Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, isn't that a disappointing end to the debate on the suspension of standing orders to move a motion about disability? And we have a Prime Minister who's ranting about border protection. Doesn't he get that people with a disability have waited long enough for a royal commission into what is happening in the sector?

On 6 November 2015 there was a Victorian government parliamentary committee meeting in my electorate to discuss with people what is going on with disability. At the committee hearing, a number of parents spoke, a number of people with a disability spoke and a number of organisations spoke. But that committee, like all committees, did not have the powers that a royal commission has. That is why the Senate earlier today passed a motion calling for the creation of a royal commission into the disability sector. That is why this House should do the same to consider that. That is why the Labor Party, two years ago, called for this government—and we have committed, if we have the opportunity to form government—to start a royal commission into the disability sector.

For far too long, people with a disability, their parents, their carers and their family members, and organisations, have suffered in silence. As others on this side of the House have pointed out, they've been fobbed off, pushed back and told their issue was too complicated to be investigated. That is why there is the need for a royal commission into the disability sector. From people that I've met with in my own electorate, I know the heartbreak of a parent, the heartbreak of a sister or brother coming and telling you their story about their loved one and what they've gone through. All these people are seeking is justice—and justice is, quite frankly, for some, too hard to achieve. What they're also seeking is reform to the sector.

The Prime Minister came in here and ranted all about the NDIS. This is beyond the NDIS. You shouldn't delay a royal commission because the NDIS has not been properly rolled out. The NDIS is an insurance scheme that has been created to ensure that people with a disability have access to the equipment they need and access to the support they require, and there are flaws with its rollout. But this royal commission would go beyond that. It would be about people who are in care and about the inadequacy of our services to be able to follow up complaints. It would go into the very complex nature of what goes wrong when somebody with a disability is injured, is abused or is mistreated whilst in care.

I've also got concerns about the NDIS and its rollout, and I've requested to meet with Intereach staff to learn more about why, with claims in my part of the world, things are so hard. It's heartbreaking when you meet with people and they say that what they are receiving in the way of support is less today than what it was before the NDIS. That is heartbreaking. I've heard from people who are blind, who are seeking support, who are continuing to work, despite their disability. Previously, they received an ongoing transport allowance to get them to and from work, yet under the NDIS, in the first plan that was offered to them, they were told they could catch the train. Anybody living in a regional area knows how ridiculous it is to suggest to anybody to catch a train from Bendigo to Epsom and walk—they were told to catch a train and walk the kay from the train station to their workplace. Regional stations just don't have the lighting and the safe walk routes that we have in some of our metro areas. It was clearly not suitable. We supported this person, like so many others. It shouldn't be that hard.

Yes, there are problems with the rollout that we need to continue to work through—absolutely. The model isn't working for employees. Many have been forced onto zero-hour contracts, people who have not had the opportunity to continue to work in the sector as full-time employees. We need to continue to work on the rollout of the NDIS to improve it, but that shouldn't be the excuse for not proceeding with the royal commission into the mistreatment and the abuse of people with a disability.