Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

During this debate on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Transition Mobility Allowance to the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Bill 2016, I have had a chance to hear a number of the speeches, particularly by my colleagues on this side of the House, and I have to say I am getting increasingly nervous about this government's ability to roll out the NDIS. We are getting ready to hit the go button in Bendigo, and a lot of families are feeling the same.

We, of course, have called for the NDIS rollout to happen sooner in Bendigo. We have a large area of need within the Bendigo electorate, and there was a lot of excitement, when Labor put forward the proposal while last in government, that a number of people with disability would finally get the support and respect that they deserve. However, we have seen again that with this government the devil is always in the detail, and the government is not quite good at implementation. We are hearing more and more stories about how this government is getting the implementation wrong. In particular with this bill, in relation to the mobility allowance, I am one of the many people on this side eager to learn the outcomes of the Senate inquiry.

The Bendigo electorate is like most regional electorates: it is an area that struggles to be serviced by public transport. While Bendigo, a township of 100,000 people, has bus services, the services are not as frequent as people would like and they are not always suitable for people with a disability. Quite often people with a disability come into towns like Maldon and Heathcote for services and to participate in supported employee programs. In these towns, again, the buses are infrequent, despite the investment by the state Labor government in public transport. There simply is not the number of people requiring bus services. Then we have Woodend, Kyneton and Castlemaine, which are towns serviced by a train system. To get to the train system people—in particular people with a disability, who currently use mobility allowance—often require a taxi. In fact, it is quite well known throughout Bendigo that if you want a taxi on Monday between 8.30 and 10.30 you have no chance, because our taxi service works closely with people with a disability, who currently qualify for mobility allowance, to transport them to and from their day services, whether it be their place of education or place of supported employment. The questions that we are asking in the other place go to the heart of what is being proposed: how will this change affect people who are already on very low incomes? How will those people continue to participate in society, work, day programs and education?

Someone with a disability uses a variety of programs. We learnt this acutely when Radius Disability Services entered administration last month, for not every Radius employee's engagement was the same. On Monday and Tuesday they might have been engaged in supported employment, working in one of the many enterprises that Radius had; on Thursday and Friday they might have been involved in their day program; and on the day in between they might have been catching up with family. When Radius went into administration it left over 120 supported employees without a place of employment. It left 100 day clients without a place to go. It required quite complex negotiations with families to find those people, first, alternative employment; and, second, an opportunity to continue in day programs. I want to acknowledge the shadow assistant minister for the work that her office provided. We worked together to try to find a quick response for a number of the families, because it was a very anxious time. I want to acknowledge the families for their patience and for the many supportive phone calls they made not only to our office but to each other in sticking together to see their loved ones through this tough time. I also want to acknowledge the many clients of Radius Disability Services who have shown their loyalty by following the supported employees to the new providers of those enterprises. As one person said to me: 'I can't wait to get my boys back. They're good people.'

This event did send through our community a few shockwaves about the government's ability to roll out the NDIS. An alarming thing that one of the board members said to me was, 'Lisa, I will be frank: under the current proposed model for the NDIS rollout we would have struggled to survive.' It is true that the way in which the NDIS is rolling out is radically changing how we support people with a disability. It will provide participants with choice, and that is a good thing. However, it means our not-for-profit sector, who have relied on block funding for a very long time, have to change their business model. It means that they have to change how they engage with clients. Something Radius said to me was that the pricing point for some NDIS services is too low. They also said they were worried about cherrypicking by some of the big providers.

With regard to the trust people with a disability have in the government's ability to roll out the NDIS, as a previous speaker said, this government already has a terrible reputation when it comes to the disability support pension. Whilst those opposite huff and puff, their reputation is in tatters. That is why people with a disability, who hope the NDIS will deliver the great examples we have heard about, are quite nervous. There are some great NDIS success stories but, as the member for Macquarie highlighted, that is not true of every case. NDIA is struggling to meet the huge demands of participants. I call on the government to listen to the concerns being raised not just by members in this place but by the workforce, families and not-for-profit agencies.

The government has failed to adequately resource the National Disability Insurance Agency, which is why the member for Macquarie described in some detail what her office is going through. The member for Macquarie said that they required one staff member dedicated to the rollout of the NDIS. I take this opportunity to ask the government: can we get an extra allowance? If the member for Macquarie's office—which is in an electorate very similar to my own in terms of participants and challenges—requires one entire electoral officer position to service the complaints around the rollout of the NDIS, because this government has not adequately resourced the NDIA, can we all have an extra EO? In my office we do not have any slack; we work really hard. We have one person dedicated to following up Centrelink issues. We have one person who is dedicated to following up My Aged Care and DSP issues. We simply do not have the extra hours in the day to take on this extra workload. Given the experiences of some in this place of this government's appalling inability to roll out the NDIS and the NDIA, perhaps we all need extra staff to help the government manage this process.

The government has also failed to make sure that the development of the IT system—the myplace portal—is working on time. We have heard people talking about the details involved and the complex problems they have had with the myplace portal. I raise this again because Bendigo is due to receive the rollout. We are listed for rollout in early 2017.

Beyond the questions we are asking about the mobility allowance, people with a disability and their families talk. That is why, in my electorate, there was excitement and jubilation when Labor first introduced the NDIS. We had a full Labor team here and many of the crossbenchers, but absolutely nobody from the Liberal and Nationals side bothered to turn up, which shows their commitment to the NDIS! There was absolute excitement in my electorate. But, as we have seen it rolled out across the country and as people with a disability in their families have talked to one another—as we have heard today—concerns have been raised by people on this side. There is a bit of a clock ticking on it for the government, and they need to fix the concerns being raised.

We talk about this a lot. We constantly need to be looking at complex reform. It is not good enough and it is not acceptable to blame the other guy. You are in government and you are the minister. It is the government of the day that is responsible for this rollout. I call on the government to listen to the concerns that are being raised by families, and I call on the government to listen to the concerns that we have raised about this bill going further than was originally proposed. I know some people who will be affected by this change. It will mean they will go out less and, because they are on a fixed income, they will cease participating in the activities they participate in currently. They are not wealthy people. These are people who will have to rely on volunteers or on family to get from A to B, because this government is reducing their allowance and going further than we ever planned to do. It makes me worry about what comes next.

The government needs to listen to the concerns being raised by families, particularly in relation to the workforce and making sure that we have a quality, trained workforce. I am concerned that this is a growing area when it comes to temporary workers. It is not something the government likes to talk about. We want to make sure that we have a skilled, qualified workforce available to support people with a disability. I am concerned that the not-for-profits are saying that the NDIA's pegging of the price for core-support items at the award wage means that it is hard for them to pay their employees their collective agreement rates. I ask the minister to investigate whether it is true that the NDIA has pegged the unit price for core services at the award. It means that the not-for-profits, who currently have collective agreements with their employees, will slowly go backwards. They will not receive the funding they require to pay wages. When we talk about the award, does it cover penalty rates, or is it just a Monday-to-Friday rate?

There is concern with how this government is rolling out the NDIS. There is concern about the NDIA model and the fact that the government is failing to adequately resource the NDIA. There are concerns and problems with the IT system. I call on the government to take all of these concerns seriously, to act and to invest the extra funding now to ensure that some of the most vulnerable in our community are not disadvantaged. This bill has the potential to affect a lot of people in regional areas—areas where we do not have good public transport systems. I call on the government to listen to the concerns being raised in the Senate inquiry and to respond. Do not let this bill go further than it was intended to and harm those who are already disadvantaged, particularly those in regional areas.

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