Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

With the member for Blair, I commend the government for its initiative, endorsing the vision set out in the Productivity Commissioner's Disability care and support report. The main recommendations of the Productivity Commission are:

The report also identified a seven-year time frame to transform disability services. As a result of the report, the Prime Minister is in the process of establishing a select council on disability reform at the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments. This would bring together Commonwealth and state treasurers and disability ministers to do the work needed to lay the foundations for change.

In response to the Productivity Commission's recommendations for the states and territories to harmonise their approach to catastrophic injury, the government will also convene a working group, led by the Assistant Treasurer, to work with state and territory governments, lawyers and other stakeholders to progress this important complementary reform.

In my role as the member for Banks, I meet regularly with people who have disabilities and their carers. Some of the key points of the Productivity Commission report are similar to those which have been raised with me by those individuals. The inconsistency within the current systems is the outstanding issue, together with the difficulties for individuals in establishing what community and government support mechanisms are available to assist.

There is obviously significant work to be done in setting up the disability insurance scheme, so it will not happen overnight. As with any national project of such significance, it is best that it is done correctly from the outset. In the short term, the government has moved to deliver an immediate additional $10 million consistent with the Productivity Commission recommendations to support the technical work, move to establish a COAG select council of ministers from the Commonwealth, states and territories to lead reform in this area at COAG and take steps to establish an advisory group to the select council led by Dr Jeff Harmer to provide expert advice on delivering the foundations for reform and preparation for launch.

On its website, the Productivity Commission highlights the following—and I think it is worth stating:

That is on the Productivity Commission website.

This is an area that deserves cross-party support. It is an area that does not deserve political point scoring. For too long, all sides of politics have looked the other way. We have an opportunity to build on the Productivity Commission report and to do good. I happen to be one who believes that it is imperative on government to provide a safety net for the vulnerable, the disadvantaged and the disabled in our community. I do not apologise for that. It is the role of the more fortunate to help the less fortunate and we should not apologise for it.

Normally I am one who is critical of the Productivity Commission, because their philosophy has been very different to mine over the years. But in this instance I have no problem in fully embracing each of the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report. For the Productivity Commission to be giving politicians a wake-up call in this area is something I find quite interesting. I commend the motion of the member for Blair to the House. I think it is good that we have an opportunity to put our point of view in this place.

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