Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I remember one of the most challenging days in my life was the day when I found out that our fourth daughter was going to be born with disabilities, if she was going to survive the pregnancy at all. I remember sitting in that doctor's room when the scans were being done and watching all of the frowns. We knew something was up, and it was very, very sad day. When our daughter was born, that was great—and she survived the pregnancy, survived the birth—but there was a realisation that this was going to be a challenging upbringing.

As time went on and as she grew older, I became aware of the challenges and struggles that many families face that have children with a disability. In the broader scheme of things—and I hesitate to say it this way—we were let off lightly. There are many, many families that look after children with disabilities where the parents live in anguish as to who will look after their children when they pass and there are many families that will look after their children until they pass. Most parents look forward to getting their children off their hands as they reach adulthood or thereabouts—perhaps when they finish uni—but there are many families in our community who will never enjoy this opportunity and they will have to look after their disabled children forever and a day. I thank my lucky stars that I do not think my wife and I will be in that cohort.

This government is committed absolutely 100 per cent rolled gold, lock, stock and barrel, to delivering a fully functional, fully funded NDIS. This bill that is being put forward today is another stark example of the difference between this government and Labor when it comes to operating the NDIS.

This government, as I said, is fully committed to implementing the NDIS, because we understand what a huge undertaking it is. It is one of the largest social and economic reforms in the history of this country from the 22,000 people who were assisted in trial sites at the end of 2015 to 460,000 people in 2019 to 2020, including thousands of children through early childhood and early intervention approaches. I only wish that we had had access to the NDIS when my youngest daughter Sarah was in her infancy because I am sure that it would have helped her no end.

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