Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

I'm disappointed that Senator Griff has left the chamber. As many of you will remember, in my maiden speech—it's probably more memorable because most of it wasn't with me—I talked about autism, my son, and what I wanted to achieve in this place. Part of that was an inquiry into autism, and it was with the support of Senator Griff that we were able to establish the first-ever whole-of-life inquiry for autistic people and their families, and those who work around them. I would also like to acknowledge, though, Senator Lambie, who has been a fantastic supporter of this inquiry and always supported me in the work that it did, and Senator Brown, who stepped up as my deputy chair when Senator Griff stood down from the inquiry.

We tabled the report last week, on 25 March, and I have to say it really is a very proud moment for me. It's a 400-page report with 81 recommendations, of which the key one is the formation of a national autism strategy. People are going to ask why we're not just including it as part of the Disability Strategy. We now know that it's just not working for the autistic community. We have a suicide rate 10 times higher than that of the general population. Our unemployment rate for those with autism is significantly higher than in the general disability community. There are so many things we need to do better.

I just did a webinar with the Australian Autism Alliance, and I thank them for hosting and the 500 people who joined to have a Q&A session with Senator Brown and me. This is something that we will continue to work towards into the future. The inquiry and the report are one thing, but the real work is about to start. I'm very excited. I hope that all of you have the opportunity at some stage to even just flick through our recommendations—there are 81 of them. It is important that all of us get behind this community and support it in whatever way we can going forward into the future.