Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to speak on the provision of disability services in Australia. I thank the member for Robertson for putting this on the agenda today. I note that the federal Labor government has introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme, now DisabilityCare. The Labor Party has made DisabilityCare become a reality. DisabilityCare Australia will be rolled out across Tasmania by 2019. The Productivity Commission's report into disability care and support in 2011 identified the way Australian governments respond to providing care and support for people living with a severe disability as 'unfair, fragmented, inequitable and underfunded'. It identified that people living with a disability had very little or no control over decisions about their own lives.

I was pleased to be joined by the Prime Minister, the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Minister for Disability Reform, the Hon. Jenny Macklin, and the Tasmanian Premier, the Hon. Lara Giddings, in Newstead recently for the official signing for Tasmania at St Michaels. The introduction of DisabilityCare is fantastic news for people with a disability, their families and carers. In our community it means that around 11,000 Tasmanians will receive the care and support that we all know they deserve through DisabilityCare Australia.

It is a huge achievement and truly a credit to our local campaigners, who have fought so hard to make sure that people with a disability in Tasmania have the support they need over their lifetimes. I pay tribute to Bill Shorten for his early work on DisabilityCare. I am really proud to represent a community that has spoken up loud and clear for disability care. There are numerous people in my own electorate who have lobbied me in this area, and I have heard their calls loud and clear.

Other eligible Tasmanian residents will start entering the scheme in July 2016. The cost of the full scheme in Tasmania is around $475 million in 2019-20. By 2019-20 the Commonwealth government will contribute around $245 million to the scheme in Tasmania. This will be about 51 per cent of the scheme cost.

The fundamental principle behind DisabilityCare Australia is that it is about what the individual with a disability can do. If a person has a permanent disability that impairs their ability to function, it is likely they will get support under DisabilityCare Australia. This support could include an individual plan or even include help to get access to a range of support, from education to finding community groups that meet their needs.

There is no list of what is in or what is out of the scheme because one person with a vision impairment or an intellectual disability might have different needs or circumstances to another person, even though they have the same kind of disability. In the middle of this year we expect DisabilityCare to launch transition agencies, which will employ about 30 people in Tasmania as staff or contractors. Staff will include qualified planners, who will work with people to develop their individual support statements; local area coordinators, who will help people with a disability to participate in their community and to access their other support needs through the NDIS; and financial managers, technical staff and administrators. In Tasmania, the offices will be in Launceston, Devonport and Hobart.

Depending on life's chances, any one of us could be living with a permanent disability that significantly reduces our ability to independently care for ourselves. On average, every 30 minutes someone in Australia is diagnosed with a significant disability. The services available for people should not be determined by how they acquire their disability. National DisabilityCare will give all Australians the peace of mind that, if they have or acquire a disability that leaves them needing daily assistance with everyday life or they care for someone who has a disability, they will be supported. This is what Labor governments do—we support the vulnerable who need a helping hand.

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