Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is the biggest social reform since Medicare. It's something that the disability community fought for years to realise. But there are serious problems with the rollout that need to be fixed urgently. The latest quarterly report shows a big jump in complaints: 4,146 complaints were made in the most recent quarter, with more than 17,300 complaints made since the scheme commenced. Progress against the bilateral estimates also continues to worsen. Since the scheme started, 78 per cent of the bilateral estimates have been met, down from 83 per cent in June 2017. The rate of unscheduled planned reviews also remains far too high, at 28 per cent, indicating people are not getting the right supports included in their plans.

I said in a speech nearly two years ago that, in my electorate of Bass, demand was 1,300, growing to approximately 2,900 participants under the full scheme, and that the workforce would need to grow significantly to meet demand. Left to a Turnbull Liberal government, real gaps in management and service provision have emerged, and people with disabilities are losing out. At the last census, one in four Tasmanians, or about 148,000 people, were identified as dealing with a disability. That's the highest proportion in Australia. About 3,500 Tasmanians have so far signed up to the NDIS, and 10,600 will be in the NDIS when it's fully rolled out by July 2019.

It's now very clear that the NDIA doesn't have enough staff to roll out the scheme on time. If we are going to sort out the problems with poor-quality NDIS plans, the staffing cap on the NDIA needs to be lifted. This is reinforced by the Commonwealth Ombudsman's findings, which have prompted 20 recommendations for the agency overseeing the NDIS. The agency admitted to the Ombudsman in February that it had more than 8,000 reviews on hand and was receiving around 620 new review requests each and every week. People in my electorate have experienced delays and dramas with the transitional arrangements with the NDIS. The Turnbull government must also take action on workforce and market development. We know that one in five new jobs over the next few years will be in the disability sector.

Underutilisation of NDIS plans is a growing source of concern. A high proportion of plans, 55 per cent, have a utilisation rate of between zero and 50 per cent. This means that far too many people with disability that are already in the NDIS aren't getting the services and supports the NDIS plans say they need. Even worse, around 15 per cent, or 3,254 plans, have not been activated at all in the most recently reported quarter. We need a comprehensive workforce development and training plan so that the workforce is ready to provide the support services that people with disability need as the NDIS continues to roll out across Australia.

There are far too many examples of people not getting the services they need in their NDIS plans. We receive regular reports that staff are under pressure, participants are getting poor-quality planning outcomes and the IT system is unreliable. I have the following questions for the minister. Last year in their report into NDIS costs, the Productivity Commission made the following recommendation:

The Australian Government should remove the cap on staff employed directly by the National Disability Insurance Agency.

Will the government accept this recommendation and lift the cap on the NDIA to end the delays and improve capacity within the agency?

Many providers are also reporting that they'll need to cease delivering services in the NDIS due to the NDIA's pricing decisions and serious cashflow issues that are caused by delays in receiving payment from the NDIA. Who does the minister think is primarily responsible for supporting the sector and workers to be ready for the expansion of the NDIS—is it the role of the minister and the DSS, the NDIA or the states? Given that one of the central tenets of the NDIS is control and choice for people with disability, what is the minister doing to ensure there are service providers available to participants to exercise that choice and that quality long-standing services and dedicated workers in the sector are being retained at this crucial time of growth in services and demand?

Can the minister confirm that the categorisation of autism under the scheme is at his discretion? Is the minister able to provide more recent figures than those the agency published in their quarterly report last month? If so, could the minister please provide an update on the current number of scheme participants? And how does this compare to the bilateral target, the current utilisation and activation rates for plans? How much of the sector development fund has been spent? And does the government have any plans beyond the relatively limited scope of the NDIS Jobs and Market Fund?

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