Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the motion by the member for Bowman and to strongly condemn the Liberals and Nationals for their many and continued failures in the NDIS. When the NDIS is working well for people it is changing lives, but for far too many people it is just not working at all. The rhetoric of this government and the substance of this motion demonstrates just how out of touch the Liberals and Nationals really are.

Whilst for many the rollout is meeting their needs and working effectively, there is still substantial work required to urgently address delays and inadequacies in the NDIS operation and rollout. The most common source of complaints to my office is the NDIS. The fact is that many people with disability, their carers and their families are desperate for assistance. The reality is that the Liberal-Nationals government has ripped $1.6 billion out of the NDIS, leaving many people with disability and those who care for them without the support they need. Six years of this government's cuts, chaos and staffing caps has undermined the NDIS, and this has had devastating effects. People are getting poor-quality plans, services are being pushed to the brink and waiting times are completely unacceptable. The deliberate underfunding of the NDIS to prop up the budget bottom line is at the expense of Australians with a disability and their families and carers, and this has real life consequences. The effect of this underspend is that, on average, NDIS participants are now $20,000 worse off, with over 77,000 people missing out on the NDIS this year alone. The government has capped NDIS staff and starved the NDIS of money.

In my electorate of Richmond is the case of 10-year-old Josephine. This is one distressing example of the real-life consequences of a scheme that is not working for the people who need it most. Josephine has a rare condition called giant axonal neuropathy. This neurodegenerative disease progressively causes paralysis, and Josephine needs an electric wheelchair to attend school and participate in other activities. I am advised that Josephine met the NDIS access requirements in 2016 and her plan approved the purchase of an electric wheelchair, a beach wheelchair, a specialised foam bench, an electric bed, a walker, a bilateral supportive lounge chair and other essential therapies, including hydrotherapy. Despite the NDIS approving this vital equipment and prescribed essential therapy by qualified medical professionals over three years ago, Josephine is yet to receive the disability support she desperately needs.

The delay in obtaining equipment through the NDIS has caused devastating long-term consequences for Josephine and considerable stress and anxiety for her family. The flow-on effects have had adverse impacts on all her family members, including on her mother, who has suffered multiple hernias which have been attributed to the physical lifting of Josephine. Without the new NDIS approved electric wheelchair, Josephine is unable to return to school or participate in other activities with her peers. According to her local paediatrician, the deterioration in Josie's condition has accelerated because she has not had access to the equipment she needs. I have made urgent representations to the minister and, again, I call upon him to act on this matter urgently and fix it.

Another local constituent of mine, Tim, who suffers from incomplete quadriplegia and often uses a wheelchair, was told he wasn't disabled enough to access the NDIS. He recounted his NDIS experience as destabilising, disappointing and damaging to his physical and mental health and general wellbeing. How could anyone with a disability have faith or confidence in the NDIS when it requires people to justify their disability and then repeatedly reprove their disability through lengthy and delayed reviews? The fact is the NDIS is in crisis under this government.

Earlier this year I co-hosted an NDIS forum in my electorate with Senator Keneally to hear from local clients and providers about their NDIS experiences. Overwhelmingly, the feedback I received from locals is that the administrative barriers and delays continue to act as some of the greatest hurdles in accessing the benefits and aims of the scheme. Some of that feedback included unacceptable delays to having plans finalised and services delivered, unacceptable delays in plan reviews, with some clients waiting over 12 months for their reviews, and also inconsistencies in assessments from one year to the next.

Unlike the Liberals and Nationals, Labor will always support people with a disability and their families. We designed and built the NDIS, and we understand how important it is that it is actually working properly. So I'm urging the government, on behalf of the people in my electorate and indeed right across Australia, to provide adequate funding and resources for the NDIS. They're desperately needed. The fact is the NDIS must be successful. It must work properly to be able to effectively provide the support, the care and especially the dignity that people in our communities need and deserve.

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