Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Senator McAllister. During the 2022 election campaign, the Labor Party went to great lengths to talk about how serious you are about NDIS co-design. You said that the difference between yourselves and the Liberal-National coalition was that you would only make changes to the NDIS in consultation and partnership with the disability community. I've since heard that the National Disability Insurance Agency only learnt about your Thriving Kids announcement through the media. The states tasked with actually implementing the announcement didn't know the details either. Nobody has seen any modelling on the impact of this. My question is: which of your so-called partners in the disability community actually knew the details before you announced your 'co-designed' $2 billion Thriving Kids announcement?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Tyrrell, for the opportunity to speak about the announcement. We have been working with our partners, the states and territories, communities and service providers on foundational supports for a very long time now. In fact, the idea of foundational supports for children, which Thriving Kids responds to, was recommended to us by Professor Bonyhady and Lisa Paul who undertook an extensive review and spoke to many thousands of people about what needed to happen to the scheme. The answer that came back to them and the recommendation that came to government from that inquiry was that we needed to rebuild the system of supports outside of the scheme.

The government then engaged with our state and territory partners, and all parties agreed that the place that we would start would be with children. There are plenty of opportunities to do better for our kids. We don't need parents spending much time, much money, much energy chasing diagnoses when what they're looking for is support. Thriving Kids is all about establishing opportunities for parents to find support when they need it. There will always be the need for children with high support needs to access the NDIS, and Minister Butler made that very clear in the remarks that he made to the National Press Club. But we can do better for the families and the children affected by developmental delay. We intend to do so, and we do intend to do so in partnership with experts, with parents, with families and, of course, with people with disability.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, first supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has publicly dismissed critics of the Labor Party's NDIS cuts as extremists, spreading 'misinformation'. These are people who have legitimate fears about a government that campaigns on consultation and governs in cuts. They are saying people currently on the NDIS will be booted off and that people will be receiving less tomorrow than what they're receiving today. Isn't that what your own minister is saying will happen, and, if so, who's the one spreading misinformation?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is an important opportunity to clear up some of those statements, Senator Tyrrell, because they are simply not correct. Again, in the speech given by Minister Butler about this matter, he could not have been clearer. For children that are presently on the scheme and for children that join the scheme between now and 2027, when we expect to make changes to the access rules, nothing will change. They will be subject from time to time to the usual assessments that take place for children who come onto the scheme, particularly through the early intervention pathway, because early intervention is intended to provide sufficient support for children, and some of those children won't need support on an ongoing basis. But Minister Butler couldn't have been clearer. We don't intend to leave what he calls a gap between two stools. We wish to make sure that children now and in the future have the supports that they require. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, second supplementary?

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, your government has made new state hospital funding conditional on the states signing up to these new NDIS cuts, which the states seem to be against. If no agreement is reached, will Labor really hold firm and cut hospital beds while it's cutting the NDIS?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Tyrrell, since 2023, we've been in a discussion with the states and the territories about a set of interrelated reforms and funding arrangements. It is the case that states and territories have a keen stake in making sure that they have the resources necessary to run the hospital systems for which they are responsible. It's also the case that they have a keen interest in ensuring that the NDIS is on a sustainable footing, and, back in 2023, first ministers and the Prime Minister agreed that these matters would be dealt with together. At that time, our government placed our offer on the table that we were willing to contribute $5 billion that we expected would be matched by states and territories to establish foundational supports. As I indicated in my answer to your primary question, we said we would begin with children; that is precisely what we are seeking to do.