Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak about the NDIS, which is something that is very close to my heart. On this side, we remain proud of the NDIS and we're determined to make it a success. A future Labor government will strive to ensure that the NDIS and the NDIA are properly funded and appropriately staffed. Labor's calculations on its funding were signed off by the Department of Finance over a 10-year period. We have funded the NDIS. What we have seen from the coalition, since 2013, is a denial of the obvious systemic problems with the NDIS that need to be addressed.

I found the statements about the NDIS made yesterday in the House by the member for Bradfield, who is the minister responsible, absolutely disgraceful in his denial of the systemic problems that we need to address. There are many systemic problems with the NDIS, including the lack of funding for advocacy, poor training of the planners, lack of help with people with severe mental illness, lack of ability to deal with people with relapsing-remitting medical conditions such as MS, as well as the poor consistency and lack of support for those who are not able to advocate for themselves. These problems need to be fixed if the NDIS is going to work in the way it was designed. I've seen this not only as a politician but also as a paediatrician. I am inundated now with people coming to see me, people in great need, who need a better functioning NDIS. The fact that those opposite deny there is a problem— (Time expired)

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