Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2019-2020 and related bills, and I am delighted to be standing here as part of the new Morrison government and having given my first speech yesterday.

Our government wants to enable opportunities for all Australians to live their best lives, and I'm delighted that the NDIS, which is one of the largest and most important social institutional reforms that the government has undertaken in a generation, seeks to do just that. We are committed to providing individual choice and control to people with significant and permanent disability, to create opportunity so they can achieve their goals and contribute to the vibrant social and economic life in our community. The target for this scheme is to serve half a million participants in the next five years, and this is a very big agenda that we're talking about. So in order to deliver this, it's very important to continue to monitor progress, and progress to date has been significant and promising, ensuring that the systems in place are robust and fully-funded, because we are an economically responsible government.

The scale and complexity of the program's rollout has been unprecedented, and we'll be able to reach more Australians with a disability than ever before. Eighteen of the 122 service delivery sites have been newly opened within the last six months. As at 31 March 2019, there are more than 277,000 participants benefitting from the NDIS around Australia, including more than 11,000 children in the Early Childhood Early Intervention program. We all know families with young children who are struggling with disabilities, and this is very welcome.

These statistics represent a 13 per cent increase over the prior quarter. More than 85,000 are receiving this NDIS support for the very first time in their life. But we do continue to seek to improve the NDIS through continued evaluation and monitoring of progress. The data on participant outcomes shows improvements across various domains including children's development, community participation, personal relationships and choice and control for people with disability since the NDIS began. However, the data equally reveals the opportunities and challenges ahead of us, and more work needs to be done with respect to these. On this matter, I'm delighted that the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Stuart Robert, has been elevated to the cabinet, indicating Scott Morrison, our Prime Minister, has significant support for this program that will benefit people immensely.

There are many opportunities going forward, but there are three particular priorities. The first is tackling the longer-than-ideal wait times for children. Mr Robert has indicated that the government will work with key early childhood early intervention partners to secure additional resources for children's access to early childhood supports in a timelier manner. Second, Minister Robert has indicated we will work towards ensuring that plans are tailored and individualised for every single child. The NDIA will provide a standardised interim plan for six months for children who are experiencing significant waiting periods for a plan, where the time between an access decision and getting a plan is greater than 50 days. It is important that these children don't wait for unnecessarily long periods of time. Interim plans to be replaced by a full NDIS plan will be issued within six months.

Third, we will compensate new participants with a six-month standardised interim plan with a package value of $10,000 in the event that they are not categorised as complex or for those who are not transferring from an existing Commonwealth, state or territory disability program. If they are transferring, their interim NDIS plan and package will reflect their existing support levels. This amount will never be below our commitment to this minimum threshold of the $10,000 standardised interim plan. These initiatives deeply reflect our commitment to participants with complex support needs. We want to ensure participants will be immediately streamed to an NDIA early childhood specialist to develop their plan and appropriate funding package to ensure those with disabilities receive the support they deserve. I know the families of Australia will be delighted.

To support these initiatives, the NDIA will increase the capacity of its national access team. It will continue to closely monitor the progress and timeliness of access decisions, and Minister Robert has taken a personal interest in ensuring that this does occur. The NDIA will also provide additional support to ECEI partners in areas experiencing delays by redirecting available partners to assist with planning activities. This recovery plan forms part of a larger plan to deliver the final 20 per cent of the NDIS.

Significant improvements in planning pathways for participants who have a two- to three-year plan include expanding the NDIS community connectors program to support and assist hard-to-reach communities, which include Indigenous Australians, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and ageing parents of children with disability. We all know someone who is an older Australian who has a disability and there are many parents who worry about the future of their children as they themselves age.

It is only by building a stronger economy that the government can deliver and guarantee the essential services that people with disabilities, their families and their carers rely on, and deliver them the outcomes that they need. So, too, do we need a strong economy to deliver for our local communities. I'm proud that the Morrison government has made significant commitments to the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the people of Higgins. As I mentioned in my first speech yesterday, Higgins is a geographically small electorate compared to some of the other electorates in Australia but we do extend from Chapel Street to Chadstone. We are demographically a younger electorate than the average electorate, with many people who are university students wanting to start their working lives. The biggest employers are health, education and professional services.

I'm delighted that the commitments the Morrison government has made to the people of Higgins include an important number of initiatives. The first of those is in the area of health and wellbeing. There are significant investments made into a number of important local institutes. The first of those is Very Special Kids, which is based in Malvern within my electorate. Very Special Kids is a wonderful place to see caring people looking after children who have difficulties and hospice care. This initiative aims to build world-class facilities for kids and their families at very vulnerable periods of their life.

There's also a significant investment into the Institute of Cancer at Cabrini Hospital, Malvern. I myself have been on the board of Cabrini and I am delighted with the significant investment. This will improve the capacity for researchers and clinicians to work towards life-saving breakthroughs. It will also provide outreach for palliative care in the south.

We have significant investments into residential centres for treating eating disorders, an incredibly important and growing problem in Australia. This will be established through the South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network, which covers the Higgins electorate. There's also an investment into a new headspace centre in Glen Iris. We know that youth mental health is so incredibly important to address, and I welcome the significant investment in 30 new headspace centres around Australia. It's particularly important in Higgins, since we have a very large and thriving LGBTI community. Unfortunately, people in the LGBTI community have higher rates of difficulties that need to access these important mental health services. So I'm delighted that there will be a headspace in Glen Iris.

There will also be significant investment in sporting and community facilities locally. The Yarra bike trail has been a wonderful place for people to go and ride their bikes along the Yarra for many years. It's actually an extensive network along the Yarra and its tributaries, including Gardens Creek. The Yarra bike trail promotes bike riding, which is great for kids, great for families and great for our community. We're investing in ensuring that key sections are made safer for all cyclists. That will improve both access to and use of this important keeping fit part of our life.

We are also going to upgrade the Murrumbeena Park, which is great to ensure that there are gender-appropriate change rooms. We know that across Higgins and across Australia there's been an explosion in sports for women. That has been on the back of the AFLW, which is a wonderful initiative, with more women participating in AFL football. But we are also seeing a flow-on effect to other sports that women are participating in, including netball and other sorts of sports. So I'm delighted that the Murrumbeena Park will ensure that we have gender-appropriate change rooms in our local area.

Higgins is one of those places that has a very small area of open spaces, so we need to treat those open spaces with a great deal of thought and consideration. We are also investing in an upgrade to St Mary's Salesian Football Club, again to help promote women and girls in sport, with upgraded female facilities. And finally with regard to sporting and community facilities, we have some capital investment in the Riversdale Soccer Club to cater for growing demand.

We have also improved measures for public safety and congestion. I'm delighted that a Morrison government will remove the Glenferrie Road level crossing at Kooyong station. This has many outcomes. Firstly, it will bust congestion, but it will also help to make safe one of the most unsafe level crossing in Victoria. It's a level crossing that has been on VicRoads' watchlist since 2013 and has not been responded by the Daniel Andrews state government. It is the only level crossing that has rail, road, tram and pedestrians. It needs to be removed. We have also funded a business case to provide a master plan to look across the Glen Waverley line to ensure that a number of different level crossings are more effectively assessed in order to come up with the best solution to remove them. We've funded CCTV and lighting in Poath Road, Hughesdale, to improve safety and help local shoppers and traders.

We are also providing investments into some alternative forms of housing in Higgins. This is important as rising rent problems in Higgins occurs, because we have a number of older Australians who are on the age pension. These people, who are living in the community and have been there for a long period of time, don't want to move out of their community. With the increasing costs of rents in inner-city Higgins, it's very important that we provide opportunities for people who are on age pension to ensure that they can continue to live in their community. So we've made an investment into the Glenloch aged-care facility in Prahran to enhance support for those facing disadvantage. We're also providing funding to The Craig Family Centre in Ashburton to deliver special programs to reduce social isolation and develop confidence diminished as a result of family violence. I'm delighted that a Morrison government is delivering on its agenda to help Australians to have a go and to get a go. I'm delighted to support this appropriation bill.

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