Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. I think that Senator McEwen made the pertinent point that it is all very well to wear the T-shirt and say you support the NDIS; there is a question about whether you actually show that support and whether you actually commit funds to it. The reality now in Australian politics is that there is only one party in this country that is actually putting money up. I have listened to the opposition's Treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, on the subject and he made it very clear that there is no commitment from the Liberal and National parties to fund this. So I will not be lectured by the senator about commitment to this scheme. What this government has done is commit $1 million to the trial phase—real money on the table—and as a result of that financial commitment, we have got support from the state governments, many of them coalition governments, for the first stage to go ahead. So we are not just mouthing the rhetoric, we are getting on making this work. We commissioned the report, we have responded to it and we have allocated $1 million to make sure that the first stage works. We have now reached agreement with New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory for launch sites. We have insisted, and they have responded, by putting real money on the table.