Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

Approximately 20 per cent of the Australian population have a disability—that is, some four million people have a disability—and there are some 2.6 million carers. The coalition believe that continuing support for these Australians is important. It is in this context that we have already indicated our in-principle support for the establishment of a national disability insurance scheme. The reality is that the current system is broken. It is inconsistent and lacks coordination. Support is determined not by need but by how a disability was acquired. Indeed, the Productivity Commission has found that the current system is 'underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient' and 'gives people with disability little choice and no certainty of access to appropriate supports'. Currently support depends on a number of factors: what state you live in, whether the disability is congenital or was acquired, and, if acquired, whether it was acquired in the workplace, a motor vehicle accident or some other context.

There is a level of care which families and informal carers want to provide and should provide for their loved ones with a disability, but there is also a level of care which it is unreasonable to expect to be undertaken without some support, and in some cases some very considerable support, from the wider community. Importantly, any response to disabilities must be a combined federal, state and territory response. At present, total government expenditure is around $7 billion per annum. The Commonwealth contributes about $2.3 billion and the states and territories contribute around $4.7 billion.

The reality is that the status quo is no longer an option. Australians with disability and their families deserve a better deal. Good economic management of course is key to providing a better deal, to providing real reform and real support. Expressions of goodwill and statements of good intent are no longer good enough. Every Australian should feel disappointed by what is initially a weak response on the part of the government to the Productivity Commission's report. This Labor-Green alliance has a history of overpromising and underdelivering. This government has a history of making announcements that are empty and tokenistic, announcements that are never actually acted upon. Expressions of goodwill and statements of good intent are simply no longer good enough. The government should provide a clear timetable for change and a clear and definite funding envelope. They cannot have it both ways. They cannot be keen to push the envelope on their great big new tax on everything but not push the envelope to repair a system that impacts on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

The coalition remain concerned, with good cause, about the government's ability to deliver the complex reform needed in this critical area, so we will monitor its implementation closely because we have seen time and time again the disasters that the Labor-Green alliance has presided over. Anyone who has seen the detail of the government's announcement, seen the paltry $10 million commitment, knows that Labor could have done better. Imagine how much more they could have done without the waste and mismanagement—with no pink batts, no school hall rip-offs, no program failures and no NBN. Australians might not know that the Productivity Commission's final report found that the current unmet need for support for Australians with disability is some $6.5 billion. That is roughly equivalent to the Gillard government's current annual debt interest repayments.

Australians with disability, their carers and their families are not focused on funding options. They just want the system fixed. The government has raised the hopes of these families, so it is now up to the government to outline how it will deliver. That is why it is so disappointing that the government's response has not identified at this stage any funding envelope.

The government are, I fear, incapable of reforming anything. Their strength lies in waste, mismanagement, bungling programs and doing nothing. I suppose there is some hope that they at least have put $10 million up.

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