focused on people with disabilities. When it comes to disabilities, we do not try and carve off what is federal, state or local government responsibility. I know that when people with children with disabilities approach me they do not want a lecture on where they can go. They just want support. Since I first entered parliament, I have always had a rule in my office that when it comes to people with disabilities we become a one-stop shop. We try to make life easier for people. I am very happy that tomorrow the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Jan McLucas, will also attend this forum to answer questions from the community about the NDIS.

Importantly, while the NDIS is not being rolled out in my community, we need to make sure that nevertheless my community is looking at the various rollout sites, is cognisant of the research that is taking place and also contributes its positive and negative views about how this is changing people's lives in those rollout sites. We need that to happen so that when the total rollout occurs in 2018 government is aware of all that input so that it can make sure that what we have is a scheme that benefits most people.

I would just like to briefly mention a few of the people who will be there tomorrow. We will have the Australian Foundation for Disability—AFFORD—which provides employment, importantly, in my area for 1,400 people with disabilities. Disability South West will also be attending. They provide a much needed advocacy service for people with disabilities and their carers. Also, there will be Northcott Disability Services, who provide much needed support for people with rare forms of disability.

Grace Fava, who is a longstanding friend of mine, is also the Autism Advisory and Support Services co-founder and CEO. She is an individual who has strongly campaigned for the NDIS and who makes an enormous contribution through her role on the advisory council.

I cannot say enough about the steps we are now taking. It is something that is long overdue but also something that we should be proud of because we are taking the steps necessary for people with disabilities to be properly included in our community. I have often said that history will judge our generation on how we relate to and how we include people with disabilities. This bill represents the first step in a long way to go to ensure that we do that properly. (Time expired)

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This bill provides for the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. From the outset I just want to say that, regrettably, there has been too much misinformation and cheap politicking on this particular issue. Let us be really clear about one thing: the NDIS does have bipartisan support. My parliamentary colleague and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has been unequivocal in his support in his statement that 'the NDIS is an idea whose time has come'. That time is right now.

All in this chamber know that the system of support in Australian for people with disability is broken. The coalition strongly supports the recommendations of the Productivity Commission for an NDIS. We also support the $1 billion pledged for the scheme in the last budget. However, this is only one-quarter of what is required, according to the Productivity Commission, and this is one of the major concerns that the coalition has with the NDIS proposal in its current form.

Many of the speakers on this bill from both sides of the House have referred to the bill as a once-in-a-lifetime policy change—and indeed it is. They are all correct. On this we are united, as we all should be. If we embrace the notion that the key role of government is to help those who cannot help themselves—again, as we should—then it is incumbent on us to find a way to make the NDIS work.

Such a large, once-in-a-lifetime policy as the NDIS means all levels of government must work together to provide certainty and hope for the hundreds of thousands of people in this country with a disability. I am passionately committed to continuing the fight for the NDIS on behalf of my electorate to ensure a better deal for Queensland families who have children and other family members with disabilities. On 30 April last year, I took an active part in the 'Queenslanders who want to make the NDIS real' rally at Reddacliff Place, just off the State Library in the Brisbane CBD. I addressed the rally and reinforced the coalition's support for the NDIS.

There have been many occasions where I have had the opportunity to interact with parents of children with disability. On 26 October last year, I attended a morning tea attended by 55 parents in New Farm in my electorate to raise awareness about the NDIS and to highlight the impact the scheme would have on individual families in the local area. I want to pay special tribute to Julie Collins for organising this incredible event. It is heart rending to hear the stories of the fragmentation of services, the difficulty in accessing services, the difficulty in finding out if services even exist and the fight that families have to go through every single day of the week to ensure that their children get some form of assistance, whether it is early intervention, speech therapy or physiotherapy, and the enormous associated costs, particularly for families who have children with disability.

I also invited Senator Mitch Fifield, the shadow minister in this area, to conduct a forum in my electorate where some 60 to 70 providers attended and provided very valuable and useful information. A number of organisations attended, as well as medical experts who work in the field. It was a very successful forum. Both he and I got some very valuable and constructive recommendations on how we might move work in this area forward.

I want to also pay tribute to the great work that is being done in my electorate by the Red Hill Special School. I attended a morning tea there for Every Australian Counts. I want to acknowledge the amazing work that they do every day and the dedication of the teachers.

Last year, I called on the federal government to negotiate with the Queensland government and commit to the full implementation of an NDIS from 2018 to 2019. In this spirit, I welcome the recent agreement between the Commonwealth and New South Wales government for a full state-wide rollout of the NDIS.

I also want to congratulate the Newman government for their persistence in seeking a deal on the NDIS with the Gillard government and the announcement of a $1.77 billion commitment towards the scheme by 2018. This is particularly important not just for the people in my electorate of Brisbane but for the whole of Queensland. The deal will benefit approximately 100,000 Queenslanders with disabilities. As I said, there has been too much misinformation on this issue, too much politics and too many false claims that Queensland has walked away from the NDIS. But the facts are plain to see.

I just want to reiterate these facts. On 12 December 2012, Queensland became the second state to commit to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, with Premier Campbell Newman promising $1.77 billion towards the landmark scheme by 2018.

Premier Newman also promised to reform the state's fault-based motor accident insurance scheme and adopt the no-fault National Injury Insurance Scheme. Queensland will have to drastically increase its level of disability spending to meet the target, but Premier Newman has said that the LNP's tough budgetary measures have freed up the cash. Queensland already spends $959 million on disability, but it will need to boost that by $868 million within six years. While New South Wales has committed to almost a 50-50 funding split with the Commonwealth from 2018, Premier Newman has stated that Queensland could be asking for a 56-44 funding split, with the federal government chipping in $2.2 billion.

The coalition believes an NDIS can be delivered within the time frame recommended by the Productivity Commission and by a prudent government that manages its finances well. My comments and any comments that the coalition has made about the NDIS have been offered in a constructive spirit, in an endeavour to help make sure that the NDIS can be the best scheme that it can possibly be. Again, I want to be really clear about this: the coalition stands ready to work with the government, ready to make sure that an NDIS scheme is delivered as soon as possible. There is one quibble that we will have with the government, and that is when Labor members and senators say that the NDIS represents quintessential Labor values—it does not. The NDIS represents Australian values, a fair go, helping those who face challenges for reasons that are beyond their control. No side of politics has a mortgage on these. The NDIS is a people-centred, self-directed funding model. It is aligned to the objectives of empowering the individual, of removing government from people's lives and of reducing the red tape that I spoke about earlier.

As my coalition colleagues have said, the coalition believes that the full implementation of an NDIS would be nothing short of new deal for people with disabilities and for their carers. We have to get this right. As I have said, the NDIS is a once-in-a generation reform. It will unfold over the life of not just this parliament but many parliaments. It should be the property of the parliament as a whole on behalf of the Australian people rather than the property of any one political party. To get this right will require a high level of consultation and attention to detail, not just now and not just in the launch sites but also in the full implementation.

The coalition has called for the establishment of a joint parliamentary committee to be chaired by both sides of politics to oversee the establishment and implementation of the NDIS. A parliamentary oversight committee would lock in all parties and provide a non-partisan environment where the issues of design and eligibility could be worked through very cooperatively. When people come to my office or when they ring me, they want me to fix things as their member. They do not see this as a party issue. They see this as a national issue.

I want to commend my parliamentary colleague George Christensen, the member for Dawson, who has had a motion in the House to establish this committee for some time, but regrettably it has not been brought forward for a vote. Senator Fifield moved a similar motion to establish an oversight committee, and Labor and the Greens combined in the Senate to vote it down. The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, reiterated this offer in his Press Club speech last week, when he said:

The Coalition is so committed to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, for instance, that we've offered to co-chair a bi-partisan parliamentary committee so that support for it doesn't flag across the three terms of parliament and among the nine different governments needed to make it work.

The government should accept the offer of a parliamentary oversight committee. The coalition intends to give the government, the Greens and the Independents an opportunity to accept our hand of cooperation by moving an amendment to this bill to establish a non-partisan oversight committee—and the offer should be accepted. It is also important to note that every government and every opposition in Australia supports and wants to see an NDIS, and that is why at the COAG before last it was disappointing that the Prime Minister could not rise above partisan politics. It is to the credit of Premier Baillieu and Premier O'Farrell that they continued to negotiate in the face of public attack and misrepresentation by the federal government and reached an agreement to host the launch sites.

We urge the Prime Minister to adopt a more cooperative approach as there can be no NDIS without the states. They are partners, not enemies. The fruits of a constructive approach were there to be seen with Premier O'Farrell and the Prime Minister when they signed an intergovernmental agreement in December for a full state NDIS rollout after the Hunter launch project. It is now up to the Prime Minister to continue this constructive approach in discussion with other jurisdictions and to conclude further bilateral agreements. There can be no full NDIS without intergovernmental agreement with every state and territory.

A word in defence of those states who are not hosting a launch site: the Productivity Commission never envisaged every state hosting a launch site and never saw the absence of a launch site as a bar to taking part in a full national rollout. Indeed, Premier Newman has written to the Prime Minister with a proposal to be part of a full national rollout, and Premier Barnett has written to the Prime Minister proposing a joint WA-Commonwealth NDIS.

The coalition will continue to place this issue above politics and is prepared to work with the state and Commonwealth governments towards a better deal for people with disabilities. We emphatically support the government's commitment of $1 billion to the NDIS in the federal budget, but we do have some difficulties in reconciling this figure with the $3.9 billion that the Productivity Commission said would be necessary over the forward estimates for the first phase of the NDIS. We assume that the government will account for this and will make appropriate provision in the coming budget.

The bill is currently being inquired into by the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee and it will report on 13 March 2013. A recurrent theme in the evidence presented to date by witnesses is that it is hard to offer advice, pose questions or plan for launch sites in the absence of rules. They need to be released quickly before the passage of the bill through parliament.

In her second reading speech, the Prime Minister indicated the government's intention to bring the final version of the bill to vote in the budget sessions. The rules, however, need to be released very soon. The risk with this government in its lack of capacity to competently implement measures has always been there to see.

The interaction of three components, the NDIS Bill, the NDIS rules and the operating guidelines for the NDIS Launch Transition Agency, will determine how the NDIS operates. At this point in time, developing a complete picture of how the NDIS will unfold is limited by insufficient information. The work of the Senate committee is absolutely crucial and it is hoped that they will have the benefit of the NDIS rules and the operating guidelines for the agency before they conclude their work. In the absence of the other two elements, it is difficult to determine if further amendments are required to this legislation.

The concept of the NDIS has gained momentum over the last five years and it is appropriate to acknowledge the role played by Minister Shorten in helping to elevate the public policy profile of disability, but the time has now come. The lion's share of the credit goes to people with disability, their families, their carers and the organisations that support them. They have all come together. They have decided that enough is enough. They speak with one voice. In order to ensure that the NDIS is a success, we support the smooth operation of the launch sites. (Time expired)

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I support the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I support people with disabilities. I do not support political pointscoring around them. I urge those on the other side of the House to do what the Premier of New South Wales and the Premier of Victoria have done and show tangible support for the NDIS.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill is groundbreaking legislation. It is legislation that brings about major societal change. It is legislation that will change the lives of people with disabilities, their families and their carers. This legislation recognises that people with disability are real people, with real needs which need to be recognised and met, and that they deserve equal treatment and equal opportunity in life.

I will go to the details of the bill. It establishes the framework for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Launch Transition Agency. It will enable the scheme to be launched and the agency to operate the launch in five sites around Australia from July 2013. The first stage of the scheme will benefit more than 20,000 people with disabilities, their families and their carers living in South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, the Barwon area of Victoria and the Hunter in New South Wales, which is where my electorate is situated. The bill sets out the process for a person becoming a participant in the scheme, how participants develop a personal, goal based plan with the agency, and how reasonable and necessary support will be assured to those people with disabilities. The agency will be responsible for the provision of support for people with disabilities. The NDIS will be tailored to meet the needs of a person with disability. It will be a centrally based scheme that is designed around that person, not designed around a system. The legislation will recognise their needs.

As a person who has spent much of their working life assisting people to cope with the impact of disabilities on their lives and to develop strategies to live in the community and to find jobs, I know the challenges that exist in the current system. Disability can lead to a life marked by isolation, poverty, loss of dignity, hopelessness, fear for the future, limited life choices, declining and limited quality of life and limited opportunities. This legislation is about changing that.

Currently, I have two remarkable young women who work in my office: Tracey Blair and Krystal Brown, both of whom have significant disabilities and both of whom will benefit from the NDIS. Tracey is a young woman who had a series of brain tumours. She was attending university at the time, studying. The onset of the brain tumours totally changed her life and her expectations in life. She is now confined to a wheelchair. She has visual problems and speech problems, but she is still as bright and vivacious as she ever was. She really has a positive impact on what happens in our office. She contributes in so many ways. She is like other people with disability—all they need is that opportunity to contribute, and they need the support in place. I know Tracey's mother and father. They worry about Tracey's care as they get older. They worry about how she will cope when they are no longer around. That is very common for parents of children with disability. They fear for the future. They fear for the child whom they love so desperately. They fear for their care when they are not there. The NDIS is a very tangible way to deliver certainty.

The other young person I have working in my office is Krystal Brown. Krystal is a young girl who has had juvenile arthritis and, once again, is confined to a chair—she is in an electric wheelchair.

She has been working on updating my great works of Shortland book. She has very good creative skills and is quiet but she very definitely contributes to our office and makes it a much better place.

All programs for people with disability need to be tailored to that person's needs. I saw that when I was working in the area. People with disabilities are people who have needs and feelings and they need to have their needs met. Change will come about with this legislation as it is legislation that provides leadership. The government has really showed leadership in this area. For years, people with disabilities languished in the community begging support, begging for recognition. It is here that I will pay credit to the fine role played by Minister Shorten. He developed a real passion for ensuring that people with disability are actually given the opportunity to enjoy what the rest of society enjoys.

The NDIS will fundamentally change the lives of people with disability. For the record, disability is the result of having some sort of significant impairment. For a person who has a loss of vision, their disability is they cannot see. For a person who is deaf, their disability is that they cannot hear. A person who has a spinal injury and who is confined to a wheelchair may have a disability of not being able to work. It is really important to understand the difference between impairment and disability. It is disability that this piece of legislation will support. It will establish a framework for the NDIS and it will establish the transition agency, as I have already mentioned.

There has been extensive consultation with people with disabilities, their families, their carers and with service providers. Within my electorate I have held two consultation forums back in 2011, one in the Lake Macquarie area and one in the Central Coast area. I continue to consult with people on the NDIS, on disability and on ways in which the government can meet their needs. I think the thing that is really strong about this legislation is the degree of consultation undertaken. We had the Productivity Commission report. Now we have gone through that consultation, it is time for action and the trial sites have been announced. It is the right of a person with a disability to actually be given opportunities.

The NDIS will provide a plan and a coordinated approach to providing support and services to people with disability rather than them lurching from one crisis to another. I am sure members on both sides of this House will have had people come to their office and talk to them when a crisis develops. We then put them in touch with people that can actually help them resolve the crisis.

I would like to pay tribute to the organisation Every Australian Counts and to the role they have played with the disability teas. They have raised the awareness of disability. I do not think there has ever been a time where disability has featured so highly within our communities.

I am particularly excited about the NDIS and about one of the trial sites being in the Hunter. It is a fantastic opportunity for people with disability who live in the Hunter. Many of the people that I worked with in a previous life—those people with disability and also those that are involved with providing services—are very excited about it. People with significant and profound disability in the Hunter will benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme next year.

It is really positive that the Australian and New South Wales governments could come together and reach an agreement. I was very worried for a time that that would not eventuate but it did, and now people with disability in the Hunter are the winners. There are going to be 10,000 people in the Hunter region with significant and profound disability who will benefit from the scheme. Their needs will be assessed and they will start to receive the individual care and support packages.

It is so important that those packages and supports be individually tailored. The NDIS will put in place a case-management approach to disability where people will be able to choose who it is that they go to for provision of the services they need and the support they need. It will have an approach that is all about them. It will not be about the service deliverer, it will not be about the government but about the person who has the disability. It will be about them, their lives and the lives of their family. It is something that each and every member of this parliament should be passionate about because this is legislation that will really change the lives of people.

Under the NDIS, people with disability in the Hunter region will be assessed to receive these individualised care and support packages that I speak so passionately about. They will have decision-making powers about their care and support including their choice of provider as already mentioned. They will be assisted by local coordinators to help manage and deliver their support. The case managers will be integral to the success of this NDIS once it is up and running. They will be the people who will be in touch with the person with a disability on an ongoing basis.

The NDIS will also provide access to the system. It will be easily navigated and linked to mainstream community services. It will be great not only for the person with a disability but also for their family and carers. Through the agency it will develop a consistent approach to assessing people's needs. The Hunter launch site will ensure a proper test of the individualised support and arrangements of the process for transition to the system.

I think this is great legislation, just in case you did not pick it up from my contribution to this debate. It will make a real difference to the lives of people who have been ignored for so long. This is legislation about people. It is legislation about delivering a commitment given by this government. Every member in this House should be proud of this legislation. This legislation will make me pleased to go back to my electorate to talk to people with disability. Disability should not be a sentence of total disempowerment and a life of isolation and poverty. People with disability have needs, expectations and rights. This ground-breaking legislation will deliver. It recognises that people with disability have rights and needs.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me commend the member for Shortland on her address to this parliament. She is obviously passionate about the issue. She drew attention to her electorate and the Hunter and the way the National Disability Insurance Scheme will affect the community she serves and this nation. If she stays for the debate, she may not enjoy some of the things I say, so I suggest she leaves now. During the debate in this House, the member for Reid has been in the chair, and the members for Scullin, Cowper, Barton, Kingsford-Smith, Wills, Wentworth and Richmond have all been in the chamber while I have been listening. In mentioning those members, I am speaking to the truck driver whose friend has a daughter with a disability, I am speaking to the vegetable grower—he knows who I am talking about—who has a daughter with a disability, I am speaking to the farmer on the swamp who has a son with a disability who is now ageing, I am speaking to all the people right across this nation who are listening to this debate, including those in the gallery, and I say that there is not one scintilla of difference in the desire of all those members of parliament to have the best possible outcome for people with disabilities.

I had better explain my background in disabilities. I am a life governor of Minibah, now called Outlook, which is one of my centres. This issue is very close to my heart, my efforts and my inspiration. The NDIS will not be the be all and end all for every person with a disability. If this parliament comes to a point where it raises the hopes of everybody across this nation who has a disability, woe betide the Prime Minister who has to implement the NDIS, with all the complications before us in our approach to putting this legislation in place and fulfilling its aims.

To my personal regret, the member for Scullin will not be in this place for the years it will take for the working of this legislation because it is not a five-minute job. It is not going to be fixed tomorrow. Already we have heard from the members who have spoken about the difficulties with the states. The Productivity Commission said very clearly that this is a federal responsibility, that the federal government should pick up the barrow, take the lead on this and run with it. Yet the first thing I was so embarrassed about with my disability community was that they were attacking my own Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, for seemingly not supporting this because he was ambushed by the Prime Minister over funding for the trial.

There will be people who take the moral high ground on this issue and force things on the states which it was never intended they would be required to do. I understood it was for the federal government to take the lead, but the first thing to happen is that states right around the country, depleted of funds, are being asked to do things that the Productivity Commission never intended them to do.

We need forbearance on behalf of all people. So I say to the disability community across the country and to those who are vitally interested in the NDIS, who will be listening closely to the debate, that we have a long way to go. This is not the panacea. Is it a great opportunity? Yes. Could it be a world first? Yes. Could it change the lives of people with a disability? Yes. Do we desire the best possible outcome for those people? Yes we do, but I do not want to raise their hopes to a point that they are dashed when they find that their type of disability may not be covered by the NDIS—or shouldn't anybody say that?

Is there not a place for the truth in this House on the NDIS? Is there not a place to say, 'No, everything is rosy and once the National Disability Insurance Scheme is implemented every issue within the disability community and the problems they face are fixed'?

I am in awe of the work that the disability providers in my electorate do: from Pakenham to Warragul to Moe—Rosa, I love you—all the way down to Wonthaggi and everything in between. There is the work that the op shops do on behalf of their communities, and all the volunteers connected with the op shops have one desire—like the members of parliament that I mentioned before—for the best outcome for people with disabilities in their own area. The major contributor to disability services in this country should never be forgotten. As Jean Tops outlined in her submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee:

It will never be delivered by the federal government; it will never be delivered by the state government; it will never be delivered by the services on the ground. It will be delivered by the parents and the families that surround people with disabilities.

It will be delivered by the communities that are close to them. The NDIS will only ever play a part in the care and support of people with disabilities—only ever play a part. The major role and responsibility will always be held by the parents of that child. Recently I lived through the heartache of a mum who looked after her precious boy for nearly 30 years of his life, and the best option was for him to move out of the house into accommodated services. Let's call her Mary. The hardest thing for Mary was to give up that child—that young adult, but her little boy. It is the same for us here: they may grow up and they may get married, but they are our little kids. It was hard for Mary to let go of that child to go into that other service. But she did, and he has blossomed and so has she.

In a recent conversation someone said: 'Politics is about choices. Just get with it—politics is about choices.' Life is about choices, and the hardest choices you have to make are when you have a child with a disability. Before I go any further, I want to make this point: I do not speak with any authority in this House on this issue, and I will tell you why. Unless you live 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with a child with a disability—or in some cases two or three children with disabilities—nobody in the House can stand with any authority and say, 'I identify with you; I understand what you are saying; we'll do something about it.'

It is a bit unfair of me to say, 'We'll do something about it.' I should say, 'We'll do our best to do something about it.' Let me say to this House and to the people of Australia: not one of you can identify or empathise with those parents and sometimes grandparents who deal with a child with a disability every day of this life. We can care and we can do the best we can, but we cannot empathise and we cannot enter into that space, because we do not live it. Until you have lived it, you cannot enter into that space. I have some very funny stories about disabilities to tell, which we cannot tell today, and I have some very sad stories about disabilities to tell.

Since I began, we have gone through a complete range of facilities including a school for pre-, primary and near secondary. We were the first organisation to integrate into the mainstream schools. We went from a day-care centre to an entire organisation with great expertise and the state government of the time said, 'Russell, we're integrating.' I was there to carry that burden through integration. I wonder whether we will turn a whole wheel when someone says: 'Do you know what we need? We need a day-care centre.' We will have gone through the whole process and the wheel will have turned. I will live long enough to see it.

I am not blaming anybody, but progressive governments have said they would properly fund integration services in schools. There is no member in this place who has not had a complaint from somebody with a child with a disability who says: 'We need more integration aids in our schools. My child needs greater support. I can't get enough hours. Can you help me?' There is not one member who has not been approached to help get more hours. We go through the process of trying to help a family. We have all been there. Those who are listening will find that members of parliament are often closer to these issues than the cynics in the community would think, because we deal with the issues at a parliamentary level. At our electorate level we are close to these issues, because those with a need come to us. The member for Shortland's speech was very important, because it was all about people surrounding her in her electorate and the hope she has for the NDIS. I am the same. The coalition totally supports the NDIS. My leader, on our behalf, has talked about his inspiration and support for the NDIS.

The parliament supports it and the government supports it, but I am saying to you that this is part of the road we travel. It is not the be-all and end-all. It will not solve every problem. But the best thing this parliament can do is work with the states, territories and all involved to get the best outcome we can.

I would love it if the Prime Minister of this nation, or the education minister of this nation, were able to stand up in an international forum and say, 'We have the world's best national disability insurance scheme,' or 'We have the world's only national disability insurance scheme and we proudly lead the world in our approach to people with disability.' I could not think of a better outcome for a parliamentary career, or a better outcome for any term of parliament, than to deliver an NDIS. I could not think of a better outcome than being able to say to the world, 'We in this parliament delivered what could not be delivered.' Wouldn't it be great if, as a member of parliament, you could stand up and say: 'We delivered the world's first national disability insurance scheme and, in that process, we led the world. Now such schemes exist in this country, that country and that country.' I leave you with this final thought: we should not set the bar so high—hopes should not be taken to such a high level—that we are unable to jump over it. Thank you.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like everyone else, I share the commitment of the previous speaker, the member for McMillan, to reform within the disability sector. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012 represents a great opportunity to achieve that reform and I am very positive about what can be achieved. Yes, as the member for McMillan said, there are a lot of difficulties and, yes, it is very complex. I think we all acknowledge that. But I am very positive about the federal government doing the best we can, despite all those complexities and difficulties, to work with the states to roll this out.

As many speakers have said, this is an idea whose time has come. It is so vitally important to our nation. We have all heard the stories from people with disability, their families, their carers. We have all met people who have desperately needed this reform. People have called for this reform over such a long period of time. As a Labor member of this parliament, I am very proud that a Labor government is introducing such a significant reform for our nation, one which is very overdue. It truly is a very Labor reform. Those of us on this side of the House are all very proud to be part of introducing a national disability insurance scheme and of the difference it will make to the lives of so many.

When the rollout was first announced, there was a tremendous response. I certainly saw that in my electorate of Richmond. When people saw the detail of the rollout in New South Wales, to be completed by 2018, they could see it would make a big difference to people on the North Coast—not just to those with a disability, their carers and their families, but to people across so many sectors of our community. We are very proud that the Labor Party has introduced so many important social justice reforms—universal health care and paid parental leave, for example—which have impacted on the lives of Australians. Now it is 2013 and we are doing it again, delivering one of the most important reforms this country has seen. It really is a once-in-a-generation reform.

Looking at some of the detail of the bill, we see that it establishes the framework for the NDIS and for the transition agency as well. When the first stage of the scheme is rolled out in selected areas, it will benefit more than 20,000 people with a disability. The bill sets out all the objectives and principles under which the NDIS will operate. One of the most important objectives is to give choice and control to people about the care and support they receive. That is vitally important, not only from the perspective of meeting the differing care needs of people but also from the perspective of taking on board their individual concerns, their families' concerns and their carers' concerns. Individual care should always be at the centre.

The bill sets out the processes for a person to become a participant in the scheme, for the development of individual goals based plans and for how the support for those personal plans will be put in place. It sets out how people will be able to choose and manage their care and support and how they can receive assistance from local coordinators should they wish—another important aspect of the scheme. The bill also sets out how the agency will be responsible for the provision of support to people with disability, their families and their carers and how, as well, it may provide funding to individuals and organisations which support people to participate more in life.

The report of the inquiry by the Productivity Commission, Disability care and support, was released in 2011. It identified that disability care and support in Australia was underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient. We could all see the piecemeal approach across the country and we have all met, or heard stories about, people who fell through the cracks in the system and were not able to get their individual needs met. We could certainly see the problems and why reform was needed. Since the release of the report, the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments have agreed on the need for major reform in the form of the NDIS, which takes an insurance approach—sharing the cost of disability services and support right across the community and funding reasonable and necessary services directly related to a person's individual ongoing disability support needs.

This bill establishes the scheme and an operating approach which gives effect to these principles and gives effect, in part, to Australia's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The bill also reflects the extensive work which has been undertaken by the federal, state and territory governments, by people with disabilities, by carers and their families, by service providers and advocates, and by disability care workers. There has been a very long commitment to engagement and consultation. The NDIS Advisory Group and many experts have been heavily involved in helping to put this reform together.

I will touch specifically on my seat in New South Wales for a little while. Over 140,000 people across the state of New South Wales with permanent and/or significant disability will have access to the scheme as it is rolled out. By agreement, the scheme will be jointly funded by the federal government and the states.

As we have heard from other speakers, the initial rollout of the scheme in New South Wales will begin in the Hunter region at a later point this year. We will all be watching that very closely. I know that members from that region have spoken about the importance of the scheme starting, and we are very much looking forward to it being rolled out further right through New South Wales. Particularly in my seat in Richmond on the Far North Coast we are very keen to have it in our areas as soon as possible.

As I have said, it really is a major achievement of this government, particularly in terms of the provision of providing the individualised care and involvement of local care coordinators. It does mean more control and autonomy over their lives for those people with a disability and their families, more certainty about the care and support they need and greater opportunity for them to be much more involved in the community in so many ways. So, there are many different reasons why we should be celebrating this magnificent reform.

I, like many other people in the chamber, want to talk about some individual cases as well. I know that we all have many cases we could discuss, but there is a very special one I want to talk about. It is about a young lady, called Shona Robertson, who I have spoken about before in the House. Shona is a truly outstanding inspiration to many people. She is a very special friend of mine and also of all the staff in my electorate office. She volunteers regularly and does an amazing job.

Shona has Down syndrome and comes into the office once a week. She is a real inspiration and keeps us all on our toes. She is also at the forefront locally of the Every Australian Counts campaign. She has done a great job with that and we commend her for it. She got married recently to her sweetheart, Andrius. They had a beautiful wedding, and congratulations to both of them. Both Andrius and her are very strong lobbyists to have a National Disability Insurance Scheme. Shona recently travelled to the UN and spoke there about the need for disability reform everywhere around the world. Shona, as I say, is a true inspiration and she certainly looks after us and keeps us on our toes. She is a wonderful addition to the office and we really appreciate the time she gives to us as a volunteer. Further, she has a real commitment to our community and knows the difference that having an NDIS will make to our region and throughout New South Wales and, indeed, right throughout the country.

In talking to many people in my electorate I know how desperate they are to have this change and how keen they are to follow the rollout of it and to see what the effects will be. As I say, we have all heard many of the really harrowing and difficult stories of individuals and families who struggle and face hardship in caring for a family member with a disability. They have shared the great joy of their family members, but we have also heard about their emotional and financial hardship, as well as their hardship in obtaining the correct care and the difficulties associated with that.

I congratulate other groups in my area, too, that work with people with a disability and I know how hard they work and how committed they are. They do outstanding work. They have a strong role in advocating for an NDIS and have continued involvement in that. One of the organisations that I would like to particularly recognise is Care Connect in Tweed Heads. They recently took part in a DisabiliTEA campaign, and I was very pleased to attend that. It was a fantastic event. I know over 1,700 DisabiliTEAs were held around the country to promote the Every Australian Counts and NDIS campaign. I congratulate everyone involved. We had a great morning tea at Care Connect and a really wonderful opportunity for many people to come along and hear firsthand about what the situation was with the NDIS and how they could be involved. I know there are many great groups that did that, and congratulations to all of them.

One of the things that really resonates is that so many people say that, finally, the days are numbered for a very piecemeal, disjointed system. Finally they can see that we are changing and reforming. I think everyone agrees that there has been disparity, inequity and difficulties, and there is certainly a lot of consensus about the great reform and what it actually does mean. As I have said, as a Labor member, I am really proud to be part of this great Labor reform. It is a real example of Labor achieving for those people who desperately need to have assistance.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the NDIS is one of many great reforms. It will stand beside many other major Labor reforms such Medicare, the age pension and the minimum wage. They are really important and major social and economic reforms and have changed the lives of many. It is also something that we are very proud of from a social justice perspective in providing greater opportunity for all Australians.

I am really proud to be speaking on this debate and I commend the bill to the House. I congratulate everyone who has been involved in this fantastic reform.

Debate adjourned.