Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Transition Mobility Allowance to the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Bill 2016. This bill, as the title suggests, transitions the mobility allowance program to the NDIS and amends the Social Security Act 1991 to ensure the program is better targeted to those who require support the most while awaiting transition to the NDIS.

I am pleased to speak to this bill not only as the member for Ryan but also as the Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services. The NDIS is one of Australia's largest social and economic reforms and will support approximately 460,000 Australians aged under 65 who are permanently or significantly disabled and their families and carers. Members of this House well know that the NDIS is all about empowering and supporting the participant, including those with significant disability. This bill supports the approach that the NDIS will be the main program of support for people with a disability who need assistance to enable them to fully engage in the workforce and other economic activities.

People often forget or dismiss the fact that, for many Australians with a disability, it is a significant task to move about the community. The disability criteria applied to the mobility allowance will now be aligned with the NDIS disability criteria. From 1 July 2017, this will mean that new claimants must have a permanent or significant disability which prevents them from using public transport without substantial assistance and must be undertaking paid work or vocational training. There will also be a reduction in the continuation period during which a person can receive mobility allowance while not engaging in an approved activity. The grace period will be reduced from 12 weeks to 4 weeks. Changes to new mobility allowance claims under this bill will also mean that new applicants cannot be over 65 years of age. This is consistent with the NDIS rules.

Another amendment of this bill will see those who abandon their NDIS support package unable to claim mobility allowance. However, the changes will not impact existing mobility allowance customers. It is estimated that around 70 per cent of current mobility allowance recipients, some 42,000, will be eligible to receive an NDIS package of support. The remaining 30 per cent of recipients, 18,000, includes around 4,000 recipients who will be aged 65 years or older and 14,000 recipients aged under 65 years.

I want to be clear: we as a government are working to ensure that people continue to receive the support they need. However, the current mobility allowance scheme is very broad and does not necessarily target those who need support the most. Individuals who will no longer have access to mobility allowance and are ineligible for the NDIS still have a range of other assistance programs to help them. Some of these assistance programs provide services to address mobility issues faced by individuals. Assistance programs available to these individuals include: GST-exempt purchase of cars for work use where the individual has a disability affecting them to the extent they cannot use public transport; the Employment Assistance Fund, providing financial assistance for people with disability or for their workforce modification equipment or services; employment services through jobactive, Disability Employment Services and the Community Development Program, assisting jobseekers, including those with disability, become job ready and find work, including through providing wage subsidies; Disabled Australian Apprentice Wage Support Program, providing wage and mentoring support for the employers hiring apprentices and trainees with disability; and state and territory transport, vehicle modification and parking subsidies.

In the 2016-17 budget, the coalition government provided $46.5 million to ensure that those ineligible for an NDIS package will still be supported by the mobility allowance in the short to medium term. I need not explain the importance that our government places on the success of the NDIS and on recognition of the fact that only the coalition government is able to provide secure and stable finances critical to its longevity. Let me be clear: the NDIS is providing benefits.

On 1 July 2016, the NDIS started its gradual full rollout across Australia. The NDIS is being introduced in stages over three years to ensure it is successful and sustainable. Existing Commonwealth and state-based services and supports will continue until eligible people start to receive supports from the NDIS. People with disability are living more independent lives—engaging with their community, entering the workforce for the first time or returning to work and receiving the services and equipment they need—and the NDIS provides the flexibility to support choice and control.

Take, for example, the case I heard from a young man who had previously required assistance every morning from a carer who came in to get him ready for work and then drove him to work. In the afternoon, the process was repeated again in reverse, where the carer met him at his office, took him home and prepared him for the evening. Because of the NDIS, this young man's plan included what he asked for, which was the modification of a vehicle so he could drive himself to work. Although that was a high up-front cost, what has happened now is that the young man has regained his confidence and his independence. Now, not only does he drive himself to and from work every day, he has decided that he no longer needs daily assistance from a carer. Being independent is taken for granted by many people. It is not until you experience the hardships faced by people with disabilities that you appreciate the small things, like driving yourself unassisted to and from work—and, in capital cities, even experiencing those dreaded traffic jams! Just like the gentleman in the case to which I referred, those seeking to continue to engage in the workforce or other economic activities will be supported through the transition of the mobility allowance program to the NDIS.

I was also pleased to hear a story about Tania, a proud Awabakal woman and an active member of the NDIA Hunter local advisory group, who is passionate about improving the lives of young people residing in aged care. Tania had a stroke at the age of 39 and lived in an aged-care facility for three years, where she was confined to her bed, unable to take part in her community and separated from her husband and her daughter, who is now 16. When Tania became an NDIS participant, she began to reclaim her independence and achieve her goals. First, Tania was provided with an electric wheelchair that gave her back her freedom. She was previously in bed all day every day and could not talk, walk, move or see. Then she was given travel allowance so that she could go home and see her daughter. Until then, she was only able to see her daughter once a week, and it was difficult for her daughter to visit her in the nursing home. Tania is now enjoying the choice and control that the NDIS gives her and is better able to participate in her community.

This government is building a more supportive and sustainable disability services sector, but we have to be realistic. When Labor rushed through the legislation in the last breath of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, they conveniently failed to adequately identify the funds necessary to float the policy, or to itemise them and put them aside so that they would be secure for the NDIS program. It is all very well to get legislation through the parliament, but if it is not properly funded then it will just be a pipedream. The NDIS is expensive; there is no question about that. The coalition has been working diligently to plug the $6 billion black hole in NDIS funding. This bill is testament to our government's commitment to full implementation of the NDIS and to fully funded implementation of the NDIS. This government is building a more supportive and sustainable disability services sector. I commend this bill to the House.

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