Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's an honour to second this motion and to follow the Member for Maribyrnong, who was the driving force behind the establishment of the NDIS.

However, the implementation of the NDIS has not been smooth and it is evident that the pressure of rolling the scheme out across Australia has directly impacted the NDIA's ability to provide a consistent, effective and high quality service delivery offering.

They are the words of David Tune in summing up his findings as part of the independent review of the NDIS Act. I believe it succinctly puts in perspective what we've long been hearing from participants, their families and carers, and the disability sector generally about the operations of the NDIS.

The report into the NDIS Act made 29 recommendations for legislative change in order to improve the operation and efficiency of the NDIS itself. Among the many recommendations, the report calls for legislative time frames for decision-making as part of the participant service guarantee. The report also made recommendations for more flexibility in how the NDIS funds are used by participants, calling for a trial that would allow NDIS planners to also be able to approve participant plans and call for additional funding to support people with disability to understand and navigate the NDIS. Furthermore, the report made recommendations clarifying the test used by the NDIA in its decision-making as to whether support is reasonable and necessary. This crucial aspect of it is certainly driven by the lack of definition and the ambiguity and confusion surrounding what constitutes reasonable and necessary support. Another very welcome recommendation, which I know has often been raised at NDIS forums in my electorate, is the need to provide clearer guidance as to whether a psychological condition is permanent. It's imperative that guidance is provided recognising that some conditions, while they may be episodic and fluctuating, are nevertheless permanent conditions.

When the Labor government established the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it was built on the belief that each person in our community, including those who live with disabilities, deserves to know that their country is committed to building a society of inclusion and acceptance. This is why I find it extremely offensive to those individuals living with disabilities, and their families and carers, that this government oversaw a $4.6 billion underspend on the NDIS. This is not because the funding was not required, as it's clearly been highlighted in the findings of the review into the act; rather it was an opportunity for the government, while attacking the most vulnerable people in our society, to simply prop up a failing budget. This decision effectively denied people with disabilities the services, treatment and equipment that they so desperately need. Labor will continue to hold this government to account on its promises, because Australians living with disabilities, their families and carers simply deserve better. They deserve support and meaningful inclusion in a society like ours.

My office has been inundated with inquiries from parents and carers who are experiencing difficulty in navigating the NDIS and also in the associated waiting times for decisions to be made by the NDIA. Recently, a young woman came to my office—a constituent named Levina Pham. She is 21 years old and recently graduated from the University of New South Wales. Remarkably, she's a carer for her 15-year-old brother Kerry, who is living with stage 3 autism. She shed light on the issue by drawing on real-life experiences of families who care for those who live with disability—autism in this case. She said that the NDIS is extremely complex and that it lacks education and community awareness for families and carers living with a person with disability as to how to get the necessary support they need. This is particularly so for individuals coming from a culturally and linguistically diverse background.

That said, I call on the government to act promptly on recommendations from the review into this act. People living with disabilities, their families and carers simply deserve better. And we can do better.

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