Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Disability Reform) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Menzies for those questions which all do go to the detail of the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Of course, the government are very pleased that we are getting on with delivering a National Disability Insurance Scheme. I am happy to take those questions on notice as the member has requested. I might just go to one of the points that the member made—that is, why are we bringing the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme forward and doing it in a slightly different way from that recommended by the Productivity Commission. Fundamentally, we think people with disability have waited long enough. We think they have waited a very, very long time—all of their lives. Many people have not been getting the level of care and support that they need, and we want to get on with it. We are doing exactly that. We are doing it in a slightly different way, nevertheless the vision set out by the Productivity Commission is one that the government have signed up to. We think that many of the recommendations from the Productivity Commission are very important. Even more fundamental is the way the Productivity Commission has set out how the scheme should operate—that it should operate with insurance principles and that it should be a scheme which is simple to navigate. The government absolutely endorses many parts of the Productivity Commission's report. But, fundamentally, the reason we are getting on with it now rather than in a year's time is that we do not want people to wait. I am happy to go through all of the other questions the member has asked.

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