House debates

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Questions without Notice

Disability Services

2:59 pm

Photo of Bill ShortenBill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister support a royal commission into the violence against and abuse and neglect of Australians living with a disability—yes or no?

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I said when I first responded to this question that I had hoped there would be an approach to these issues in supporting people with disabilities that wouldn't get into this sort of partisan debate. I know what the Leader of the Opposition is doing: he's seeking to create a point of tension and division in this parliament about the support and care provided to people with disabilities. I will remain open to every single option there is to provide support to people with disabilities, and that begins with ensuring that we're implementing correctly and appropriately the National Disability Insurance Scheme and ensuring that the commission that sits around that has the ability to receive complaints and take action on those complaints and is working effectively across the nation so that people with disability and their families and carers can get access to the sorts of remedies and solutions that are required.

I have already demonstrated my willingness to call a royal commission when it comes to the aged-care sector to address the very palpable abuses and neglect and the very serious cases that we have seen in that sector—most seriously the Oakden scandal that occurred in South Australia in a government-run aged-care facility under the Labor Party. A Labor government presided over the Oakden scandal and the manifest failures more broadly in the aged-care system that I would like to see addressed through this aged-care royal commission. I do not wish to draw this note of partisanship into this debate. I am open to every option to ensure support for disabled Australians all around the country, as every budget I delivered as Treasurer demonstrated and as I will continue to demonstrate in my role as Prime Minister, with the Treasurer. So we are open to every option, but one thing we are not open to is playing politics with disabilities.