Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

Before he leaves, I really would like to answer Senator Ronaldson's friend's plea. I will make this a bit personal too. I have been working around this stuff for over six years, and nothing is going to get in the way of delivering for people I have had the fortune of meeting who currently are not being provided a service that anyone in this country could be proud of. We have worked extraordinarily hard.

The proposal that the opposition has put is not a practical answer to ensuring that we do get the delivery that we are all seeking—including me. We have a number of governance arrangements in place that will ensure that we deliver a national disability insurance scheme starting on 1 July in your state in the Barwon region. To do that, we have worked very closely with states and territories, and a lot of those are Liberal Party states and territories. The politics has been left outside the door. I pay tribute to Minister Mary Wooldridge of your state because she has been extremely cooperative and helpful, as have her departmental officials. I say the same for Mr Constance from New South Wales. This is well and truly above politics. This is about getting it right for people with disability. I hope that comforts your godchildren's parents.