Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in strong opposition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme Savings Fund Special Account Bill 2016. The National Disability Insurance Scheme is the most ambitious and far-reaching social policy reform in Australia since Medicare. It recognises that disability can affect anyone, and all Australians should have access to support to live fulfilling and productive lives.

I have watched the growth of the NDIS since its earliest days, as my electorate of Newcastle was fortunate to be one of the national trial sites in this country, and it was one of the largest and most complex of the trial sites back in 2014. In this time, I have seen firsthand the transformational power of this landmark scheme on the lives of participants and their families. For the first time in our history, people with disability are able to make the decisions about the support they receive and how they receive it. In addition the NDIS will eventually return billions to the budget and create more jobs, because it gives people with a disability the ability to participate more actively in their communities and in the workforce.

So it is not surprising that, when the former Labor government established the NDIS in 2013, it enjoyed strong bipartisan support. Liberal and National members of parliament gave their heartfelt endorsement in this place and in their communities. People with a disability felt confident that this parliament had this strong bipartisan support and the scheme was protected from usual partisan politics that we see in this chamber. But, regretfully, we started to hear very different messages from those opposite once they moved onto the government benches. Conservative commentary started to take on a negative tone, as those opposite began to talk down the scheme and raise doubt about its future funding certainty.

Since 2014, we have sadly witnessed a growing stream of denigrating remarks, backgrounders and political manoeuvres from this government that can only be described as being deliberately designed to undermine this critical reform. If you want to see this strategy in action, you only need to look at the recent article in The Australian last month, which claimed serious blowouts in the NDIS and placed a question mark over its future funding. This assertion is not new; in fact, government members have been shopping it around in the media for some years now. But, contrary to the popular saying, telling a lie often enough still does not make it true. In fact, this myth was comprehensively shot down in Senate estimates on 11 February last year. Here, the government's own official told senators, and I quote:

There have been many, many inaccurate news reports about cost blowouts in the NDIS, and they are all inaccurate ... I can say on the record that the NDIS is tracking to budget.

That is what the official said in Senate estimates. Yet here we are almost exactly a year later and the Turnbull government is still trying to mislead Australians about the NDIS.

The second tactic the Turnbull government likes to use to denigrate the NDIS is to claim that it was never funded properly to begin with. And that is exactly what the bill before us today is about. It is the legislative attempt to create uncertainty about the viability of the NDIS into the future. By proposing the need for a 'special fund', Mr Turnbull is trying to legitimise the assertion that the NDIS was never funded properly. This claim is blatantly and demonstrably untrue. Let us be clear: this bill is the solution to a problem that does not exist outside the government's own confections. It is a political stunt designed to support the government's agenda of destabilising the NDIS.

Labor understands that people with disability, their families and carers deserve funding certainty on the NDIS. That is precisely why we fully funded it for 10 years. We did this by making difficult choices. The increase in the Medicare levy, combined with contributions from state and territory governments and other savings measures such as $6.5 billion in reforms to the private health insurance rebate, $6 billion in retirement income reforms and $20.6 billion in other long-term savings, ensured that the NDIS would be properly funded for 10 years. For anyone interested in seeing exactly where the savings came from, I recommend looking at the chart that Treasury tabled in the June 2013 estimates. It outlines very clearly where the savings were made and how the NDIS was funded. Coalition members would already be aware of the savings that were secured because they voted for almost every single measure. They agreed that they would fund the NDIS then. So why are they trying to cast doubt on this important funding commitment now? The fact that the Turnbull government continues to try to mislead the public is of grave concern to Labor. More importantly, it is of grave concern to the people in the disability sector, the people who rely on the NDIS and their loved ones. Every time the government starts talking about underfunding, I get calls and emails from people in my community and beyond who fear this could be the beginning of the end for this vital landmark initiative. The NDIS should be a vital government responsibility, just like health and education. By establishing a special account, the government sends a clear signal that it somehow sees disability support as outside of, or separate from, its core responsibilities.

Last year, the Senate held an inquiry into this bill. In its submission, the Department of Social Services outlined the funding sources for the NDIS, and the scheme includes some funding from consolidated revenue. While the government disingenuously refers to this as a 'shortfall', department officials confirmed to the inquiry that consolidated revenue is used to fund government expenditure in accordance with its priorities. The fact that the government is unwilling to use this money for the NDIS demonstrates clear problems with its priorities. Key disability groups have recognised that the construction of a special account as outlined in this bill is little more than a cynical, politically motivated exercise. In this regard, Peter Davidson from ACOSS said:

… it is not obvious why this new fund is needed. Its purpose, apart from the generic one of funding the NDIS, is not clear and we do not believe it should be supported in its present form.

Stephanie Gotlib from Children and Young People with Disability Australia warned that the creation of a special account would devalue disability support, saying:

It is believed that the creation of this special account … places essential disability services and support as non-core business of the Australian government, with their full funding being dependent on other budget-saving measures identified by the government of the day.

Alan Blackwood from the Young People in Nursing Homes National Alliance had similar concerns, saying:

… the alliance does not support the savings fund as constructed in the bill.

…   …   …

… the notion of a funding shortfall, portrayed in the bill and the minister's speech is, actually, concerning and perplexing.

Another issue that was cited by many of the stakeholders who participated in the Senate inquiry was the inclusion of ministerial discretion in relation to the fund, as this legislation gives the minister sole responsibility for the management of the account. In its submission, the Australian Council of Social Service, or ACOSS, clearly articulated how this discretion could weaken the independence of the NDIS. The submission states:

The Minister for Social Services will be solely responsible for policy and management of the fund, which gives greater control to the Commonwealth and removes independence from the management of part of the Scheme's funding base. This has rightly caused concern amongst the disability sector, as a core part of the NDIS is the independent management of Commonwealth and State government funds by the NDIA.

Labor is extremely apprehensive about how this discretion might be employed by the government given its long history of trying to frustrate, denigrate and raise doubts about this vital scheme. Ultimately, this goes to a question of trust and, regrettably, the Turnbull government has shown too many times that it cannot be trusted to do the right thing when it comes to the NDIS.

This was further reinforced only last month, when the government disgracefully, and completely arbitrarily, linked its cruel cuts to families, pensioners and young people with the NDIS funding. Shamefully, it threatened to hold the NDIS to ransom unless this parliament passed its vicious omnibus bill, which is full of zombie cuts that have been revived from Tony Abbott's toxic 2014 budget. This confirms that the government is embarking on an appalling and blatantly political strategy to destabilise the NDIS and pit Australians against each other. I can think of no more disgraceful act a government could carry out on its citizens. Trying to play off people with disabilities against pensioners, families, jobseekers and students is appalling and something we should be utterly ashamed of. At the same time, it created enormous and unnecessary anxiety for many, many thousands of Australians about the future funding of the NDIS. Mr Turnbull should, as I said, be utterly ashamed of this attempt to link the future of the NDIS with support—

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