Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, to celebrate International Day of People with Disability, I'm very pleased to have in parliament my old patients and now friends, Kathryn Millar, Brooklyn Taylor and Ethan Campbell, together with their family and carers, Bill Millar, Shayne Perkins, and Mark and Michelle Campbell. It's very common for my office to be contacted by my old patients and their families who have disabilities to try and enrol in the NDIS. The NDIS has really been a remarkable thing in Australia. It really enables us to give back to people who have disability. They, like us, deserve their place, and we need to make sure that they get their place in the sun. As Australians, I believe we're all equal and we all deserve an equal share in our society. The NDIS has been a wonderful change. However, there are systemic problems which I do not believe this government has addressed. I've certainly been lobbying for almost four years to try and get the government to see the systemic problems, such as poorly trained planners, long delays in getting plans, arbitrary reductions in plans on review, poor service, difficulty in accessing services through the NDIS, and the long delays for people like occupational therapists, speech therapists et cetera to get their bills paid. There are systemic problems and we need to change it.