Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise with my colleagues today for 90-second statements to commend to the House the National Disability Insurance Scheme. On the International Day of People with Disability, we want to mark the importance of the NDIS. It's about changing lives, and I want to acknowledge that, for some people, it has delivered. But today I rise to speak for those in my electorate and across the country who have been let down by the underfunding and the mismanagement of those opposite of the NDIS. This Prime Minister and this government claim that $4.6 billion wasn't needed for the NDIS. They used it for their political needs to meet their promise of a surplus.

There is a mother in my electorate who has to lay her son with cerebral palsy across the seat of the family car to transport him, because vehicle modifications are delayed by the NDIS due to 'complexity'. This is a story that too many families understand, not just in my electorate but across the country. We all know that all taxpayers are contributing to the NDIS, and I would like to think gladly so. I'm sure that they, like me, are incredibly disappointed that this government and this Prime Minister have put their own political ends in front of people with a disability across this nation. Thank you.