Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers (House)) Share this | Hansard source

On this great day for equality, I'm very pleased to speak on this report that is about making sure that the National Disability Insurance Scheme delivers its primary purpose for people and, in this case, for small children with disability so that they can live a life that will give them every opportunity to be everything they want to be. All of us in this place want to make sure that the supports through the National Disability Insurance Scheme are delivered as early as possible to children with disability and developmental delay. This inquiry went to that purpose.

I endorse the remarks made by the member for Menzies, the chair of the committee, and I thank him and all the other members of the committee for the work that they've done and, of course, I thank all the people who made submissions and came to the hearings. The report makes a lot of important recommendations, which I won't go through at this late hour. The member for Menzies has done that, and I endorse his remarks. There were many concerns raised by parents and professionals—people like speech therapists and occupational therapists—about delay. Delay in access to services and early intervention is very serious for children with disability. It can mean the difference in a small child being able to deal with and overcome their disabilities or not. If they have to wait, as they are, for access to get into the National Disability Insurance Scheme, they're waiting for their plans to be finalised and they're then waiting for reviews to be done. As many of the submitters indicated, there is a lack of staff in the National Disability Insurance Agency, and many of the submitters highlighted that this is the result of the cap on staffing imposed by the government.

As the member for Menzies has said, there are many recommendations in the report. I commend them to the government and to the National Disability Insurance Agency. For the sake of the small children in Australia who are born with or develop a disability or early developmental delay, it is very, very important that these recommendations are implemented.

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